Lime-Chili Baiser/Meringue

I'm in the mood for a lemony-spicy dessert - it's too cold for icecream - I'm not in the mood for creamy stuff anyway, and would like some kind of crunch experience.. and it should be something I have not tried before.

How about lime-chili-baiser?

Baiser (which you might know better as Meringue) are an unusual pastry, simply eggwhites wipped stiff with sugar, and baked until completely dry. In this case, for 2 hours at 266 deg F or 130 deg C.
Classically, they are used as a cake base, as baskets to be filled with fruits, as little desserts and ornaments.
In that sense, I'm doing a very classical thing here, just the flavoring is a bit .. unusual.
I used a zester to peel the skin of two limes:


The zest I put in a food processor with 225 g sugar, until the sugar has a lightly green tint and the zest shows up as little green speckles.
This I put in the fridge over night, first because I did not have time that night to finish the Baiser, second in the hope that the lime flavor would intensify with time.
Today, I wipped 5 egg white with the sugar until it was stiff:
Then I measured off little "dumplings" from this baiser-dough with two spoons onto a baking sheet, and baked them at 266 deg F for two hours. This is how they look afterwards:
Now, this was the version with pure lime, assuming that one cannot go wrong with this flavor, and having enough left over to mix with a chili baiser that would be much more risky..

Same procedure with the chili: I put half a red jalapeno pepper with 100 g sugar into the processor until the sugar was lightly reddish/pink. I removed the bigger chunks of pepper at that point, because the hotness will definitely intensify with time and baking. It should be a nice kick, not a punch in the face..

This sugar I whipped with 2 eggwhites, and lifted that carefully under the left over lime baiser - creating a red-green marbled baiser, that is limey and spicy and sweet. :)


Note to self - and you - the chili version needs some experimentation. Actually, zest of two limes for 4-5 egg whites turned out perfect, creating a wonderful lime smell and flavor, which turns down the sweetness a little and gives the whole pastry a real unique touch, to the point that you can eat lots of them without feeling sugared-out. Very very nice.
I think, next time I would add chili to that mix, rather than replace part of the lime with a pure chili-baiser, simply because the lime works so well, and the chili adds an accent which is very nice, but does not tone down the sweetness. My chili turned out too weak, you had a slight aftertaste, a light hotness in the background which was not bad but way weaker than I had intended. Next time - more chili? Cayenne pepper? The concept is great though, and the lime baiser are phantastic....