Journal #6 : Meringues

Here I am again, trying to help other new/self-taught bakers like me. This post is about this frustration of mine: Meringues. I'm frustrated because they're so easy to make but so difficult to bake! You really need patience in order to perfect this! Read on if you want to understand the importance of the ingredients and the steps in making this delicious dessert!

If you get bored while reading this whole blog, just take note of those highlighted in red! :) Those are important!

These goodies whether chewy or melt-in-your-mouth are great desserts! It is also made with only very few ingredients: egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and sugar. The egg white is the most important ingredient. It must be at room temperature before whisking or else the meringues will fail. The cream of tartar helps stabilize the egg whites (as i've read in other recipe books) like helping them incorporate more air and maintain the stiffness of the peaks. The sugar and salt's importance are, of course, obvious.

Whisking these by hand would take forever and would definitely hurt your arm. You'd be dead tired before you could make soft peaks. Ha ha! For comfort and ease, use a stand or hand held mixer with a whisk attachment. 

One thing you should keep in mind is too not add the sugar all at one time. I did this once and the meringue flopped while baking. It wasn't able to stiffen enough during the whisking so it collapsed while baking. The purpose of adding the sugar little by little is to stiffen the air pockets in the egg white so that it would hold its shape even when exposed to hotter temperatures (i.e. in the oven).

As to the issue of what kind of sugar to use, I prefer Caster Sugar which is more expensive than regular white sugar. It is easier dissolved which means lesser time to whisk and more time for other things. :) You can still use regular white sugar but whisking time will be longer.

After whisking you may or may not add vanilla extract but if you do add it last. I like adding vanilla extract, I think it results to better tasting meringues.

Meringues in the oven!

Off to the baking part, some recipes say bake it at 100 C for about 1 hour, but I think the best way to do it is preheat the oven at 120C and once the meringues are in, bring down the temperature to 100C. It will give the meringues a nice crisp on the edges. This is important if you live in a place with a room temperature lower than 28-30C: After baking, do not take it out of the oven, turn it off, leave it there to dry for about 3 hours. If you skip this step, your meringues will be sticky on the outside and chewy. It won't be a crunchy meringue!

Believe me, I've had this problem over and over again until I did this step. THis is what got me frustrated. I never gave up though. I had to try again until I perfected it!

You can try any meringue recipe on the internet these tips and tricks will help you to bake the awesome meringues!

Remember: If at first you don't succeed try and try again! :)


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