Today is the last sweet post, so lets enjoy this one. I’ve been on my no white sugar diet for three weeks now and one of the last pleasures of 2013 was my fav dessert- the meringue. My relationship with those white beauties and the bigger Pavlova was painful at the beginning. Several years ago I’ve been to all meringue drama- too burned, too flat, too brown, too dry, you name it. Since then I’ve been mastering the skills with a dream to become a true meringue queen one day.
I used to make them with a handheld mixer, which can be treated as a nice upper body workout, since you beat the egg whites for about 10 minutes. Last year M. bought me my long dream gift – Kitchen Aid stand mixer and making those white beauties became a true pleasure. I’ve been trying different oven temperatures and I stick to the hot oven(150C/302F) in the beginning and 120C/248F(without the fan) the minute I close the oven door and everyone in the house knows they can’t touch the oven door. The key to perfect meringue is beating it until it is truly stiff and glossy which takes about 10 minutes. And if you look at the timer(which I recommend) it is the hell lot of time(especially with a handheld mixer).
Any other suggestions? All ingredients should be room temperature, and there shouldn’t be any trace(!) of egg yolk in the egg whites plus the bowl you’re mixing in should be wiped with some lemon juice and a paper towel. I usually use 50-55grams of sugar per egg white ratio and get the best results with that.
RECIPE – MERINGUES
6 egg whites1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon white or rice vinegar
pinch of salt
Preheat your oven(no fan) to 150C/302F. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar by tablespoon, mix, and add another. Mix for good 10 minutes until stiff and glossy and holds shape. Add vanilla extract and vinegar. Mix for a sec until combined. I use a piping bag to make meringues. I put them on a baking paper. Give them some space. Put in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 120C/248F. Let them bake for an hour. I use the same recipe for Pavlova I just bake it longer for 1,5 h and leave it in the turned off oven over night to dry. Serve those with lemon-clementine curd.
RECIPE – LEMON AND TANGERINE CURD
2 eggs2 egg yolks
155 g caster sugar
80 g butter
juice of one organic lemon and one organic clementine plus a bit of the skin(without any trace of white pit)
In a small pan mix together eggs, sugar and juice and skin of the citrus fruit.Start heating gently. Stir until thick, add butter, stir until combined, strain and put the jar and put in the fridge until cool. Serve over meringue.
I’ll leave you with a few pics of the christmas house and my DIY XMAS sign I made this year. Looks pretty cool with our photo moose over the fireplace.
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