Meringues

I seem to be into making sweet things these days, even though I do not have a sweet tooth. This time, I have tried myself at meringue, to use the egg whites from the tiramisu (although the whipped whites can also be incorporated in the mascarpone).

This recipe works every time, all you need a bit of patience, really...

PREPARATION TIME: 5 min
COOKING TIME: 2 to 10 hours
INGREDIENTS:
- egg whites
- 80g of sugar per egg white
optional:
- a bit of salt
- a few drops of lemon juice

PREPARATION:
Pre-heat the oven at 100-110^oC
Add the lemon&salt to the egg whites and beat a little with a fork.
Whip the egg white until very firm.
Slowly add up the sugar whilst still whipping until the mix becomes very white and very shiny.
Keep adding the sugar whilst you keep whipping.

Lay some baking paper in the oven and deposit quantities of the mix - the quantity depends of the size of meringues you want to end up with).

Cook for 2 hours at 100-110^oC then 2h at 90^oC.

If you want the meringues to be hard to the core, cook them at 90^oC for up to 10 hours.

SERVING:
If you want to serve these as a dessert, create them so that the centre is concave, and when you serve them, fill the centre with raspberries (tinned raspberries are fine, you can use the juice too) and cover with single cream.

TIPS:
- Cook the meringues immediately, do not make the mix wait. - egg whites can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, or longer (4 months) if in the freezer. Strangely enough, the older the egg whites, the better the meringues. - the egg whites must be at ambiant temperature when you whip them up - You can add almond flakes on the meringues, or cocoa, pine nuts. coconut powder, hazelnet powder... or you can also add some taste, like coffee, vanilla, orange blossom, liquor... - If you want your meringues to be super shiny, srinkle them with ice sugar before cooking them - If your meringues stick on the paper, you need to evacuate some humidity by leaving your oven door slightly open - If the over is too hot, the meringues will change colour (well, personally, I do like a bit of colour)
Source: my experimentation