Making meringues has been on my list since its conception late last year. A good crunchy, chewy meringue feels really indulgent to me, and when done correctly, is pure heaven. I’ve made lovely soft Italian meringue for my lemon meringue pie, but for some reason dared not venture into the classic French meringue category. They’ve always seemed a bit beyond my level. Emboldened by my Puff the Bakery course over the summer, and spurred on further by an excess of egg whites in my freezer, I decided to bite the bullet and finally make some meringues!
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I decided to turn to the trusty BBC Good Food website for my recipe. I love the BBC Good Food magazine for new and classic recipes, and the website is an absolute treasure trove of recipes from beginner-friendly to “more effort” as well as tips and how-to videos. The recipe, dubbed the “ultimate meringue recipe”, was very simple: 4 egg whites, then equal parts icing sugar and caster sugar. Having never made meringues before I’m not sure what made the recipe the “ultimate”, but I was surprised how simple it was.
The mix came together very easily, and I decided to go for a variety of size of meringue over two trays. The only problem I had was that they took forever to bake. The recipe stated 1hr 30 mins – 1hr 45mins, but in reality, it took my meringues more like 2 and a half hours to cook. I was waiting to be able to tap it on the bottom but they were all very marshmallowy and soft – I didn’t have much confidence in them tasting good.
I didn’t have any cream so I put some lovely indulgent chocolate ice cream and some fresh raspberries. It tasted so bloody good! Crunchy, chewy, and ridiculously sweet – I was so impressed! They were really deceptively simple, and even with the surprisingly long baking time absolutely worth it. I don’t know why I waited so long, but I needn’t have been scared of meringues – I’m super happy to now have them in my repertoire.
New Day, New Thing 