Meringue Recipe
Perfect meringues every time!
This meringue recipe includes tips for making the best meringues ever. Fresh home made meringues are an amazing treat and just perfect at afternoon tea.
These meringues are crisp on the outside and the inside is a soft cloud of fluffy marshmallow. Melt in the mouth bliss......
They look very pretty when piled up high on a plate for afternoon tea, or when served on a cake stand among other little treats. It's nice to have something that's not flour based as part of the tea. So many afternoon tea treats are heavy on the flour.
Tips for making the very best meringues
Before the meringue recipe itself, I'd like to dispell a few myths and worries for those who have not made meringues or have had disasters with meringues. There are a few simple pointers which will help make your meringues turn out perfectly.
Do not use a plastic mixing bowl.
Somehow it affects the egg whites and they go watery.
Always make sure that the bowl and the beaters are absolutely clean.
I wash them in hot soapy water and dry them with a clean tea towel before I start so I know they are clean.
Any trace of fat or oil will prevent the eggs from whisking properly and your meringues will not work.
When you are adding the sugar, do it slowly.
This will stop the meringues from "weeping" during cooking.
Use very fresh eggs.
Use the freshest eggs that you can get hold off. Stale eggs do not hold the air as well. Fresh egg whites are thick and gelatinous rather than watery.
Bring your eggs to room temperature.
Finally, if you like to refrigerate your eggs, take them out of the fridge a couple of hours before you intend to make the meringue. Chilled egg whites cannot hold the air as well as egg whites at room temperature.
The most important ingredient
of meringues is air.
The whole process is about getting the air in and keeping it there.
Meringues will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you want to keep them longer they do freeze quite well too. I generally serve them within a day or so.
Actually, they rarely last more than a few minutes once they go on the table!!
Meringue Recipe
- Pre-heat the oven to 210F, gas mark 1/4.
- Line two baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs in a large bowl (not plastic) on medium speed until they stand up in stiff peaks.
Stop as soon as they stand in stiff peaks.
Overwhisking causes cracking.
Not a disaster - but not as pretty.
- Increase the speed and add half a tablespoon of caster sugar. Count to four then add another spoonful. Keep counting to four and keep adding the sugar until it has all been added.
- Sift in about a third of the icing sugar and fold it gently into the eggs. Remember that you are trying to fold in air. Always use a large metal spoon for folding.
- Sift in another third and fold in.
- Sift and fold in the remaining icing sugar. Take care not to overfold. Stop as soon as the sugar is mixed in.
- Take a little of the meringue and use it to stick down the baking parchment at the corners in small blobs.
Pipe them and get them in the oven quickly
to avoid the meringue collapsing.
- Now you can either pipe the meringue using an icing bag with a large nozzle (in fact I use a plastic icing bag with no nozzle, just snip off the end so you have a hole about 3/4 inch diameter)or you can use metal spoons to make blobs of meringue directly onto the baking parchment.
- Use roughly two tablespoons of mixture for each meringue, or just what looks right.
- Bake in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
- When they are ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before gently removing them to a cooling rack to get completely cold.
You could also use this meringue recipe to make nests for mini pavlovas if you so wish.
I think mini meringues look fantastic piled high in a large bowl - especially a glass bowl. We used a gorgeous piece of pink depression glass for the photo at the top, and it's perfect.
You have to be very careful with the meringues if you piped them - the tops break off very easily!
You can serve meringues with cream
swirled through with raspberry puree.
It's also lovely to put whipped cream in a bowl, put it on a plate and surround the bowl with strawberries and meringues. The strawberries and the meringues can then be dipped in the cream for an informal party.
Sometimes we like to swirl raspberry or stawberry puree through the cream.
If you want, you can sandwich two meringues together with whipped cream, which is very traditional, but it can be more messy and difficult to eat than just dipping.
For fun at Halloween, you can put little eyes on them and make them look like ghouls!
Serve with
For a very pretty afternoon spread, try serving meringues with fresh strawberries and cream, white chocolate raspberry cake and lemon and mint cucumber sandwiches.
If you are serving a cake stand full of afternoon treats, meringues look great as part of the look. Try with dark chocolate cupcakes, a selection of finger sandwiches, and English tea scones with strawberry jam and cream.
As for tea, I think mini meringues taste fantastic with mint tea, or hibiscus tea, if you were to have them on their own. But usually, I serve this meringue recipe as part of an afternoon tea spread.
If you were thought our Meringue Recipe was Marvellous, you might Love our Lemon Layer Cake.