Three ingredients?
Why, that hardly even counts as a recipe!
But the beauty of meringues is the kitchen miracle of how a few simple egg whites, sweetened and whipped into cloud-like shapes, can bake up gently to such a melt-in-mouth light crispy goodness. Smother a lemon pie, if you must, but I prefer to take my meringues in cookie form…
Basic Meringue Recipe
For each 1 egg white, you’ll need a good pinch (1/8tsp) of cream of tartar and caster sugar to taste (about 2 Tbsp per egg white).
Pre-heat the oven to 200°F.
Whip together the egg whites and cream of tartar, until medium-soft peaks form, then continue whipping as you gradually add the sugar.
When the mixture stands up in firm peaks, spoon it out (or pipe with a pastry bag) onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake about 2 hours for teaspoon-sized dollops, about 3 hours for standard cookie size. You want the meringues to be dry and hard to the touch, but don’t let them start to brown.
How many egg whites?
It depends on how large a recipe you want to make. I find that 3 egg whites is a good number…
Meringue recipe variations
- Tint with food colouring,
- Fold in a generous spoonful of crushed candy canes or peppermints
- Top with sliced almonds or a twist of candied lemon peel,
- Dip a baked meringue lady-finger into melted chocolate…
… the possibilities are endless, so follow your whim and have fun!
Easy, yes? Just as long as you don’t try to bake meringues under very humid conditions, as extra moisture is the one thing you really don’t want. Meringues dry out, rather than bake in any conventional sense, so forget about whipping them up in the middle of a summer thunderstorm…
And here’s a final kitchen tip: If you don’t have caster sugar, just grind up your ordinary white sugar to make it less coarse: in fact, I keep an old spare coffee grinder on hand just for grinding up nuts and sugar and other cooking ingredients that I don’t necessarily want to have enhanced by the flavour of coffee beans.
Photo: ifindkarma
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meringues are a personal favorite of mine… they’re easy and elegant… your tips are terrific. I’ve had the opportunity for many experiments with meringues, they are the ideal festive snack for our gluten intolerant loved ones…
i LOVE this! i was just thinking the other day…why dont i do something with meringue?? honestly, i think i’ve only made it once, and it was for a pie. but it seems so much LESS unhealthy than some of the other ooeygooey cookies and things we make for holidays.
and i love your little piped pretties–how delicate! im craving one now! haha. i also love the adding crushed candy canes idea. im gonna do it! i think i may even do both the crushed candy canes AND dip in dark chocolate…*drool*