Aquafaba is such a miracle! You can even make chocolate kisses with it. I usually use ready-made cookies for the base, but you can also bake small cookies yourself (try one of the cookie recipes from my Dutch book Dosia Bakt Vegan). You can add all kinds of tasty flavors to the filling such as ginger, cardamom, lemon or cinnamon. For this recipe you really need a sugar thermometer to measure the temperature of the sugar syrup.
vegan chocolate kisses
for ± 20 kisses
90 ml / 6 tbsp aquafaba
½ tsp lemon juice + extra to degrease
100 g / ½ cup of sugar
1 tsp agar agar (± 2 g)
1 tsp vanilla extract (± 5 ml)
20 small vegan cookies (± 4 cm / 1½ inch ø), home-baked or ready-made
150 g / 1 cup dark chocolate chips, or roughly chopped dark chocolate
also needed: piping bag with a ± 1 cm / ½ inch ø piping tip and a sugar thermometer
Boil the aquafaba on low heat and reduce to 60 ml / 4 tbs. Leave to cool in the fridge (or put it in the freezer if you are in a hurry). Degrease the bowl and beaters with some lemon juice and rub dry with a piece of kitchen paper. Beat the aquafaba with ½ teaspoon of lemon juice until firm peaks form.
Bring 50 ml / 3½ tbs of water with the sugar to the boil and put the sugar thermometer in the pan. Heat until the mixture reaches 117°C / 242°F . Add the agar agar around 100°C / 212°F and stir well.
Remove the pan from the heat and, while beating, pour the hot sugar mixture along the side of the mixer bowl into the aquafaba in a very thin stream. Add the vanilla extract. Continue to beat until the foam has cooled to room temperature and is very firm. Put it in a piping bag. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and pipe little mounds on the cookies. Press the tips down with a wet finger. Let it dry for ± 2 hours.
Put the chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl and place the bowl on a pan with some gently boiling water. The bottom of the bowl must not touch the water. Melt the chocolate. Or put the bowl of chocolate in the microwave and heat for 1 minute at full power. Stir and heat again for 1 minute at full power. Repeat until the chocolate has melted. Always stir well in between because the chocolate often keeps its shape even though it has melted. Allow to cool slightly.
Place the cookies on a rack and scoop the chocolate over it. Use a pastry brush to distribute the chocolate nicely. Or dip the top of the mounds in the chocolate (you will need a lot more chocolate if you choose to do it this way). Allow to cool completely. The kisses can be kept for 3-4 days outside the fridge and 1 week in the fridge.
