meringue questions & recipe (includes microwave version)

csarina

I have made more meringues than I care to remember.

2 egg whites not straight out of the fridge
4ozs castor sugar
level teaspoon of cornflour stirred into the sugar.

Whisk the egg whites until when you take the whisk out the mixture stays in peaks, add the sugar/corn flour gradually whisking all the time.

Use two grease free spoons and shape the mixture into ovals, place on a tray lined with baking parchment.

C6ok in an electric oven for 1 hour on 300F 150C and then turn off the heat and leave overnight, you will have lovely meringues which will melt in your mouth when you bit into them.

If you have a gas oven you will have to use a low gas and cook for 2 hours and then again leave in the oven to dry out overnight.

Whip some cream and sandwich two meringues together and put in a large muffin case. To make a pavlova, spread the meringue into a 10" dia round leaving a bit of a lip on the outside to keep in any strawberries, raspberries etc...... or put some of the mixture in a piping bag and using a star nozzle pipe a ring of stars around the edge of the meringue disc,cook as above, be careful it does not colour too much, it needs to stay pale.

buxtonrabbitgreen

D&DD wrote:

Am I the only lazy person who makes them in the microwave lol

Ingredients
1 large egg, white only
255g/9oz icing sugar, sifted
double cream, for serving



Method
1. Mix the egg white and icing sugar in a medium bowl until it forms a fudge-like dough.
2. Divide the mixture into nine and roll each portion into a ball.
3. Place three balls at a time on to a piece of non-stick paper on a microwave-proof plate.
4. Microwave on high for one minute 50 seconds.
5. Remove and set aside to set.
6. Once the meringues have hardened, remove and repeat step 3 twice more.
7. Serve piled up and drizzled with cream.

Yes this is how I always do it too. Instant cakes. Yum

Gingernutmeg

miss_pink wrote:

had the same problem, i work in a school for special needs kids and thought we,d give meringues a go, "sounds easy" we all said. Complete mistake we whisked for about half an hour and got nowhere. Would it be that we were using supermarket value eggs? We did follow the recipe by the book, mind you the kids loved the electric mixing so were,nt to bother what the outcome was!

The problem was probably that you were using a plastic mixing bowl - they are terrible to clean thoroughly and I've found that they always hold a bit of grease, no matter how much you scrub them. Professional chefs swear by things like the KitchenAid mixers mainly because they have metal bowls - they're easy to clean and don't stay greasy.

You can rub a slice of lemon around the bowl before you add the egg whites. This gets rid of some of the grease and makes making meringues easier.

miss_pink_4

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

The problem was probably that you were using a plastic mixing bowl - they are terrible to clean thoroughly and I've found that they always hold a bit of grease, no matter how much you scrub them. Professional chefs swear by things like the KitchenAid mixers mainly because they have metal bowls - they're easy to clean and don't stay greasy.

You can rub a slice of lemon around the bowl before you add the egg whites. This gets rid of some of the grease and makes making meringues easier.

Yes you are so right we did use plastic bowls and yes they do feel alittle greasy, so much for our washing up ehhh

peppermint

does anyone know if you can substitute sweetener for the sugar?
maybe half and half?

i absolutely love meringues and have never dared to try making them.

janb5

Go for it Peppermint but do use sugar! It is a treat after all, not sure that Spenda would work!

livalot

the four egg whites that I have in a bowl in my fridge I used the egg yolks last nightfor another recipe (carbonara pasta) and now have these left over and do not want to throw them away! I had thought of making a meringue ..... but since I have never made one before and there are toooooooo many recipes on the web I am a bit confused..... perhaps somebody out there has got a good recipe for a meringue

thanks for any help

Livalot x

peb

Hiya If you have a look on D&DD's thread there is a recipe for microwave meringue which is apparently both easy and tasty - I don't actually like meringue so cannot copy. Otherwise you can add them to things like scrambled egg and omelette - eg two whole eggs and two whites.

I think if you are health conscious (!) the Americans have scrambled white only with a bit of food colouring - I am definately not going to try that one!

HTH

squeaky

Hiya

I've added your post to an earlier thread which has recipes on it plus a link to microwave recipes should you care to try them.

Good luck

livalot

thanks for moving this and for the reicpes! Def will be making either a meringue or a pavlova tonight for pudding. Before I do , am I right in thinking that Pavlova is simply a bigger / squigier version of the meringue and thats why it needs cornflour and vinegar? I don't have a microwave so do they really take almost 2 hours - thinking of that huge gas bill :rotfl:

thanks

Livalot x