How To Make Meringues

A while ago someone asked me how to make meringues. And I’ve sat on this request for a while because there are actually several different ways to make meringues and each way has its positives and negatives. Because I like to nerd-out over kitchen techniques, let’s explore the three go-to ways that people use when they go to make meringues. 🤓

The three basic methods of how to make meringues:

😀 Pro-Tip: Meringues are gluten-free! 😀

• There’s the French method / French Meringue. This is the most common way to whip egg whites with sugar and it’s probably the way your grandmother taught you to make meringues (unless your grandmother was into haute cuisine). The problem with this method is that the meringue is often quite unstable, and it’s easy to wind up with a meringue that resembles shaving cream instead of billowy, glossy peaks.
• Then there’s the Swiss method / Swiss Meringue. This is the method most “elevated at-home” cooking recipes recommend. You heat the egg whites and the sugar on the stove in a double boiler (ban marie) until the sugar dissolves and the mixture hits 160°F (71°C) essentially killing any bacteria that could exist in the eggs. Swiss Meringue makes a stable meringue that is only slightly less voluminous than its French cousin. The downside? I have made endless sweetened egg-white scrambles in my life. You turn away from that double boiler for a second and the whole kit-and-kaboodle is going to make its way into the compost bin.
• Finally we have the Italian method / Italian Meringue. This is my personal favorite for making frostings because the sugar is SO HOT that the eggs whip up in no time, and they become super stable. The down side? You have to heat sugar on the stove until it hits 240°F (116°C) and then you have to take that scalding hot sugar and chuck it into your stand mixer while it’s running. And if you have little ones scrambling about the kitchen this is probably not the technique for you. After all, no one wants to wind up at the emergency department with a child screaming “Mommy threw hot sugar on me.”

Finding another way

So that got me thinking: How can we get the stability, volume, and consistency of hot sugar without having to boil it on the stovetop? Enter the Meringue Girls, a pair of London-based bakers who pioneered a technique to bake granulated sugar in the oven before adding it into their egg whites. The sugar goes into the eggs while it’s still hot, and as it incorporates it creates a stable, voluminous, gorgeous, meringue.

Bonus: This technique will even work for you when it’s raining outside.

Enjoy! 😀👍🏻🥚

How To Make Meringues

• Author: Matthew Smedal
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 36 small meringue cookies 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: French

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Description

There is a lot of folklore surrounding the question of how to make meringues. This foolproof technique will all but guarantee you perfect results every time.

*This technique is adapted (with great adoration) from The Meringue Girls of London.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 large egg whites (100 grams)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
• a little white vinegar
• a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment

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Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 425°F (200°C + fan). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread your sugar out onto it. Bake your sugar for 8 minutes then turn the oven down to 225°F (100°C + fan). I know this all sounds really strange, but just go with me on this one.
2. While your sugar bakes, wipe your mixer’s bowl out with white vinegar and put your egg whites into it. During the last two minutes or so of sugar baking turn the mixer to medium and mix until the eggs hit somewhere between foamy and soft peaks. Start adding your hot sugar into to the eggs very slowly, tablespoon by tablespoon, waiting to add more sugar until you see that the previous amount has been fully incorporated (if you used parchment paper to line your baking sheet you can simply pick up the sugar with the paper and funnel it into the bowl bit by bit). Beat for an additional 2-3 minutes, until the mixture forms voluptuous stiff peaks and is incredibly glossy / delicious looking.
3. Line a (cool) baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat
4. If you have piping bags transfer the meringue to the piping bags and pipe Hershey’s Kisses style formations on to the sheet (release the pressure and pull up to form the peaks). You can paint strips of food coloring on the inside of the bag if you wish to give your meringues color. If you don’t have piping bags grab a tablespoon or soup spoon and dollop mounds of lovely meringue onto your baking sheet. They don’t have to look perfect. In fact, they won’t. This is the joy of it.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the edge of the meringues are hard but the center is still gooey. Cool completely on the baking sheets.

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Keywords: meringue, egg whites