How to make meringues
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Makes 8 sandwiched meringues
Perfect meringues with a crunch on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. Easy to make and lovely sandwiched with chocolate and cream. Add some fresh berries to make the perfect summer dessert.
For this recipe you will need an electric whisk.
Ingredients
For the meringue
- 3 free-range eggs, whites only
- 150g/5½oz golden caster sugar
For the ganache
- 150ml/¼ pint double cream
- 150g/5½oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
To serve (optional)
- double cream, whipped (used to sandwich meringues together)
Method
Preheat the oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1 and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
Separate the eggs into a clean, large bowl, preferably metal or glass. Gently crack the shell against the side of a small bowl. Slowly pull the shell apart as cleanly as possible along the crack, tipping the yolk into one half of the shell. Let the white drain away into a bowl below. Drop the yolk into another small bowl. Separate the next egg over a third bowl – that way if you accidentally break the yolk, it won’t contaminate the clean whites.
Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, but the mixture should not look too dry.
Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the egg whites, and continue to whisk until the mixture comes back to stiff peaks. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time until it has all been used, and the meringue is thick and glossy.
Using two dessertspoons, scoop 16 rugby-ball shaped meringues onto the baking paper, leaving plenty of space between them.
Bake for an hour until the meringues are pale, golden-brown, crisp and lift away easily from the baking paper. Turn off the oven, open the oven door slightly and leave the meringues to cool in the residual heat.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache. Use a large, sharp knife to chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Pour the cream into a small saucepan, then bring it to just below boiling. Take the pan from the heat, add the chopped chocolate, swirl the pan to help combine the chocolate and then stir until smooth. Tip the ganache out of the pan and leave to cool, it will thicken as it cools.
When the ganache has cooled, spread it over the flat side of half of the meringues, then sandwich the meringues together. To make these a little more luxurious, whip some double cream, then spoon on top of the ganache before sandwiching the meringues together.
Recipe tips
Unfilled meringues keep well for up to two weeks if stored in air-tight containers. You can even freeze them to make them last up to three months. Moisture in the air can make them loose their crunch so it's important to store them somewhere dry; if your meringues start to get a bit sticky you can dry them out in an oven set to the lowest temperature.
Leftover egg yolks can be used to make custard, lemon curd or ice cream.
Golden caster sugar gives a nice gentle caramel flavour to the meringues, but normal caster sugar is also fine to use. Using golden caster sugar also makes the finished meringues a little darker in colour, so if you want perfectly white meringues standard caster sugar is better suited.
When making meringues, it's important that the bowl you use is completely free of any fatty residues. To make sure any grease has been removed, wipe it with kitchen towel dipped in a little lemon juice or vinegar. It's also important not to get any yolk mixed into the egg whites.
When melting chocolate it's worth taking the time to chop the chocolate into small pieces as this makes it less likely that the chocolate will sieze as it melts.
While it's physically possible to make mergingues without an electic whisk, it is seriously hard work and will take a long time. Any type of electric whisk will do the job, including the cheapest hand mixers, you definitely don't need a fancy freestanding mixer.
