Mad for Meringue: 19 Delicious Meringue Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Should eggs be cold to make meringue? ›

Eggs whipped at room temperature will get the same result. We recommend using fresh, cold egg whites for meringues. They make a foam that is easier to work with, and the baked meringues have a more delicate and uniform texture.

Use Fresh Eggs for Greater Stability: It's often said that old whites are your best choice for making meringue, and in fact there is some level of truth to the claim. Old egg whites are thinner, so they foam more quickly and produce more volume, which was great back when people whipped meringue by hand.

If you add the sugar too quickly then the mixture will never acquire the stiff consistency you want. You also need to be careful if you've used extra ingredients to flavour your meringues. Oils (such as those in nuts or zest) and liquids can stop the egg whites from stiffening, so you have to experiment with amounts.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch is an excellent way to foolproof your meringue. Use it to create added fluff and keep your hard-won volume from shrinking. Cream of Tartar: Often added in when making meringues, acidic cream of tartar provides lift and stabilization.

In a meringue recipe, such as Nigella's Mini Pavlovas (from Domestic Goddess and on the Nigella website), the vinegar is added as it helps to stabilize the whisked egg whites and helps the meringue mixture to hold the air whisked in to it.

The more sugar added to a meringue mixture, the denser and smoother the final foam will be. Sugar inhibits the eggwhite protein from forming bonds around air pockets, so the more sugar you incorporate, the less airy the foam will be. Adding the sugar too late and/or too slowly.

Beat until the meringue is very smooth, very glossy, and thick. This should take 3 to 6 minutes. If you're topping a pie, spoon, pipe, or slather the top of the still-warm pie filling with the meringue. Then bake the pie at 400 degrees until golden brown on top, about 6 minutes.

It can be made with any sugar. One cup of superfine sugar or packed brown sugar is equal to 1 cup of granulated sugar; 1-3/4 cups powdered sugar equals 1 cup granulated. Superfine sugar may dissolve more readily and produce a smoother glossier meringue, but volume will not be as great.

Use ultrafine Baker's Sugar for meringues and other baked goods – it dissolves faster than regular granulated sugar. Use ultrafine Baker's Sugar to help prevent “weeping” or sogginess. Meringues will weep if there's any undissolved sugar. Don't put granulated sugar in a food processor to achieve a finer grain.

Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold. This will affect your meringue's crispness, as well as making it more likely to collapse or weep beads of sugar. As my meringue guru Gary Mehigan advises: “If you over whip the egg whites you cannot fix it.

What happens if you whip meringue too long? ›

There is such a thing as too strong. If your whipped egg whites become curdled and dry, they have gone too far. After excessive whipping, the proteins can get so close to each other, they essentially suffocate and expel the water contained within their circle, causing your foam to separate.

The crisp, ethereal cookies you know and love have egg whites to thank for their texture. Ensure the meringue turns stiff and glossy by adding in a pinch of cream of tartar.

The sugar also enables the meringue to stretch and have a high content of air bubbles that can make the meringue light and airy. Typically, refined white granulated sugar is used; however, it is a simple carbohydrate with no beneficial health effects, although it does improve consumer perception.

Slowly stream in the sugar after the egg whites have been whipping for about 10 seconds. Add the sugar in thirds: 1/3 when the whites are a very pale yellow (about 10 seconds in), 1/3 when the whites begin to foam, and 1/3 just before the whites reach a soft peak. Add all of the sugar at once.