Soplillos Granadinos (Moorish Almond Meringues) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 egg whites
1 pinch sea salt
200 g caster sugar
1 lemon, zest of, finely grated unwaxed
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste (see note) or 1/2 teaspoon the scraped-out seeds of 1 vanilla pod
50 g toasted sliced almonds, chopped into small pieces
whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

Put the egg whites in a bowl with a pinch of salt and whisk just until firm peaks form.
Add the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking after each addition.
Fold in the lemon zest, vanilla and almonds carefully so as not to lose volume.
Fill the piping bag with the mixture.
Pipe the meringue into mini (candy size) paper cups, you may set them in mini muffin cups or set straight onto the baking sheets.
Bake in a preheated oven at 120\u00b0C (250\u00b0F) Gas 1/2 for 30 minutes.
Increase the heat to 140\u00b0C (275\u00b0F) Gas 1 for a further 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let cool on a wire rack and serve in their paper cases with a bowl of whipped cream.
VARIATION: This mixture can be made into cookies or almendrados. Double the amount of almonds, and grind them to a fine powder in a spice grinder or coffee mill. Drop heaped teaspoons onto greased baking sheets and cook in a preheated oven at 140\u00b0C (275\u00b0F) Gas 1 for 15 minutes. They will be soft when they come out of the oven, but firm up when cold.
NOTE: Vanilla paste is found in larger supermarkets, often in the gourmet food department. If you can't find it, use the seeds from 1 vanilla pod.