Vermicelle Igloo

Whisk the egg white together with a pinch of salt and about 30 g of the sugar. After a short while, add a further 30 g of the sugar.

As soon as the mixture starts to thicken, slowly sprinkle in 60 g of the sugar and whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Add the remaining sugar just before you finish.

Fill a piping bag – fitted beforehand with a No. 10 nozzle – with the finished meringue mixture.

To pipe the igloo, you’ll now need a silicone hemisphere mould. We used a hemisphere with a 7 cm diameter, but you can of course use other sizes as well. The 6 cm hemispheres work very well too.

Turn the silicone mould over so that the outwardly curved side is facing you, and start piping the meringue mixture onto it.

Start at the bottom, along the outer edge. Form a small dot with the meringue mixture and pull it forwards. This creates a teardrop shape that becomes not only more pointed but also flatter towards the front. Using this technique, you can easily stack several of these teardrops on top of one another until you reach the top of the hemisphere. Finish off the top with a simple, slightly larger dot.

Always pipe just three igloos onto a mat at a time, so that there is a bit of space between them and they don’t stick together.

Using a teaspoon, remove a small, gate-shaped section of the piped egg white mixture to create a small opening.

The igloos must now be left to dry in the oven for 90 minutes at 80 ºC (fan oven).

Once they’ve dried, carefully remove the igloos from the mats and leave them to cool for about 20 minutes. As they cool, they’ll harden slightly, making them easier to fill afterwards.