ISO Recipe for Malt Balls

[gfron1]

I made a meringue with cocoa using Julia Child's recipe. I added a drop of peppermint extract after I formed soft peaks, but before I added the sugar and cocoa, and killed it. It deflated and refused to rise again. I went ahead to bake it to see if this might work. The taste was good, but if I go this route I would need to make it a bit thicker obviously. Its still not the maltball texture I wanted, but its a reasonable facsimile. So, how can I get the extract in without deflating?

My next try will be a dacquois which may be a good choice with the flour. The subtle difference is that these other recipes are basically sugar and when sugar gets moist is gums/clumps/goos, which a maltball does not.

I'll send a final product to whomever gets me where I'm going (such a frivolous but fun use of my time ).

[lapin d'or]

If the peppermint extract was an essential oil of peppermint then I would try making my own alcohol extract using vodka and fresh mint leaves. That should avoid the oil breaking the structure of the meringue. Not sure how strong a flavour you will get with just alcohol mind.

[baroness]

Try adding the extract later -- after the sugar is all in. It works for piped meringue cookies.

[Tri2Cook]

I think Kerry's suggestion was a good one unless it's not the sort of thing you want to do. Some melted mint flavored chocolate blitzed with tapioca maltodextrin would give you the texture of malt powder and it reconstitutes in the mouth but is dry as sand (and will run through your fingers like sand without melting or sticking) until it contacts moisture. I did the same thing as part of my almond joy panna cotta I posted in the "dessert" thread. I used chocolate and almond butter instead of mint chocolate but the flavor's irrelevant to the process.

[gfron1]

Okay, I was trying not to invest in another chemical for my kitchen, but I guess I'm off to place the order. Thanks for the extra info (I should always trust Kerry...taking note).

[gfron1]

Well, I never let a project die until its completed (I have some on eGullet from almost 2 years ago that I'm still working on). I did my first trial with the tap malto. I didn't follow any instructions other than the label which said 1 part oil to 2 parts TM. Well that didn't work. I used 10 g of melted mint ice cream, with 20 g of TM. I have a gloppy mess that's going to be a pain to clean up. So I'm off to read up on how to use the stuff next. Maybe it meant by volume not weight My dinner is next Wed so time is up!