I don’t know how many of my readers are aware of the recent discovery that went viral across the world. In short, if you take the liquids of cooked beans, you can whip it with sugar just as you would do with egg whites and get the same kind of meringue. While it will not hold as egg whites in a temperature above 130C (at least when I tested it), in low heat, it acts almost the same. You will also not notice the chickpea’s aftertaste, I can assure you that.

Vegan Meringue - Fluffy Pancake

The guy who brought this discovery to the attention of the vegan community in Facebook was Goose Walt from Vegan Cookery  dot net 

***Update (4/2/2015) – Follow the link for full details about how Vegan Meringue was discovered (and get a bonus recipe for meringue cookies with chocolate!!) ***

The easiest way to make the meringue is to use the liquids from a can of chickpeas (I usually use Trader Joe’s organic) which is about 2/3 of a cup (140 grams) of liquid. I use a Kitchen aid stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment and just whisk it for about 2 minutes to create soft peaks. Than I add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of caster sugar (powdered sugar and regular sugar will work as well) and whisk for 2-3 more minutes until it reaches hard peaks. If you flip the mixer bowl, it will stay intact. I encourage all of you to join the thriving FB group that was created for the soul purpose of experimenting with this bean juice to find more information about what can be done with this aquafaba.

Look at these vegan Macarons as an example of what is possible.

So where were we? ah, pancakes, yes.

Thanks to the vegan meringue, we can now make fluffy and very airy pancakes that will drink enormous amounts of maple syrup 🙂

Ingredients and directions:

In a bowl mix with a whisk:

1/4 cup oil

2 TBS sugar
1 cup plant based milk (I used soy)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift in:
1 and 1/4 cup pastry flour or all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

Mix with a spoon! (not with a whisk that tends to create a rubbery texture)

Fold in with a spatula 1 and 1/4 stiff peaks french meringue (use measuring cup) ( I whipped 2/3 cup aquafaba (liquids from canned chickpeas) for 6 minutes. Added 10 TBS of sugar one at a time and whisk for another minute.)

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Heat a non stick pan with a lid to medium heat (no oil needed).
With a large spoon put in the pan the desired amount of batter (depends on the size of pancake you want). If they are small. you can make more than one pancake at a time. cover with a lid.

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When the rims of the pancake are dry and micro bubbles appear, flip it to the other side to complete cooking.

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These pancakes are so light in weight and so airy, almost too good to be true.

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Please note: The yield of the 2/3 of bean juice and 10 TBS of sugar is about 5 1/2 cups of fluff. Use the rest to make vegan meringue or a cake (recipe will follow in few days)

Some Ideas what can you do with the rest of the fluff:

Vegan Meringue – pipe it on a parchment paper and bake on 200F (100C) for about 2 hours.

Vegan Meringue

Make another batch of pancakes – add 1 TBS of lemon zest and bake in a pan for a very lemony cake – airy and fluffy. Bake for 20 minutes on 350F (175C). Make sure that the batter does not exceed 1″ (2.5cm) in hight, or it will collapse.

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Add to the pancake batter 4 TBS of cocoa powder and a handful of chocolate chips (follow baking directions above) to one of the best chocolate cakes ever.

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Possibilities are endless, really.