Raspberry Meringue Sandwiches with Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
Sweet and airy baked meringue rosettes are spiked with tart and fruity raspberry, and sandwiched around the silkiest dark chocolate whipped ganache. You’ll do a double-take when you taste this confection! They taste even better than they look! Naturally gluten-free.
Oh boy. Oh wow. Do I have a fabulous Valentines Day treat for you guys today! These babies are ah-mazing, for serious!
You have heard me go on and on about my love for Ghirardelli many times before. I evangelize about their unsweetened cocoa powder (here, here, and here) every chance I get. And their baking chips are all I’ll ever use (remember these?); they are my absolute fave. I just love how easy they make it to really get high quality chocolate. I can always find Ghirardelli at my regular supermarket, and the product is, IMHO, so far superior to other grocery store brands. I picked these little beauties up at Giant; no trip to a specialty food store required!
The raspberry meringues are pretty tasty all by themselves, but truly, the 60% cacao baking chips are what take them completely over the top. Have you ever tried the 60% chocolate? The flavor is so incredible. So very dark and intense. They really balance out the sweetness of the meringues. I had a feeling they’d be good when the idea first came to me, but I seriously did a double-take when I took that first bite!
I was really impressed by how much the raspberry flavor comes through! I never knew you could add preserves to meringue in this way; I always assumed that would cause it to deflate or somehow mess with the delicate chemistry. But it worked like a charm! I got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens. And now I can’t wait to experiment in other ways! Look out pavlova and macarons: I’ve got my eye on you!
The rosettes are easy enough to pipe with a Wilton 1M tip. It looks like an open star. You’ll want to start in the center and pipe a tight circle, then just continue around, spiraling outward. I happened across this picture tutorial the other day, while browsing Pinterest. It’s perfect and it saved me the trouble and embarrassment of photographing my winter-beaten hands! :o/
Also I should mention that a really big pastry bag is perfect for a job like this. I use the 16″ size, and that way I don’t have to keep interrupting my flow to refill the bag. It’s a timesaver! I have the polyester ones, but the disposable plastic is probably even better. If you aren’t really careful about cleaning the reusable ones with soap and super hot water, the residual grease from buttercreams and stuff like that can really mess with egg whites.
You are going to love the way that intense, deep dark chocolate plays against the sweet, fruity, light and crisp meringue. First, that delicate confection just crumbles and melts on your tongue, and then the smooth rich chocolate takes over and tempers the sugary sweetness. The contrast is so heavenly!
How gorgeous would a box of these look, all wrapped up pretty for your love? Nothing beats chocolate (and pink!) for Valentine’s Day, and it doesn’t get any better than Ghirardelli for baking!
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Raspberry Meringue Sandwiches with Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 10 ounces (283.5 g) bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) heavy cream
For the Meringues:
- 4 (120 g) egg whites, (large)
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
- a few drops pink gel food coloring, (optional)
Instructions
To Make the Filling:
- Place the baking chips in a mixing bowl.
- Heat the cream to simmering, and pour it over the baking chips, all at once. Allow to stand for 3 minutes.
- Use a wire whisk to stir the cream and chocolate together until smooth and well-combined. Cover, and set aside to cool completely.
- When the ganache has cooled and solidified, whip it on high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy and spreadable. The consistency should be similar to cake frosting.
To Make the Meringues:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees F.
- Whip the egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Gradually, and very slowly, add the sugar, while continuing to whip. Mixture should be very stiff and glossy.
- Place the jam and food coloring (if using) in a small bowl, and fold about a cup of the meringue in.
- Transfer the mixture back into the meringue, and fold gently to combine.
- Pipe rosettes onto parchment lined baking sheets, and bake for 2 hours or until the meringues are very dry and peel off the parchment easily.
To Assemble:
- Pipe or spread about a tablespoon of the whipped ganache over the back sides of half the meringues. Sandwich another meringue rosette on top.
- Keep in an airtight container.
These turned out well. Made them last night. Very dry, perfect. Put the ganache on about 4 hours ago, no they are all soft! Guess needs to be done last minute. Or did I d something wrong?
Oh no! Honestly I did not have that experience. Mine stayed dry and crunchy for days. Was your ganache still warm, by chance? Mine was very cool and pretty stiff to pipe. Maybe that could have made the difference?
Hi, I’ve looked through your post and can’t find an idea of approximately how many cookies the recipes makes. Can you please enlighten me? Thanks!
Hey Micol! It kinda depends on how large you pipe them but I would think you could get anywhere from 1 1/2 – 2 dozen sandwiches. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
I am having a hard time finding a pink gel food coloring. Can you tell me what brand you used and where you bought it? I have these in the oven at the moment. All is going well so far.
Hey Ghirardelli Chic! I just use the gel-paste food coloring by Wilton. The color is “Rose Pink,” and you can get it at craft stores like Michael’s or A.C. Moore. They usually have it at Wal-Mart too. Here’s a link, so you can see what to look for. You only need a little speck on the end of a toothpick, to tint the whole batch. Thanks for reading; hope you enjoy!
Hi Allie!
I just made these last night and it took them about an hour and a half longer to bake. Some lost the color and all of them are very sticky on the top. What do you recommend to fix this? I’ll be trying another batch soon.
Hi Ulrike! Sorry you had such trouble- it sounds to me like you had a lot of humidity in your kitchen last night. The meringues are very senstive to that. If you have a convection setting on your oven, I would definitely recommend using that. I hope that helps!
Hi there, am making these, but there is way more meringue than can fit on one baking sheet! can i store the extra until the 2 hours is up? or is it pretty much garbage? thanlks
I honestly don’t know for sure, but I think it’s certainly worth trying! I would keep it in an airtight container in the fridge just because it’s eggs, you know. And get yourself more than one baking sheet! Lol… I think I have about 10 but of course that’s overkill I’m sure. 😉 Good luck Kait and let me know how you make out, ok?
Thanks for replying back! i didn’t think that i could do two sheets at once because then one would be closer to the bottom or the top of the oven! I just re-whipped it and they turned out better than my first batch! these are divine…. i am in love with them!! also mind if i ask what tip you used for the roses? I think i used a 1 M but i didn’t like how they piped! they were nice, but not as crisp as yours! You have inspired a whole new territory in the kitchen for me! thanks for your wonderful post 🙂
That is so wonderful to hear, Kait! I couldn’t be happier to have inspired you to create. I’m so glad to hear that they turned out ok- that’s so great to know for future reference 😉 And you’re instincts are spot-on, it was a 1M tip! Thank you so much for reading and sharing your experience with me and my readers. Enjoy!
Im new to baking. Are there any health precautions i should take in storing these? Do you know if I could leave them, put them in the fridge or in the freezer? How long should they last? Thank you!
Hey Kylie! Thanks so much for reading. They should last a couple of days in an airtight container. I think if you refrigerated them they might lose that light crisp quality, and become chewy. Nothing to worry about health-wise, but maybe just not as palatable. Good luck and enjoy!
Making these as we speak for Mother’s Day. Just tasted the meringue before I put them in the oven and I about died, SO DELICIOUS! So excited to finish them up!!
Yay!!! I’m so happy you made these! They are such a perfect Mother’s Day treat. I hope you enjoyed them, Crystal! Thanks so much for trying one of my recipes 😀
Looking forward to making these for a ladies spa night this weekend. I know depending on size, but around how many does this make? Looks delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Ooh, that sounds fun! Can I come??? 😛 I’m sure I probably ended up with at least a dozen and a half, maybe 2 dozen? They were about 3 inches in diameter. Sorry I somehow forgot to include that in the recipe card! I hope you enjoy! 😀
Hi i am trying your recipe but am in need of some help please :/ how do you keep the pink colour from turning a toasty brown? Even at the lowest temp setting its turning brown 🙁 any advice please?
It should not turn brown! What is the lowest setting on your oven? On mine it is 170 degrees F. Be sure the sheet tray is not too close to the heating element. Try to place it directly in the center of your oven. If your oven can’t get to a low enough temperature, try preheating it, then turn it off before you put the meringues in there, and let them sit and dry in the warm oven overnight. Hope that helps! Good luck!
Thanks will try that 🙂 and will let you know, however it was a hit everyone enjoyed them.. hope next time they will loook as pretty as yours. Thanks again for the tip.
My pleasure, Sabrina! I’m so happy to hear that your guests enjoyed the meringues. Hopefully they won’t turn brown on you next time! But at least they still tasted good. Thanks for reading, dear!
Hi Allie! Just stopping by from Zainab’s site. Ooooh and how pretty! 😀 I just pinned these. I can only imagine how delicious these must taste. They are just stunning. Perfect centerpieces.
I love your site and I am so happy to have discovered it.
Toodles,
Tammy<3
Me too Tammy! I’m so happy you stopped over and thanks for pinning! And for saying hi! Hope to see you here again 😉
These are just so beautiful! It’s like a plate of roses! Mmmm
Thank you, Heather, that’s just the effect I was going for! I’m so happy you liked the post; thanks for the great feedback! 😀
WOW. These look fantastic. Being lactose-intolerant I think I’d be happy with just the raspberry meringue!
Thanks, Liv! The meringues are really nice by themselves too! Thanks so much for the sweet comment 😀
Wow Allie!! Not only are these beautiful, but they are gluten free too!! Thank you so much for sharing! I love getting your recipes every week!
Aw thanks, Ester! Every now and again I have a good gluten free one for ya! 😉 Thanks for reading and for the sweet comment. Hope you’re having a great week!
Girl, these are without a doubt the prettiest sandwich cookies I’ve ever seen! How did you get them to look this adorable wow?? And they sound truly delicious as well. I love the raspberry + chocolate combo, and those Girardelli chips do sound fantastic. I wish I could get them here though :–( xx
Me tooo, Consuelo! These were really easy to make and if you can’t get Ghirardelli I think they’d work equally well with any good quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. Thanks for the sweet comment, now go study, lol!
OMG! These look amazing Allie! Love the flavor combo too….perfect for Valentine’s! 🙂
Thanks Liz! That’s just what I was thinking too. 😉
You really need to open a bakery!! Preferably in my neighborhood! These meringues are so beautiful and I’m sure they taste extraordinary. I would kill to try one 🙂
I would love to share some with you Nora! Hope you’re having a great week and thanks for the great comment 😉