Meringues
Has anyone ever been stuck in a situation where you need to bake a treat for an event or a person you love, but you simply can't find a recipe that you have all the ingredients to make? And if they do, they're the most complicated, labor intensive, time consuming processes?
If you have, you know it's hectic. No one wants to go through that, especially at the holiday season. So I'm going to give you my 2 INGREDIENT recipe for fail safe, melt in your mouth, light, airy meringues. Too good to be true, right? All you need for this recipe is egg whites and sugar.
The other thing about meringues is that since they're pipable, they're really easy to customize. You can just pop the mixture into a piping bag with a tip of your choice and then you've got yourself a very pretty design. If you don't have piping tips or you just like your meringues to be a bit more free-form, you can just as easily use a spoon to drop dollops of the mixture onto your baking sheet.
Top tip...if your egg whites have any yolk in them AT ALL, restart. Having yolk in your egg whites will stop them from whipping up and it will be pointless to go any further. I like to separate my eggs in one bowl and dump my egg whites into a separate bowl, going one at a time so if I mess up I only waste one egg.
Also, don't throw away your egg yolks. You can make custard for an ice cream, use them for my Salted Caramel Shortbread Thumbprints, or much more. There are loads of things you can do with egg yolks, don't despair.
Another note; many recipes call for lemon juice or cream of tartar. I find as long as you're careful, you really don't need them. Feel free to use them as an extra precaution, but if you don't have these ingredients you can definetely manage without them.
One more thing that many recipes tell you to do is test when the meringues are cooked by how well they slide off the parchment paper. I don't like this method because for some people their parchment paper is different from others and it will stick even if the meringues are completely dry. Instead, I test them by tapping on the top of the meringue. It should feel hard and sound hollow. If you're really not sure just take one out to taste it.
Here's the recipe!
TIME: 1 hour, 45 minutes SERVES: 12 YIELD: 24 bite-sized meringues
INGREDIENTS:
2 egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1. Preheat your oven to 200 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip your egg whites to soft peak consistency. This means that when you raise your whisk, the meringue should droop slightly. The mixture should be white and frothy.
3. With your mixer on high speed, add your granulated sugar gradually, a teaspoon at a time. Mix for 3-4 seconds after each addition. After all sugar is added, continue to whip your egg whites until they reach stiff peak consistency, are glossy and white, and all sugar granules are dissolved.
4. Pipe or spoon your meringue onto the parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, 30 minutes or until hard when tapped on the top.
5. Cool completely and store in an airtight container to maintain the crispy shell.
