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All the mistresses of the world are divided into two camps: some believe that preparing meringues is as easy as shelling pears, while for others, the meringue recipe is as if bewitched, these airy cakes do not work out - and that's it!
I believe that each of us has "his own recipe", and until he is found, do not lose heart and despair! Today I offer a recipe for meringues at home, which is different from traditional meringues (usually egg whites are first whipped into foam, and then sugar is added, in this recipe it is exactly the opposite). Everyone should succeed in the meringue recipe, because whipping egg whites into a strong, stable foam with this technology is much easier. In addition, to consolidate the result, we will add starch to the air cream.
So, read carefully all the tips, look at step-by-step photos and go to the kitchen. Tonight you should please your family with airy delicious meringues. And what a pleasure to cook them!
Meringue - from the French "kiss" - is the same as meringue. But meringue is usually called whipped proteins with sugar, and meringues are already finished products (i.e. dried meringue).
meringue recipe in the oven
- Chicken eggs (only proteins) - 120 gr. (egg whites from four large CO eggs)
- Sugar (the smallest you will find) - 120 gr.
- Lemon juice - 0.5 tbsp. spoons
- Starch (potato, corn) - 2 tbsp. spoons
How to make meringues at home
If you've made the meringue many times and it doesn't work out, use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. We need egg whites - 120 grams.
And fine sugar - the same amount, 120 grams.
In classic recipes, it is customary to add 50 grams of sugar per protein, but we will make a lighter version, so we will take sugar in smaller proportions, this will help us dissolve sugar in meringue faster without compromising taste and shape.
Looking ahead, I’ll warn you: for clear forms with notched nozzles, such a recipe will not work (because of the small amount of sugar, the meringue is not so dense), but for Pavlova cakes, ”or, as well as smooth meringues, this sugar ratio is the best and simplest.
Now we take the deepest bowl for whipping (proteins will increase very much in volume) and pour sugar to the bottom. Add lemon juice (it will take 0.5 tablespoons). Separate 2 pieces from the total amount of proteins (I do it by eye, pour about half of the protein liquid into a bowl). 
Stir with the beaters turned off (or at the lowest speed so that the sugar does not scatter around). You will get a wet sugar crumb, such as in the photo:
Beat the protein-sugar mass until a white thick state, now it will noticeably increase in volume.
It will take you 3-5 minutes from the start of whipping, at this stage we pour in the rest of the proteins.
And continue to beat, gradually increasing the speed to a maximum. Beat the mass to stiff peaks.
When pulled with a whisk, the cream should not lose shape.
If you pick up a small amount of protein mass and rub it between your fingers, grains of sugar will not be felt, since by this time it should be completely dissolved.
It is very important to use room temperature eggs and fine sugar to speed up the dissolution process.
Another way to check the readiness of the cream: turn the bowl upside down, the proteins with sugar should be so thick that the mass will not move.
When everything is ready, pour starch (2 tablespoons) and gently stir with a spatula, moving from bottom to top, each time lifting the mass from the bottom so as not to lose air.
The starch will fix the cream, and the products will be more resistant to spreading on a baking sheet. This is a "safety net" step, without which it is quite possible to do.
On a dry, ungreased baking sheet, lay out the meringue cream. Can be laid out in the form of a cake (for example, for Pavlova dessert), or in the form of individual meringues.
To make the cake even, you can first draw a circle of the desired diameter with a simple pencil and lay it out, focusing on this mark.
Keep in mind that the meringue must not touch the pencil line, otherwise it may be imprinted on the cake!
To prevent a pencil mark on the finished meringues, you can turn the parchment over to the other side. If the paper is white, you will still see the drawn circle, even on the reverse side, while the products will not get dirty.
For squeezing individual meringues, it is convenient to use a pastry bag. To obtain patterns on meringues, you can use a curly nozzle.
Meringues in the oven will practically not change in size (if the proteins are whipped correctly, they will not spread). Therefore, you can make small distances between the cakes.
Meringues are baked in the oven for 2 hours at 100 C.
The baking time directly depends on the size of the meringue (small ones can already be checked half an hour after the start of baking). The meringue baking temperature is determined by the color of the finished cakes you want to get. Crispy white meringues will be obtained by drying at 60 C for four hours.
If you want to get cream-colored meringues, dry the products for 2 hours at a temperature of 120 C.
A huge number of people love meringues that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. To obtain this result, dry the products at a temperature of 160 C for half an hour.
To prepare colored meringues at home, you need to add a few drops of food coloring before unfolding the mass and mix gently.
If you want to get a glossy surface of the meringue, dust the cakes with powdered sugar (very carefully and in small quantities) before sending them to the oven.
It often happens that caramel droplets appear on the surface of the meringue - this is melted sugar, which indicates that during whipping the sugar did not melt completely and began to melt in the oven. Such droplets indicate that you need to beat more thoroughly, sometimes changing sugar helps to solve this problem (buy another company).
Try a new way of whipping egg whites with sugar! Write, or rather show in the photo, what meringues you got!
There is a step-by-step recipe for making colored meringues for a cake on the Pirogeevo video channel on You Tube. I think you will be interested in this video, I tried to record it as detailed and interesting as possible. I wish you a pleasant viewing!
For some, meringue is associated with childhood and a school buffet, others seek to diversify a romantic evening with a light delicacy, and others decorate a birthday cake with cute curlicues. There are also those who try meringue for the first time.
But no matter what holiday you present this dessert to, whoever you present it to - in one hundred percent of cases you are provided with bright emotions and smiles - children's, women's, and often men's.
Surely, almost every one of us at least once, but was subjected to such a test as self-cooking meringues at home. A minimum of ingredients and a maximum of pleasure in the end - it seemed to us that everything would certainly work out, but often what was planned did not coincide with the result - the protein did not want to whip, the sugar did not dissolve, and in the oven the fluffy hats settled and stratified, releasing liquid. That was where it all ended - there was no more desire to repeat the experiment, right?
In the modern world, there is a huge demand for homemade sweets and pastries, and meringue has deservedly taken one of the leading positions. This light dessert is an indispensable component of candy bars, used to decorate cakes, cupcakes and gingerbread, complements exquisite tarts with a twist and is the basis of such a famous delicacy as the Pavlova dessert. And if you connect a little imagination and pack the meringues in a gift box or insert skewers at the stage of squeezing on parchment, then you will get an independent dessert - an original sweet compliment that will become a pleasant and tasty addition both to the holiday and every day.
The shelf life of meringue is two weeks, so I always advise you to keep such a dessert at home in case of sudden guests.
Today we will analyze all the nuances and secrets of meringue preparation, learn how to cook and store meringue correctly. And also learn how to create an original and unique dessert, spending a minimum of ingredients and inventory. You will not believe it, but with good preparation and step-by-step following of the recommendations, the result will please you from the first time.
I admit, when I started cooking meringue for the first time, I did not expect a successful result. Having heard stories about the capriciousness and waywardness of this delicacy, it seemed inevitable to me, like many others, to get ugly and tasteless brown cakes. But after learning a bit of theory, understanding the chemistry of the process, and taking note of a couple of tricks, I got the perfect meringue the first time.
Before we start cooking, let's take a look at what types of meringue exist, how they differ, and which of the recipes we will use to cook meringues in the oven.
Meringue Meringue, meringue or meringue, is a light delicacy made from carefully beaten egg whites and sugar. Connoisseurs believe that meringue was invented by the Swiss culinary specialist Gasparini, who worked in the small town of Meiringen.
There are several types of meringue, they are different in the way of preparation and composition:
french meringue
The simplest type of meringue. Each of us at least once in our lives whipped proteins with sugar - for example, for icing on Easter cakes. Everything is elementary - beat the protein, gradually adding sugar. When the mass becomes glossy and stable, use it according to the application.
Italian meringue
The most stable and safe meringue. Here we make syrup from water and sugar. And then pour it into the whipped egg whites.
Swiss meringue
Today we will prepare meringue based on Swiss meringue, so we will analyze this type in more detail.
The ingredients for cooking are elementary and must be available at home for everyone. We need eggs (proteins) and sugar.
Swiss meringue is whites whipped with sugar in a steam bath. This type of meringue is considered universal, it is used both for meringue, and for filling, and as a cream.
Heating the meringue while whipping increases the vibration of the albumin molecules, making it easier to change the natural properties of the proteins. At the same time, sugar increases the viscosity of proteins, and the thermal energy from heating causes sugar, water, and protein molecules to approach each other, forming hydrogen bonds.
Proteins should be warmed up in a water bath with sugar, and then beat to peaks. The resulting mass is denser in consistency than French, but it is less stable compared to Italian. In addition, the sweet protein mass is pasteurized in a water bath, which is important.
Security
I happen to work with meringue very often, and often I hear questions about whether the dessert is safe, whether there is a possibility of salmonella contamination. There is no danger. Let's see why.
When heated in a water bath, we get a temperature of about 60-70 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, then be guided by the degree of dissolution of sugar. When the sugar has dissolved and is not felt when rubbed between the fingers, the temperature has been reached. Also in the future, I always dry the meringue at 100 degrees with the oven door closed for the first 20 minutes, then at 80 degrees until fully cooked.
Ultraviolet radiation and heat destroy salmonella, it dies when heated to 55 ° C for an hour and a half or to 60 ° C for 10 minutes. To protect against Salmonella contamination, it is recommended to reheat food for at least ten minutes at 75°C.
From the foregoing, it follows that meringue based on Swiss meringue is completely safe to eat.
Technology
1. First, we need to prepare the components of the future meringue. To do this, take 60 g of protein and 120 g of sugar.
Trick number 1. The older the better
The quality of protein whipping directly depends on its age. The freshest eggs contain a lot of water in the protein, it is too liquid, therefore less stable. Air bubbles quickly burst, as a result, the meringue may crack. During long-term storage, moisture gradually evaporates through the egg shell, the protein dries up and becomes viscous, it stretches better, the bubbles retain air and do not burst. Therefore, for meringues, it is best to use eggs a week old or more.
But what if there are no scales? Then take the average proportion - 3 tablespoons with a slide for every 1 protein. 
The weight of the shell is about 10% of the weight of the egg, protein 55%, yolk 35%. Knowing the weight of the protein, you will take the correct amount of sugar to prepare the meringue. The fact is that it is sugar that fixes the lush structure of the whipped protein, and if you add it less than necessary, the meringue or other meringue simply will not work.
Trick number 2. No powder
2. You need to separate the proteins from the yolks immediately into the dishes that we will put in a water bath. Before that, you need to understand how dangerous fat / yolk and moisture are in this situation, and prepare correctly.
Trick number 3. Not a drop of fat, not a micron of yolk.
Separate the whites from the yolks carefully and carefully. Even a micron of the yolk that has fallen into the protein will spoil the future meringue. Separating an egg into white and yolk is best when the eggs are chilled, because the cold yolk has a denser shell, and it does not tear as much as a warm one. Therefore, it makes sense to work with eggs just taken out of the refrigerator.
Why can't meringue be made from a whole egg? The yolk contains a significant amount of fats that prevent foaming. The protein, when whipped, can increase in volume up to eight times.
It is believed that the most stable and fluffy proteins are obtained by whipping in a copper bowl. The reason for this is the microchemical interaction of copper and proteins. If there is such a dish, then feel free to take it. If not, any will do. The main thing at this stage is to completely degrease the surface and whisks of the mixer by wiping them dry. You can pour over boiling water or walk with a slice of fresh lemon. Be sure to wipe the bowl, mixer bowl, and beaters dry afterwards.
3. After the proteins are separated and placed in a fat-free bowl, we begin to beat them.
Trick number 4. Beat gradually
It is important to gradually increase the speed of whipping proteins. Only in this case, the air bubbles in the future mass will be of the same size as possible, and this is a guarantee of a high-quality result. If you immediately turn on the high speed, you will get a meringue in which the air bubbles will have different sizes, and this will negatively affect its texture and appearance.
4. Thus, beat the proteins gradually increasing the speed, until a white foam forms, and only after that we put them in a water bath, continuing to beat.
For those who are not familiar with the term "water bath", I will explain - the process is actually very simple. For this, two pans are taken. It should be understood that one should be smaller and the other larger so that the smaller one can easily fit into it. The resulting double pan must be put on the stove. Water is poured into the lower pan, and the necessary ingredients are placed in the upper one.
6. By the time all the sugar is combined with proteins, the whipping speed should be maximum.
We continue to beat the meringue in a water bath until the moment when the sugar is completely dissolved (you can check whether the sugar has dissolved by rubbing the mass between your fingers - there are no grains, then the sugar is dissolved). This usually takes about 7-10 minutes.
7. Now the dishes with the meringue must be removed from the bath and continue to beat the mass until the state of "hard peaks".
“Soft”, “medium” and “hard” peaks are the degrees of overrun of proteins that are constantly found in recipe descriptions. Each of these steps is suitable for a particular application. The first is for soufflé, the second is suitable for creams and dough, the third is for decorating, working with a bag and all kinds of nozzles.
“Soft peaks” - the protein is already whipped, but if the whisk with the meringue is raised up, then the mass will slowly slide down.
"Medium peaks" - the protein mass is confidently held at the base of the corolla, but still falls off at the tip, bends with a soft loop.
“Hard / hard peaks” - the whipped protein mass is very dense, moist and shiny, firmly rests on the raised whisk, clear peaks are formed, the tongues of which do not fall off, but remain sharp as needles.
There is no hard and fast rule for how long it takes to beat the meringue to the right consistency. It all depends on the amount of ingredients, temperature and power of the mixer. Usually, after removing the mass from the water bath, hard peaks form after 5-6 minutes of beating at full speed of the mixer.
It is important not to interrupt the meringue! If the protein mass went lumpy, does not shine, if its surface is not smooth, but grainy, then it is spoiled. Most likely, you killed her, destroyed the protein and she exfoliated. Such meringue “cries” in the oven, water droplets are formed, which are collected under freshly baked products with a viscous syrup.
8. After hard peaks are obtained, and the mass is shiny and homogeneous, we can safely transfer it to a pastry bag and deposit it on parchment. I use Teflon mats, but ordinary parchment, silicone, and even foil will do.
If you do not have a pastry bag and a special nozzle, take a teaspoon and lay out the meringue in arbitrary shapes.
Trick number 5. We act quickly. You can't beat egg whites ahead of time. This should be done immediately before you are going to send the meringues to the oven. Over time, the whipped protein mass settles, therefore, while still warm, we carefully but quickly deposit it on a rug or parchment.
At this stage, it is important to turn off the humidifiers, if any, and close the windows if the weather is cloudy. With excessive humidity in the room, there is a risk of not getting the desired result - the meringue is afraid of moisture. Both at the stage of whipping, and at the stage of jigging and storage.
9. Now you need to place the meringue in the oven without delay. And at this stage it is important to understand - we do not bake meringue, we dry it!
Why do we put meringue in the oven? We want to dry it, that is, just let the moisture evaporate.
The standard temperature will be 70-80 degrees. Thus, meringue can be dried not only in the oven, but also on devices for drying vegetables - they have just the right temperatures for us.
As I said above, for the first 20 minutes I turn the temperature in the oven to 100 degrees to protect the meringue from possible salmonella.
We need not only a beautiful and tasty, but also a safe result.
The meringue is dried from two to four hours. The readiness time is determined by the temperature, the size of the deposited figures, the humidity in the room and other factors. If you want to get a slightly moist meringue, with a pleasant “toffee” inside, dry it for about one and a half to two hours.
As soon as the meringue begins to separate from the parchment without collapsing, turn off the oven and let the meringue cool for an hour.
What if you have a gas oven whose minimum temperature is much higher than 100 degrees? Will meringue work?
It will turn out. But you will have to slightly or completely open the oven door + set the temperature as low as possible. Trial and error will help to adapt to such a trick, because we all remember how different ovens are from each other.
10. Decorate with aroma and add colors
If you want to color the meringue, then it is better to use gel color, which is added at the very end. Remember that the raw meringue should be slightly brighter than the color you want to end up with. a small part of the dye still burns out during baking. Suitable for any dye without fat and alcohol. I use Americolor and Top Product dyes.
Additives such as poppy seeds, vanilla sugar or natural vanilla, coffee, cocoa and others must be added at the end of whipping, gently mixing with a spatula in up and down movements.
If you want a caramel-colored meringue, increase the amount of sugar by about 1/4 and dry the meringue a little longer than usual at a temperature of 105-110 degrees. The taste of such meringues will also be different, they acquire a caramel note or resemble the taste of creme brulee to someone.
Salt and acid
In culinary encyclopedias, you can often find recommendations that when whipping, in addition to sugar, salt and an acidifying agent should be added: vinegar, citric acid. Their addition is not mandatory, but it really helps to stabilize the protein, bind water, thereby increasing the viscosity of the solution. It is important not to overdo it here, otherwise, instead of stabilizing, the protein will precipitate. Do not violate the proportions of the recipe, add salt before whipping, and acid - closer to the end of the process. I don't add.
Citric acid has no effect on the volume of the meringue, but helps stabilize by lowering the pH of the protein, making the foam less prone to settling. A very small amount is enough - excess acid will negatively affect the taste of the finished product, and will also prevent coagulation (thickening) during baking.
Storage
Meringue or meringue is a rather delicate creation, moisture is categorically contraindicated for it, so it is better to store it in a well-closed paper or plastic bag. They do not need to be put in the refrigerator, where they will become damp, losing their shape and taste. Meringue can be stored in an airtight container for about two weeks.
Ah, meringue!.. Tender, crispy, crumbly or, conversely, soft, like cotton candy inside and with a crispy ruddy crust on the outside... Mmmm, delight! No wonder the refined French called this delicacy a “kiss” (from French Baiser).
In pre-revolutionary Russia, meringue was called the "Spanish wind". It is also called meringues, and it is believed that it is more correct to call this dessert that way, because meringue is a protein cream, and meringues are the same cream, only dried. However, let's leave linguistics aside and try to cook this amazing dessert.
In general, the composition of the meringue is simple, like everything ingenious: proteins and sugar. Sometimes nut flour, starch, but this is not so significant. However, a short list of ingredients does not mean that preparing a fragile dessert is easy and simple. Meringue is a delicate, capricious substance, like a spoiled lady, and can bring many surprises and disappointments to an inexperienced chef.
Therefore, before you open the refrigerator and take out a tray with eggs, arm yourself with theoretical knowledge of the subject and strictly follow the strict rules for making meringue, and then everything will work out for you!
You can cook meringue in three ways.
french way
This is the simplest one, it can be used for trying to master this dish, as well as for making meringues in simple shapes, without fine patterns. The protein mass turns out to be lush, strong, but with clearly visible bubbles, so deposit 
virtuoso roses on a baking sheet do not make sense, they will “float”, if not immediately, then during baking. Therefore, you need to cook cakes from it in the oven or in the microwave without any special tricks - just oval cakes.
Ingredients:
- egg whites- 2 pcs
- Salt - a pinch
- Sugar or powdered sugar
French meringue is prepared like this: chilled whites of two eggs, pour into a saucepan or bowl, add a pinch of salt to them and start beating with a mixer or whisk (in general, this can be done even with a fork, it will only take a long time) until a strong foam. Then we begin to gradually add powdered sugar or sugar to them, continuing to beat. Powder will need approximately two hundred grams per protein. However, the exact amount of powder is determined "by eye", since it must be added to proteins until a certain point - the appearance of so-called "hard peaks". This is when the cream does not fall from the mixer or whisk raised up, and the peaks (“icicles” from meringue) do not bend under their own weight.
Italian way
cooking meringue differs from French in that rather steeply boiled sugar syrup is poured into whipped proteins instead of sugar. The syrup is poured in a hot, thin stream, and the whipping of the proteins in no case stops 
until the whole mass cools down.
This method is ideal for making creams - boiling syrup brews proteins, and the resulting cream does not fall off. With this cream, you can layer cakes, cook cakes with it, fill tubules or eclairs, decorate any dessert.
In addition, cream prepared in Italian mixes perfectly with butter, while “regular” meringue flows from contact with fat.
Ingredients:
- Egg whites - 2 pcs.
- Sugar syrup - about 300 g
- Citric acid or lemon juice
First, boil sugar syrup: two parts sugar, one part water, a little lemon juice. For a meringue of two proteins, you need to take two hundred grams of sugar per hundred grams of water. Beat the whites in a strong foam and, continuing to beat, pour hot syrup into them in a thin stream. Beat the cream until the mass is completely cool.
swiss way
cooking meringue is the most time consuming, due to the fact that you have to build a steam bath. But the meringue prepared in this way is the strongest, most persistent and dense. From the steamed mass, you can deposit the most fancy cookies, and 
they dry very quickly, faster than all the others, and you can draw beautiful intricate patterns with it.
Ingredients:
- egg whites
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon juice
The cooking method is: over a pot of boiling water, dishes with proteins and sugar are placed (one protein - one glass of sugar). The bottom of the pan should be heated only by steam and not in contact with water. We begin to beat the whites first at the lowest speed of the mixer until all the sugar has dissolved. And after that we add speed and beat until ready, getting a white, dense, thick cream at the exit.
So, the cooking method is chosen, and you are determined to surprise your guests with wonderful meringues. Stop for a few more minutes and remember a few very important rules, without which you will not succeed.
Rules for the preparation of "Meringue"
The optimal ratio of proteins to sugar is 1:2.6. In order to bake one baking sheet of small cakes, I take 3 eggs and 0.5 tbsp. Sahara.
Proteins must be fresh! Only fresh proteins are able to retain air and give a dense thick mass.
To obtain a high-quality mass, proteins are cooled to a temperature of + 2 ° C before whipping (i.e., we take it from the refrigerator immediately before whipping). Uncooled proteins do not whip well, and the baked semi-finished product will be vague. Sugar for meringue, by the way, is also best to cool.
Separate the whites very carefully so that not a drop of yolk gets into them. This is done as follows: over a separate dish, break the egg with the blunt side of the knife so that the shell cracks. Carefully break open the egg and release the protein into the bowl. The yolk remains in one of the shells. Just carefully pour the yolk into another shell, while the remaining protein slips into the bowl, and the clean, intact yolk remains in the shell.
Try to break each egg over a separate bowl, pouring the squirrels into a bowl - no one will find a surprise in the form of a rotten egg flopped into the rest of the squirrels pleasant.
It is advisable to grind sugar into powder or buy ready-made powdered sugar in the store. The size of the grains will not affect the quality and taste, you just have to beat the protein mass much longer, because this must be done until all the sugar has dissolved. Otherwise, the remaining grains will crunch on your teeth.
First, beat the proteins until their volume increases by 4-6 times, then slowly add vanilla powder, sugar All sugar is not added immediately, but several times (thin stream or small spoons)
When whipping proteins, it is good to use citric acid - in powder, in diluted form, or just lemon juice. Citric acid is diluted at the rate of 1 tsp. powder for 2 tsp. water. Citric acid is added to taste, sometimes a few drops are enough, but if you like a sour taste, you can add more, for example, a teaspoon of acid. Just don't use acetic acid!
Dishes and whisks should be not just clean, but perfectly clean, free of grease and any impurities. By the way, when choosing dishes for whipping, keep in mind that the volume of whipped proteins will increase four to five times. In addition, the bowl in which you beat the egg whites must be dry, otherwise the egg whites will not beat well.
To degrease, wash dishes in slightly soapy water, then rinse in very hot water. Wipe the dishes with a completely clean and dry cloth. For final assurance that there are no traces of grease, wipe the bowl and whisk with a slice of lemon.
Proteins should not be beaten in a metal bowl, otherwise they will darken.
There should be little protein so that the whisk does not completely sink into them, otherwise aeration will be impossible and the proteins will not beat well. The more proteins you use, the longer the whipping should be at each stage.
It is believed that it is better to beat the whites with a whisk, as they heat up from an electric mixer, so there may be a thin foam. But, as a rule, they beat well with a mixer: o)
First, the whites should be beaten at a slow speed for 2 minutes, until a yellow foam forms. If there are more than two proteins, then you need to beat longer.
Then you need to switch to medium speed and beat for another minute, and finally, continue whipping at maximum speed until the desired stage.
You can’t beat the whites for too long, because in this way you will achieve the opposite effect: the mass will not be airy and fluffy, but smooth and dense. Meringue from it, alas, you can no longer bake. Five to seven minutes of intense whipping is enough.
It used to be thought that even a drop of water could negate all efforts to beat the egg white. Now this statement is being refuted with might and main by experienced chefs, and some even add a few tablespoons of water to the proteins so that the dried meringues become especially brittle and dry. It is usually recommended to pour a teaspoon into proteins very cold water- so they beat better.
Sometimes a pinch of salt is added to the proteins before whipping - it gives strength to the proteins.
Catching the moment when the proteins are whipped to the maximum volume is difficult for a novice cook. However, this moment can be determined experimentally. There are three proven methods. In the first case, after stopping the whipping process, slightly raise the whisk so that the whipped proteins can form a peak. If the whipped protein does not fall off and clearly holds its height, then your work has been crowned with success. But if the beaten egg whites are to be used later in other ingredients, such as for a cake or soufflé, then the protein peaks should be slightly plastic, dropping slightly when the whisk is raised.
In the second case, just try to slowly and carefully turn the pan of squirrels upside down. If, at the same time, the foam does not try to drain along the walls, but holds firmly in the pan, the squirrels are ready.
In the third case, simply place a knife or fork (with cloves or a point on the bottom) in the center of the pan with protein foam. In strong whipped foam, both the knife and fork will stand firmly without the help of your hands.
If, according to the recipe, a little flour, starch or ground nuts are required to be added to whipped proteins, then the flour and starch should be sifted to saturate them with air, and the nuts should be fried and ground as thinly as possible.
The baking tray should be prepared immediately so as not to mess with it later, when the protein mass is already ready and begins to quietly settle from impatience and boredom. Lay tracing paper, parchment paper or special baking paper lightly greased with margarine (butter) on a baking sheet. If you grease it with fat, the bottom of the cakes will tear, if you don’t grease it at all, you will eat meringue with paper.
You can lay out portions of the protein with a spoon or a confectionery syringe. You can transfer the protein mixture into a plastic bag, cut off the tip on one side and gently but quickly (since air evaporates, the quality becomes low, density increases, shape stability decreases) squeeze the resulting mass in the form of balls onto a baking sheet. Leave the distance between the "blanks", the meringue will increase in size.
If you decide to bake air baskets, then draw identical circles on the back of the baking paper (circle the bottom of the glass), fill the pastry syringe or cornet with a smooth round nozzle and fill the circles by squeezing the dough, moving in a spiral. Then, along the edge of the circles, deposit the dough in the form of a side in one continuous strip, or often plant small stars along the edge. After baking and cooling, fill the resulting baskets with cream or jam.
To get even cakes on the reverse side of the paper, draw a circle or rectangle of the desired size with a pencil, then put the dough into a confectionery syringe or cornet and deposit the meringue along the drawn contour, moving in a spiral. You can start from the center, or you can start from the edges, it doesn’t matter.
Meringue should be placed in a preheated oven, let it heat up while you spread the mass with a teaspoon on a baking sheet covered with tracing paper. I set it to 150°C.
After you place the meringues in the preheated oven, they should immediately rise. As soon as the meringues "grow", you immediately need to immediately reduce the heat to a minimum (about 100 ° C), otherwise they will burn. Leave for approximately 2 hours. It is recommended to dry the meringues in the oven at a low temperature for a long time (one and a half to two hours), then they will dry well and turn out to be light, with a delicate texture.
By the way, my friend lights the oven only when she has already put a baking sheet in it and immediately turns it on to a temperature of 100 ° C - and her meringues are excellent. And it only takes 40-50 minutes to bake. Apparently a lot depends on the oven itself.
Cooking time depends on the size of the meringue and the characteristics of the oven. Do not open the oven for at least the first 30 minutes, otherwise the meringue will settle. But it’s better, in my opinion, not to open the oven for at least 1 hour, although some housewives believe that, unlike many other pastries, it is possible and even necessary to open the oven while cooking meringues - they open it slightly with an inserted pencil. Determining readiness is simple: baked meringues easily move away from the sheet.
The finished meringue is not white, but slightly creamy.
Ready (but still hot) meringues remain soft until cool, so they can be left in the oven off.
In order to remove the meringue cakes from the paper, place the cake with the paper on the edge of the table and slowly move it towards you, holding the cake with one hand, while pulling the paper down with the other. Acting carefully enough, you will get the cake whole and unharmed. Removing small meringues from paper is usually not a big deal.
For a new portion of meringue, take a fresh sheet of tracing paper each time.
Shaking should not be allowed during meringue baking - do not slam doors and windows, do not allow children to run and jump around the kitchen.
Ready-made meringues can be decorated with cream, poured with some syrup, shifted with berries, but, in my opinion, they are quite tasty on their own.
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To prevent the meringue baskets from melting under the influence of cream, jam or jam, make a layer of melted chocolate. To do this, melt the grated chocolate in a water bath in a small amount of milk or cream, stirring constantly and periodically removing from steam so that the chocolate does not curl from excessively high temperature, stir until smooth and smear the inside of the baskets with a brush, trying to apply chocolate with a good such layer. The same operation can be done with cake layers - this will only add a crispy chocolate note to your dessert.
In order to decorate meringue cakes, you can prepare, for example, chocolate-nut cream. To do this, roast the nuts and grind with a blender. Melt the chocolate in a water bath and cool slightly. Meanwhile, whip the cream (preferably 35% fat). Chopped nuts and melted chocolate are added to the whipped mass. Using a pastry bag, meringue cakes are decorated with cream on top.
Meringue can be fastened in pairs (whipped cream or buttercream) and cooled.
Store the finished meringue in a dry place. You can store them in plastic bags, otherwise they will pick up moisture from the air and not be crispy.
That's all. Difficult? Try to cook and see for yourself.
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1. Carefully separate the proteins from the yolks and pour into a deep non-metallic bowl. |
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2. Pour sugar or powdered sugar (a glass of sugar for every four to five proteins) into a separate cup and set aside. |
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3. Start whipping the whites with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed. |
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4. As soon as the protein foam becomes rich white and acquires some density (you can check with a spoon), we begin to add sugar little by little (preferably one dessert spoon). |
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5. Beat the foam until all the sugar is completely dissolved. |
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6. At this stage, nuts, grated chocolate, condensed milk, or anything else to your taste can be added to the protein mass. Any "addition" is carefully mixed into the foam with a spoon. |
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7. The readiness of the mass for baking is checked as follows: they collect foam in a slightly damp spoon and turn it over. The foam must not run out, fall out or lose its shape. |
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8. On a sheet lined with parchment or foil, using the same spoon or pastry syringe, spread the cakes (the shape and size depend only on your desire). |
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9. Meringue is dried in the oven at a minimum temperature (no more than one hundred degrees). Depending on the size of the cakes, the meringue dries for an hour or two. Ready-made cakes will turn out crispy and slightly crumbly. |
Based on materials from kedem.ru, cherrylady.ua, domznaniy.ru
As you can see, making meringue at home does not require any super-complex skills. It's simple, fast, and most importantly, delicious! Bon appetit and culinary victories!
PS. Meringue is a delicious delicacy, however, girls who are on strict diets should always remember that the calorie content of the dessert is very high: 100 g draws on 310 kcal.
There are a few simple rules in cooking meringue, if you follow them, you can get a delicious and airy dessert. But if you break it - you don't know what will happen. For example, if you set the temperature too high during baking, the products will chew like chewing gum or stick to your teeth. There are a few other important points to consider. But first of all, this is the baking temperature of the meringue.
The sweetness being studied has a reputation for being a difficult dessert, but in fact, as long as you follow a few generally accepted rules, everything is easy. Egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks, are the base of the dessert, plus sugar. Then things get surprisingly complicated for a dish containing only two ingredients.
Eggs and their choice
First of all, you need to make sure they are fresh. Break one thing: if the protein spreads in a puddle - the egg is stale, it is not good. But if the protein lies elastically around the yolk, it means fresh, perfect for making meringues. The baking temperature is of paramount importance, but the freshness of the raw materials is also important.
A little secret - if the eggs are chilled, then the protein will be easier to separate and beat faster.
Proteins: how to separate?
Very carefully and carefully separate the whites from the yolks. Why? Yes, because if even quite a bit of yolk gets into the protein mass, then it simply will not whip. Therefore, for each new egg, it is better to use a separate bowl, so that in which case it is simple and easy to replace the protein with the yolk that has fallen into it with another.
Tableware
The container that was prepared for whipping the proteins should be dry and clean (as well as the mixer nozzles). Even a drop of fat or water will prevent whipping egg whites into foam. For reliability, you can wipe the dishes with lemon juice, and then with a paper towel.
Sugar
It is better to use sugar with small crystals or powdered sugar. For 1 protein we take 50 grams of sugar. Proportion is important to keep!
What's the best way to beat?
It's easier to do this with a mixer. First, small turns are taken, then gradually added to the maximum. When a characteristic mark remains on the shoulder from the whipped proteins, add a little sugar (a teaspoon each) so that the meringue does not fall off after baking. Continue beating (about 8-12 minutes) until stiff peaks form. The mass should become dense and lush. In order not to lose volume, you can add a little lemon juice at the end (one teaspoon for 2 proteins).
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Stabilizers
As noted above, one of the golden rules for making meringues is that all of your equipment must be thoroughly cleaned, without a speck of grease, or the cooking process will be much more difficult. Before you start, it's best to rub the mixer bowl with half a lemon to remove any last bits of fat before whipping the egg whites.
There are other tricks that a skilled chef can use to increase the chances of getting a bouncy foam. The most common is to add a small amount of an acid, such as vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid, to the mixture after the sugar has been added. According to some experts, it also helps make the dessert crispy on the outside and soft and sticky on the inside.
What is the best recipe to use?
You can make two different versions of the meringue. The temperature and baking time in them will differ, although the set of ingredients will be the same. Both recipes include the whites of 3 large eggs beaten to stiff peaks with a mixer (unless you're a unique pastry chef, don't try hand whipping the meringue), and 200 grams of powdered sugar, added spoonful during the mixing process. In addition, you will need to introduce a little citric acid. After that, the mixture is laid out with a spoon on a baking sheet and placed in the oven. The meringue baking temperature in the first case will be 100 ° C, and the time will be up to one and a half hours to get a crisp. This version, according to reviews, has a slightly stiffer texture, and when cooked, the dessert becomes evenly crispy.
The second version is done a little differently. The temperature for baking meringue at home will be slightly lower, and the cooking time will be longer. This is detailed below.
Sugar: what should it be?
Powdered sugar is a common option for meringues—the fine grains dissolve easily into the foamy mixture. However, some pastry chefs are not afraid to experiment, using half regular granulated sugar and half powdered sugar in a recipe. This can lead to interesting results.
Meringue prepared according to this recipe is delicious, but too sweet. This technology is good to use for the Australian Pavlova recipe, but not as a separate delicacy. Therefore, it is better to introduce only powdered sugar, which gives a slightly caramelized taste and a beautiful golden color.
Whipping technique in detail
Most recipes only call for the addition of powdered sugar after the egg whites have been beaten to soft peaks. If you put it in too early, you won't get a good strong lather.
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One professional recipe calls for powdered sugar to be heated to 100°C and then added to lightly beaten eggs that are “just beginning to foam.” Then everything is whipped at maximum speed for ten minutes, until the mixture cools down and retains its shape.
You will need some experience to master this technique. The result is a dessert that looks like a mixture of French and Italian meringue - the sugar continues to caramelize and can thus solidify in the mixer bowl. However, by being able to choose the right speed, you can learn to avoid it.
Freshly whipped blanks on a baking sheet look great: lush and tall. The baking temperature of the meringue will be about a hundred degrees. When you take them out of the oven, you will be pleasantly surprised by the unusual orange tint of the dessert. Meringue has a pleasant taste, it is easier to form than according to the traditional recipe, but the color is completely unusual.
Temperature regime
At what temperature should meringues be baked? Experts say that too much heating can cause not only the burning of products from above, but also the destruction of their consistency.
Jamming the oven door with a rolled-up tea towel or wooden spoon to keep it from overheating seems to be one of the best solutions. This is inconvenient, but such a measure can help maintain the correct baking temperature for meringues.
How to bake?
As noted above, there are two options for preparing this airy dessert. At what temperature and how long do meringues need to be baked for each of them?
In the first case, set the temperature in the oven to 100 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and gently place beaten egg whites on it. You can use a pastry bag or a regular spoon. We do not open the oven for the first hour - it is necessary that the meringues dry well. If you open it, the temperature difference may cause the cakes to crack.
Dessert preparation time takes from 1 to 2 hours and depends on their size. The smaller they are, the faster they cook. The readiness of the product can be checked by tapping it with your finger. The finished meringue will make a dull rustling sound and will easily separate from the parchment.
Proponents of the second method argue that the temperature of 100 degrees is too high. You must place the products in an oven heated to 60-70 degrees and bake them for a longer time. In this case, you are not so much baking the dessert as drying it by evaporating the water and leaving only the hard structure of the mixture of eggs and sugar and air bubbles between them. Such a selection of temperature conditions when baking meringues requires them to be cooked for six hours. However, the result will pleasantly surprise you.
