If you have ever tasted real snow-white air meringue, then this dessert is unlikely to leave you indifferent. But do not think that a treat can only be ordered in a restaurant, cafeteria or bought in a candy store. We will tell you how to make meringue at home on your own. Secrets from the masters and time-tested recipes will help create it wonderfully tasty.
What is meringue?
If you have never eaten this dessert and want to learn how to make meringues in order to finally enjoy it, then the first thing we will tell you a little about the treat.
Meringue is an egg white cake. They whisk until light and airy, like foam, mass. Then the latter is shaped into a cone and baked. So that on the outside it freezes a little, and inside it is tender and viscous.
Want to try? Follow us!
Secrets of Real Meringue
Before making meringues at home, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the secrets of a dessert from culinary experts:
- To get a delicate and airy delicacy, do not be lazy to beat the whites properly - from the state of light sea foam to a thick glossy mass.
- It is equally important to prepare the oven for the process. First, it warms up to 150 degrees, after which a baking sheet with blanks is placed in it. Then the master turns off the oven. And waiting. After all, the dessert will be ready when the oven has cooled completely.
- As a consequence of the previous paragraph, we want to offer you one trick - to put the meringues to cook in a preheated and turned off oven before going to bed. In the morning you will have a wonderful addition to breakfast!
- Want to make your cakes original? Nothing diversifies their taste like nuts. Masters advise using almonds, peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts. Each of them carries its own flavor of taste.
Ingredients for Classic Meringue
How to make meringue? Photos on the topic will be throughout the article. And now the ingredients for a classic dessert:
- Squirrels from 3 eggs.
- Granulated sugar (icing sugar) - 150-160 g.
- Citric acid - one pinch.
You will also need a deep bowl and a whisk, a mixer for whipping the protein mass.
Making classic meringues
And now more about how to make meringue (recipe with photos throughout the article):
- We recommend taking fresh cold (directly from the refrigerator) eggs - it is easier to separate the protein from them. We advise you one trick - do the procedure in a cup separate from the container for cooking. If, for example, the yolk slips, the consequences of this will be less deplorable than in the case when it falls into the general mass with proteins.
- Now sugar - it requires no more than 60 g for each egg white. Three, respectively, - 180 g of sugar. Weigh it better in clean and fat-free dishes.
- Add some sugar to the proteins. In the process of whipping, you will pour it over a tablespoon. Do not rush to put sugar in plenty - a real dessert does not like rush.
- We continue to analyze how to make meringues. Turn the mixer on at low speed and start whipping the mass - two minutes (if there are more proteins, then we also increase the time). As soon as the contents are full of air bubbles, turn off the device.
- The mass will become ever thicker, but it is still far from a snow-white state. Therefore, somewhere in the middle of solidification, take sugar with a spoon, sprinkle citric acid on it and add to the overall composition. This is a "bleaching agent."
- Then turn on the whisk at medium speed - whisk for a minute.
- We pass the last stage at the maximum speed of the mixer. Beat to a dense state - when the whisk rises, the mass at its end no longer falls, but holds on, keeping its shape.
- You can check by scooping up the protein composition with a spoon - it will not spread from it.
- How to make meringue in the oven? Preheat oven to 150 °.
- Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Meringues are laid out on it with a tablespoon so that there is a distance between them.
- Place the pan in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 140 degrees.
- Leave on for 15 minutes. Cakes have time to dry out during this time.
- Turn off the oven. Meringues will be ready when it has completely cooled.
You can prepare a dessert like this: bake cakes for 1.5-2 hours, keeping the temperature in the oven at 100-120 °.
Steamed Almond Meringue
Another recipe for making meringues. This is an option with almonds - it is steamed. And it’s not more complicated, on the contrary, such a variation ensures that meringues are sure to succeed.
Prepare the ingredients:
- Egg white - 2 pcs.
- Sugar - 100 g.
- Almonds, pre-chopped - 35-40 g.
- Vanillin or vanilla sugar - 2/3 sachets.
And we begin to create:
- Pour hot water into a wide container. Above it, place a bowl for whipping proteins - so that the container does not touch the water. We need to achieve the effect so that the mixture being prepared only heats the steam.
- Pour the squirrels into a bowl over water. Start knocking them down with a mixer immediately at high speed.
- As soon as the mass begins to thicken, in small portions gradually pour the cooked sugar and vanillin into it.
- Now the mixture is knocked down until it becomes dense in consistency and glossy in appearance. This is achieved in about 10 minutes.
- Now the bowl is being removed from the water bath. We will no longer need a mixer either.
- Pour crushed almonds into the protein mass. Gently mix it with a spoon to spread the nuts.
- The resulting mixture is placed in the cornet. If you do not have such a thing, then it can be replaced with a dense plastic bag with a cut corner.
- Cover the pan with parchment paper. Unleash your imagination - squeeze from the cornet “bezeshki” of various shapes - cones, spirals, waves, snails, zigzags.
- Preheat the oven to 100 degrees. Place the baking sheet in the oven - we will bake the meringues for an hour without raising the temperature.
Chocolate Meringue with Sesame Seeds
One of the piquant original options that found a lot of lovers around the world. And here are its ingredients:
- Egg whites - 2 pcs.
- Sugar - 100 g.
- Slices of dark chocolate - 50 g.
- Sesame - 40 g.
- Lemon juice - 2/3 tsp.
How to make meringue:
- Fry sesame until a pleasant golden color. Be sure to cool.
- Grate the chocolate with coarse chips.
- Beat the whites with a mixer at high speed. Once the mass begins to thicken, add lemon juice to it.
- Without ceasing to beat, slowly pour all the granulated sugar into the mixture.
- Turn off the mixer only when the mass becomes steep in consistency.
- Pour the sesame seeds and gently mix it with the composition.
- Chocolate chips are also gently mixed.
- Meringues can be laid out as a tablespoon or teaspoon, or with a cornet. Be sure to cover the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 150 °. Bake for 20-25 minutes at this temperature.
- Turn off the oven - the meringue will be ready when it has completely cooled.
Meringue with butter cream
Do you want a real pleasure in taste? Let’s introduce you another recipe. How to make meringue at home with butter cream? With a cake, you can choose any of the above options. Here we will tell you how to make a delicious cream that will be a layer between the "bezeshki".
You will need the following:
- Butter - 100 g.
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Sugar - 2 tbsp. spoons.
- Alcohol (for a piquant aroma) - 2 tsp.
Oil cream is steamed:
- Pour warm water into a wide container - about 40 °. Place a container for the preparation of cream in it.
- First of all, beat the egg with a whisk, mixer. Then gradually pour sugar into it. Beat to a uniform and dense mass.
- Now move on to the new clean tank. Then soft butter is whipped into a gentle cream. Then, over a tablespoon, the previously obtained egg mass is poured into it. Do not stop the mixer during this process.
- In conclusion, alcohol is added to the blank.
- To harden, the cream is placed in the refrigerator for a while.
With butter cream, two frozen ready-made meringues are combined in pairs - it is enough to spread the souffle on the flat side of each.
Secrets of Success
For meringues to work out, remember these rules:
- Use clean and completely dry dishes. Water can ruin the whole thing! Confectioners do not even recommend making these cakes in wet weather.
- The dishes are degreased with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol and vodka.
- To make the meringues more magnificent, the walls of the container for their preparation are wiped with a slice of lemon.
- Meringues in the oven are not baked, but rather dried. It’s great if you activate convection mode in the oven.
Now you know everything for making magical air meringues. Good luck with your culinary experiments!