Crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside.
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I have written a post on the history and differences of the various meringue recipes. Today, we will be making the French (or Dutch) meringues –the least difficult version of the ultra sweet treats.
If you’re like me, you will want to avoid waste. So, when you make cookies or ice cream, only calling for egg yolks, you have the egg whites left. This is a nice way of using all the ingredients, and throwing nothing out. It feels good to be thoughtful. And tasteful, too.
Although you can beat the egg whites by hand, the easiest and fastest way is by means of a mixer. You can use a hand mixer, such as this KitchenAid. It is easy, handy and quick to clean. Alternatively, use your trusted stand mixer.
Meringues
Ingredients
- 300 grams finest powdered or confectioner’s sugar
- 150 grams egg whites (the fresher, the better)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (alternatively, pinch of salt)
- Vanilla extract
- Food coloring (Optional)
Instructions
Utensils
- Large metal or glass bowl (no aluminium, wood or plastic)
- Standing mixer, hand mixer or if you really want to and you are a true die-hard and/or hipster, a whisk
- Kitchen tissue, little bit of lemon juice (does not have to be fresh, the small bottle version will do)
- Large baking sheet, baking paper
- Flexible scraper
- Piping bag, large measuring cup to help filling the piping bag
- Unused, small painters brush
Preparation
- Put the egg whites in the glass bowl of your mixer and add the pinch of salt or cream of tartar. Start by whisking slowly to get air in the mixture. Increase the speed of the machine to get stiff peaks.
- Make sure there is not a single speck of egg yolk in the mix. The fat in the yolk will prevent the whites from stiffening.
- First of all, make sure your utensils are completely fat-free. Use the kitchen tissue with a couple of drops of lemon juice to clean the inside of your washed glass or metal bowl to eliminate all fat residue. When there is fat in the bowl or on the whisks, the egg whites will not completely stiffen up in the best case, or nothing will happen –that is more likely. The meringues will not become the delicate treats you want them to be.
- Preheat the oven. It is decision time now: do you want to have meringues that are cooked through and through, without a chewy center, you will want to dry them, and that you do at 100C/210F. If you want to have the meringues having a hard crust but chewy inside, you bake, at 140C/275F. With the higher temperature, you run the risk of cracked meringues. The taste does not change,but the appearance does.
Make the mixture and shape
- Add the sugar spoon by spoon and continue until you have added it all. Cover the top of your mixer or bowl as the sugar will puff out in big clouds.
- When you have added all the sugar, continue whisking at high speed for about 5 to 7 minutes. Test the mix by pinching a bit of the mix between your fingers: you should not be able to feel the sugar: it should be very smooth. Do not mix too long as the proteins will no longer hold. When that is the case, start over: you cannot salvage ‘over-beaten’ egg whites.
- Get your piping bag, and fold it back. Push in the piping mold piece: you can use the edged one for a cool, sharp edge in your meringues, or just go for the clean, straight one. That works very well if you use coloring.
- Get your food coloring, and using the brush, paint small stripes of coloring from the tip of the bag up.
- This tip is from the recipe of The Meringue Girls, who have their recipe here [insert link]. Their must-have cook book (present from the Queen of Flavors in my case) is a very good source of out-of-the-box combinations of flavors. Their recipe uses hot sugar from the oven, which is cool but too much work for me.
- It helps to use a large measuring cup, place the piping bag in it, and use the edges of the cup to hold up the bag up. Get your flexible scraper and fill the bag with the firm whites. Do not push to hard to smear the stripes, but make sure to carefully push any pockets of air away.
- Grab your large baking sheet and drop four drops of mixture on each of the corners of the sheet. Line the baking parchment paper: the little drops will prevent the paper from moving.
- With the piping bag, pipe small heaps of mixture on the sheet. Do not place them too close together. Depending on your taste of the appearance, you can leave a small peak, or push-and-quickly-twist to get a more clean appearance. Repeat until the mixture is all gone. Use more sheets if necessary.
Baking/drying
- Bake or dry the meringues. If you bake, you bake for 30-40 minutes, that will preserve the gooey inside. If you dry, bake for 1,5 to 2 hours.
- If the meringues don’t come off the tray easily, or they crack when you touch them, continue baking on the appropriate temperature until they are done.
Storing
- If the meringues don’t come off the tray easily, or they crack when you touch them, continue baking on the appropriate temperature until they are done.
Your results
- I would love to see your results, and designs with the colors, stripes or spots. You can send me a photo through info@theorangebaker.com, and I will happily feature it!