Kitchen Fail, Keepin’ It Real
Monday was the celebration of Mary’s birth, as the liturgical year goes. No one really knows the day Jesus’ mother was born, but the Church has celebrated on September 8 for centuries.
I had fun, grand plans to pray a decade of the rosary in Mary’s honor (which we did) and to bake something white as a celebratory treat. I had leftover egg whites from making ice cream, so I decided to make meringues.
I didn’t bother piping them into pretty shapes, because Baby-saurus Wrecks is always getting into mischeif, so my time was limited. No worries, meringues are dandy even if funny-shaped. I let the boys put sprinkles on top for an exrta festive touch, then put them in the oven for exactly as long as my BHG cookbook told me.
And then I smelled burnt marshmallow. Odd, I thought. The meingues shouldn’t even be done yet, especially not over-done!
The timer went off. Even though the directions say to leave the oven door closed for an hour after turning off the heat, I had to look. Oh, the disaster that met my eyes!
The pristine white cookies were now burned and tanned to a brown, pitiful hue. The meringues we were all so looking forward to eating were now giving off an aroma of burnt sugar. The kids still wanted to eat them, so we tried the less-burnt tops…and they still had a flavor like ash. Boo!
We tossed the meringues. I am disappointed in the recipe and this kitchen fail. Anyone have a no-fail meringue recipe? Or a story to share of your kitchen fail? We all have one, right?
Oh no! i would have been so disappointed also, having planned something special for a special occasion and ended up with burned sugar 🙁 I’ve never made meringues, so I have no suggestions. Only sympathy. Once the kids and tried to make mini blueberry pies (a la Martha Stewart) for a Marian holiday (Assumption, I think) and the filling oozed out all over the cookie sheet – the pies were filling-less and the cookie sheets were ruined because the filling was completely fused to them. It was a sad day. I think we may have tried to eat the crusts, but it was pretty un-fun 🙁
Hope you have better luck with your next liturgical celebration!!
Oh no! Failed pie and ruined cookie sheets! What a total bummer!
I don’t even know yet what our next celebration will be…probably the feast of Archangels. I think that is in a few weeks. Maaaaybe I’ll try meringues again…clouds for angels in heaven? Maybe I’m crazy.
Well… the before baking ones looked great! =)
I know! I was so hopeful.
Sad story 🙁 However, it did make me want to try meringues again, so it wasn’t a complete fail
I want to try again, too!
I don’t have a recipe but I know how delicate those are to make. How about Madelines? Ever make those? You should, and send me some. Those are my favorite! 😉
I haven’t! Maybe I will try…but only if I can make them gluten-free. It would be fun, though…I have a Madelyn. 😉