Meringues are easy to make - you just need patience and preferably a standing mixer because then it does all the work and you just have to show up at the end to sprinkle in confectioners sugar like fairy dust. So, my recipe:
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or any other extract)
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup confectioners sugar (1/4 cup more on hand)
Couple handfuls chocolate chips (or nuts or coconut or peppermint)
Here's what you do with them:
1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks fresh from the fridge because cold eggs separate easiest. However, if you start beating the whites right away, they really don't do their best work. Let the whites sit for about 30 minutes to give them time to get to room temperature. Use a metal or glass bowl and be sure that it's as clean as humanly possible. Any traces of oil or grease and you can beat those things to death and they'll never foam the way you want them to.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
3. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. No need to combine the dry ingredients, but I do so now's a good time to measure that stuff.
5. Once at room temperature, put the eggs in the standing mixer, turn it aaaalllllllll the way up and then back away.
6. When you get a good frothy foam, add the extract.
7. Once you have soft peaks forming, start adding the sugar, a tablespoon or so at a time. The eggs will start to thicken even more and they should be really glossy. Sometimes mine will get to the point where they are shiny and they're going and going and I have lovely soft peaks, but they just will not form a stiff peak. In those cases, I just add a little more sugar and that tends to do it. Do not be impatient.
8. Remove from the mixer and fold in any add-ins. Be gentle with the egg whites.
9. Spoon one sticky teaspoon sized dollop at a time onto the cookie sheet. I can double this recipe and fit all the cookies onto two large sheets. They all need to go into the oven at once. Meringue won't wait.
10. Cook at 300 for 30 minutes. I like to switch the 2 cookie sheets on the shelves at the 15 minute mark so that one batch doesn't brown under the broiler more than the other.
11. Decrease the heat to 225 and cook for another 30 minutes. At this point, you're drying the center more than you're actually cooking them.
12. Take them out, move them to a cooling rack, and let them cool.
13. Put them in something airtight because otherwise they will wilt and not be as crispy and delicious as you'd like.
A few additional notes:
- When they say don't make these on a humid day, they mean it. They won't ever form good peaks and they will be gooey before you can get them out of the oven and into some kind of container.
- Any combination of extract and add-in is awesome here - go nuts! If you're adding in something with some moisture like nuts or coconut, I like to toast them a little first bc I think it really brings out the flavor and it keeps you from getting little steam pockets in the meringue that make it harder for them to dry. Some things I've tried:
- almond extract and crunched slivered almonds
- pistachio extract with pistachio bits
- plain vanilla
- vanilla extract with chocolate chips (I use the minis.)
- coffee extract with chocolate chips - coffee extract, not coffee.
- coconut extract with coconut
- orange extract with zest - this is one of my favorites.
- peppermint extract with pieces of candy cane - A warning here. If you use the whole tsp of peppermint extract, the peppermint flavor will be STRONG. I prefer using part vanilla extract and part peppermint. It mellows it down a little.
A combination I read about and want to try - rose cardamom. It sounds ridiculously delicious.
Tonight's meringues:
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or any other extract)
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup confectioners sugar (1/4 cup more on hand)
Couple handfuls chocolate chips (or nuts or coconut or peppermint)
Here's what you do with them:
1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks fresh from the fridge because cold eggs separate easiest. However, if you start beating the whites right away, they really don't do their best work. Let the whites sit for about 30 minutes to give them time to get to room temperature. Use a metal or glass bowl and be sure that it's as clean as humanly possible. Any traces of oil or grease and you can beat those things to death and they'll never foam the way you want them to.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
3. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. No need to combine the dry ingredients, but I do so now's a good time to measure that stuff.
5. Once at room temperature, put the eggs in the standing mixer, turn it aaaalllllllll the way up and then back away.
6. When you get a good frothy foam, add the extract.
7. Once you have soft peaks forming, start adding the sugar, a tablespoon or so at a time. The eggs will start to thicken even more and they should be really glossy. Sometimes mine will get to the point where they are shiny and they're going and going and I have lovely soft peaks, but they just will not form a stiff peak. In those cases, I just add a little more sugar and that tends to do it. Do not be impatient.
8. Remove from the mixer and fold in any add-ins. Be gentle with the egg whites.
9. Spoon one sticky teaspoon sized dollop at a time onto the cookie sheet. I can double this recipe and fit all the cookies onto two large sheets. They all need to go into the oven at once. Meringue won't wait.
10. Cook at 300 for 30 minutes. I like to switch the 2 cookie sheets on the shelves at the 15 minute mark so that one batch doesn't brown under the broiler more than the other.
11. Decrease the heat to 225 and cook for another 30 minutes. At this point, you're drying the center more than you're actually cooking them.
12. Take them out, move them to a cooling rack, and let them cool.
13. Put them in something airtight because otherwise they will wilt and not be as crispy and delicious as you'd like.
A few additional notes:
- When they say don't make these on a humid day, they mean it. They won't ever form good peaks and they will be gooey before you can get them out of the oven and into some kind of container.
- Any combination of extract and add-in is awesome here - go nuts! If you're adding in something with some moisture like nuts or coconut, I like to toast them a little first bc I think it really brings out the flavor and it keeps you from getting little steam pockets in the meringue that make it harder for them to dry. Some things I've tried:
- almond extract and crunched slivered almonds
- pistachio extract with pistachio bits
- plain vanilla
- vanilla extract with chocolate chips (I use the minis.)
- coffee extract with chocolate chips - coffee extract, not coffee.
- coconut extract with coconut
- orange extract with zest - this is one of my favorites.
- peppermint extract with pieces of candy cane - A warning here. If you use the whole tsp of peppermint extract, the peppermint flavor will be STRONG. I prefer using part vanilla extract and part peppermint. It mellows it down a little.
A combination I read about and want to try - rose cardamom. It sounds ridiculously delicious.
Tonight's meringues:
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| Crappy picture courtesy of iPad. Seriously, my phone takes better pictures. |
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