Meringues 1944 Recipes

MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer); beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high; beat in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, then add the extract or zest. Continue beating until the meringue is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.
• For colored cookies, swirl a few drops of food coloring into the meringue or use a small paintbrush to paint 3 long stripes of food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag. For chocolate chip versions, gently fold the mini chocolate chips into the mixture.
• Drop or pipe the meringue as desired, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the meringues stand in the oven until dry, about 2 hours. Top with or dip in melted chocolate and sprinkle with nonpareils.

ULTIMATE MERINGUE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 110C/ 100C fan/gas ¼.
• Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick liner or parchment paper (meringue can stick on greaseproof paper and foil).
• Tip 4 large egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them on medium speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture resembles a fluffy cloud and stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted.
• Now turn the speed up and start to add 115g caster sugar, a dessertspoonful at a time. Continue beating for 3-4 seconds between each addition. It's important to add the sugar slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy.
• Sift one third of the 115g icing sugar over the mixture, then gently fold it in with a big metal spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in the remaining icing sugar a third at a time. Again, don't over-mix. The mixture should now look smooth and billowy.
• Scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape. Or just drop them in rough rounds, if you prefer.
• Bake for 1 ½-1 ¾ hours in a fan oven, 1 ¼ hours in a conventional or gas oven, until the meringues sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a pale coffee colour.
• Leave to cool on the trays or a cooling rack. (The meringues will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.) Serve two meringues sandwiched together with a generous dollop of softly whipped double cream.

MERINGUES 1944

Steps:

• Preheat oven 250 F, and line cookie sheet with parchment paper
• Set aside 1/3 of the sugar and thoroughly mix it with the baking powder
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (easiest with a stand mixer but hand mixer will do)
• Gradually, 1 Tbsp at a time, sprinkle the sugar in as you continue beating
• Continue beating and now sprinkle the sugar / baking powder mixture -- again done gradually, one Tbsp at a time
• Lastly add the vanilla gently as you continue beating
• When you put a small amount of the whipped eggs between your fingers and it no longer feels gritty from the sugar, you are done whipping.
• Using two spoons, place your mounds on the parchment paper about 1 1/2 inches apart. You can also pipe them if you have the tools.
• Bake on parchment paper in 250 F oven for 30 minutes or just until slightly browned (not much -- you don't really want them to be brown very much, they should be mostly white) Mom's recipe also says you can do this in a 300 degree oven for the same amount of time, too... but I don't know what that will do to them.
• Serve, as is, or with a little fresh fruit.

HARD MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275°F (140°C).
• Line baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
• Beat egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 mL) at a time, until sugar is dissolved and stiff glossy peaks form. Beat in vanilla.
• To make Meringue Kisses, pipe or dollop about 2 tbsp (30 mL) meringue per cooking on baking sheet. Bake in preheated 275°F (140°C) oven until firm, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.
• Makes 4 dozen.

GOOD MERINGUE

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture forms stiff peaks.

MERINGUES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
• 2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or foil. On each, draw 10 4-inch circles.
• 3. Mix the sugars and set aside.
• 4. In a bowl or electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt. Continue to beat, adding 1 tablespoon of sugar at a time and beating well after each addition. This will take about 10 minutes.
• 5. Add the vanilla and beat at high speed until stiff and glossy.
• 6. Using a pastry tube fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the meringue in coils starting at the center and continuing to the outside of each circle.
• 7. Bake about 1 hour, until cream colored and firm. Leave the meringues in the turned-off oven for several hours or overnight without opening the oven door.
• 8. When ready to serve, carefully peel away the paper or foil.

MERINGUES

Steps:

• Separate one egg at a time into a small bowl, letting the white fall into the bowl and discarding the yolk. If there's any trace of yolk in the white, discard the white and start over. If it's yolk-free, transfer to a clean medium mixing bowl. Repeat with the remaining 2 eggs.
• Add cream of tartar to the whites and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until all the sugar has been added. Continue beating until the whites are stiff and glossy. Add vanilla and beat for 30 seconds more.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 200 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a small amount of the meringue under each corner of the paper to secure it to the pan. Fill a 1-quart sealable plastic bag (or pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip) with the meringue. Seal the bag almost completely, leaving a small opening for air to escape from the top as you squeeze. Snip off one corner of the bag with scissors, making a 3/4-inch-wide opening. Fold the top of the bag over a few times, then gently push the meringue down to the snipped corner. Working with the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet, pipe the meringue into 1 1/2-inch-diameter cookies, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
• Bake the cookies until dry and crisp throughout, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cookies cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.

CRUNCHY MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Put the egg whites, cream of tartar, and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer with the whisk and turn the mixer on to medium. Whip until the whites are foamy and then slightly increase the speed. Continue whipping until the whites have tripled in volume and are fluffy but still soft. The whites should just be starting to hold the trail of the whisk along the sides of the bowl.
• With the motor running, very slowly sprinkle another 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar onto the whites between the bowl and the edge of the whisk. Slightly increase the mixer speed and whip until the whites start to turn glossy but are still soft. Slowly sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and increase the heat to medium-high. Whip for 2 to 3 minutes longer, until very stiff and glossy but not dry. Transfer the whites to a very large mixing bowl.
• Put the confectioners' sugar into a fine-mesh strainer. Sift about one quarter of it onto the whipped whites. Using the largest rubber spatula you have, gently fold the sugar into the meringue, drawing the spatula through the meringue and pulling it up and over itself from the sides of the bowl in. Move slowly and precisely so you don't knock the air out of the whites. Continue sifting and folding in the sugar in 2 or 3 more additions. Once the whites are smooth with no lumps of confectioners' sugar, they are ready.
• The meringue can be transferred to a pastry bag with a star tip or into a resealable plastic food bag with the corner snipped and used to pipe stars, circles, or any shape you like onto the lined baking sheets. You can make the cookies as small as dimes to sprinkle over ice cream or large enough to sandwich ice cream between them. Or use 2 spoons to mound the meringue into pillows.
• Bake for 1 hour, rotating and switching the pans halfway through. Baking time may vary depending on the size of the meringues; the cookies should feel dry, light, and hollow and have no give when you press on them. If they still feel soft, bake for 15 minutes longer and test again. Turn the oven off and let the meringues cool completely in the oven. Store the cooled meringues in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

VANILLA MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar. Beat until the mixture is frothy and soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting about 15 seconds between each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, beat for an additional 5 minutes. The egg whites should be glossy and stiff but not dry.
• Spoon the mixture into a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe 2-inch cookies onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 45 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely before storing in an airtight container.