Meringues
I am sure that there are recipes for meringues in hundreds of cookery books and blogs. However, I’m posting this one, for convenience, as an accompaniment to my recipes for home-made ice cream. Most of my ice cream recipes needs four egg yolks and my meringue recipe needs four egg whites. Therefore, when I make ice-cream, I generally make meringues too.
The home-made version, crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside, is so much better than dry and powdery ready-made meringues. They keep for around a week in a tin so you don’t need to gorge on both ice-cream and meringues at the same time (although admittedly that is what sometimes happens in my house..)
We generally eat meringues sandwiched together with unsweetened whipped cream and accompanied by a few berries – strawberries, blueberries or, my favourite, raspberries.
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What you need to know about this recipe
- You need to grease your baking tray to stop the meringues sticking. However, do not overdo it with the grease of you will have greasy meringues. Make sure you remove the meringues from the tray as soon as they are out of the oven. If you leave them to cool on the baking tray, it might be difficult to remove them from it.
- It is really important to cook the meringues at a very low heat. Check towards the end of the cooking time to make sure that they are not starting to turn light brown. If so, reduce the temperature further or, if they look done, remove them from the oven.
- I simply spoon the meringue mixture onto the baking tray. I use either a teaspoon, a dessert spoon or a tablespoon depending on how large I want my meringues (step 6).
- I generally serve each of my guests two meringues, sandwiched together with some whipped cream, accompanied by some fresh berries. However, they are fine just with the cream! You can use any berries that you like. I will use strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries. Sometimes, I will use a mix of berries.
- It is important to allow your meringues to cool completely before adding cream or berries. I generally make mine the day before I serve them. They keep very well at room temperature in a sealed container.
- You should assemble the meringues, adding any cream or berries, just before you are ready to serve them. If you add them a long time in advance, they will make the meringues soggy.
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Other meringue recipes
I love meringues and pavlovas and make a lot of them all year around. Here are some my other favourites.
- Rose Meringues – similar to basic meringues but flavoured with rosewater
- Strawberry Pavlova – basic pavlova recipe with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
- Lemon Pavlova – easy pavlova topped with lemon curd and whipped cream
- Cranberry Pavlova – a winter pavlova topped with home-made cranberry sauce!
If you are not in the mood for meringue, I also have lots of other easy dessert recipes.
Easy Meringue Recipe
PrintMeringues
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 90
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 medium sized meringues 1x
- Category: Meringues
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: English
Description
Crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside, these delicious home-made Meringues are the ultimate light summer dessert.
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites
- Pinch of salt
- 225 g caster sugar
Instructions
- Set the oven to 140 C/275F or Gas Mark 1.
- Cover two baking sheets with baking parchment. Spread a very thin film of flavourless oil, such as rapeseed oil, on the baking parchment (the best way is to rub it over the parchment with your fingers and then remove the excess with a piece of kitchen towel).
- Whisk the egg whites with the salt until they form soft peaks.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar to the egg whites and whisk again until very stiff and shiny.
- Fold in the rest of the sugar.
- Spoon the mixture onto the baking parchment. You can make your meringues small, medium or large depending on the size spoon you use – teaspoon, dessert spoon or tablespoon.
- Place the baking tray in the oven and bake until they are hard on the outside but still gooey in the middle. This will take between an hour and an hour and a half.
- Remove the meringues from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
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