Melting and Chewy Meringues
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| Crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. I make mine flatter than normal to speed up cooking. |
If You Could Serve Up Joy...
Meringues date back to the early to mid 17th century. It isn't known for certain whether they originated in France or Italy or even in Switzerland, but we do generally accept France's claim to the delicious meringue. Each country has a different traditional method for making them and I will be writing posts for each method in time.
Meringues have been used throughout history as a luxuriously decadent snack on its own or with softly whipped cream. It is also a key component in the quintessentially British dessert, Eton mess.
Softer varieties of meringue, such as the Italian and swiss styles have been the basis for international dishes such as lemon meringue pie and baked Alaska and every country now seems to have their own traditional dish that incorporates meringue in some form or another.
The meringues I will be going through today are based loosely on the french method of making them although I have altered the method ever so slightly to allow for flatter meringues with a nice chewy centre. These cook quicker and are perfect for my own Eton mess recipe coming to this blog very soon!
If you want to see lovely peaked clouds of meringue then watch this space as I will be posting those up on the blog soon too!
Meringues have been used throughout history as a luxuriously decadent snack on its own or with softly whipped cream. It is also a key component in the quintessentially British dessert, Eton mess.
Softer varieties of meringue, such as the Italian and swiss styles have been the basis for international dishes such as lemon meringue pie and baked Alaska and every country now seems to have their own traditional dish that incorporates meringue in some form or another.
The meringues I will be going through today are based loosely on the french method of making them although I have altered the method ever so slightly to allow for flatter meringues with a nice chewy centre. These cook quicker and are perfect for my own Eton mess recipe coming to this blog very soon!
If you want to see lovely peaked clouds of meringue then watch this space as I will be posting those up on the blog soon too!
- Makes around 10, depends on the size you spoon out
- Prep - 20 mins
- Cooking - 50 mins
Gather The Ingredients...
- 4 Large Egg Whites (You can use the yolks in my yummy egg and bacon tarts)
- 115g Caster Sugar
- 115g Icing Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Let's Make Some Meringues...
Preheat your oven to 120°C.
Place your egg whites and vanilla extract into your mixer with the whisk attachment on and start beating the eggs on medium speed. Keep an eye on the mixer and you want the egg whites to hold a medium to soft peaks, like a shiny bowl of melted marshmallow.
At this point put your mixer on full speed and add the caster sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, leaving a couple of seconds between each spoonful. Immediately turn off the mixer once all the caster sugar is added and remove the bowl from its stand.
Sift 1/3 of the icing sugar into the mix and slowly and carefully fold it into the meringue. Repeat this step until all of the icing sugar is combined. Do not worry too much about the odd bit of icing sugar still visible or not dissolved in as it will not matter once it is cooking.
Take a tray lined with non-stick baking parchment and dollop the mixture liberally onto the tray to make a series of little blobs on the parchment. Place in the oven for around 45 minutes to 50 minutes. they should be a pale beige colour on top and if you tap the bottom, they should sound light and airy.
Leave to cool on the tray or on a wire rack.
There you have it, yummy chewy centred meringues, perfect for breaking up into desserts!
Place your egg whites and vanilla extract into your mixer with the whisk attachment on and start beating the eggs on medium speed. Keep an eye on the mixer and you want the egg whites to hold a medium to soft peaks, like a shiny bowl of melted marshmallow.
At this point put your mixer on full speed and add the caster sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, leaving a couple of seconds between each spoonful. Immediately turn off the mixer once all the caster sugar is added and remove the bowl from its stand.
Sift 1/3 of the icing sugar into the mix and slowly and carefully fold it into the meringue. Repeat this step until all of the icing sugar is combined. Do not worry too much about the odd bit of icing sugar still visible or not dissolved in as it will not matter once it is cooking.
Take a tray lined with non-stick baking parchment and dollop the mixture liberally onto the tray to make a series of little blobs on the parchment. Place in the oven for around 45 minutes to 50 minutes. they should be a pale beige colour on top and if you tap the bottom, they should sound light and airy.
Leave to cool on the tray or on a wire rack.
There you have it, yummy chewy centred meringues, perfect for breaking up into desserts!
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