Easy Mini Meringues

I love pavlova (or meringue depending on how you present it).

It looks so pretty and lovely for ending dinner. I recently made these for a girls night-in dinner for my lovely friends.

There are so many recipes saying "fool proof meringues", "basic" or "absolutely anybody can make these" kind of headlines.  I tried a few of them.  However,  I always find these recipes didn't give me "perfect ones". So, I tried, tested and tweaked the basic recipes.

Here is my recently successful recipe for 4 egg and 3 egg versions of mini meringues. You never know how many eggs you have when you have a sudden urge to make meringues.

You can make them in an open style presentation with cream and your choice of fruit. For the photo above, I used creme fraiche, blueberries and chopped plums marinated in my homemade raspberry vodka.

Or, you can stack two meringues together with the filling in the middle as in the photo below.

Get set to be creative! 

Makes 12 meringues 

•   4 medium egg whites (at room temperature)

•   1 tsp of lemon juice 

•   225g (8oz) caster sugar (I tried 200g and it works)

•   1 tsp cornflour

Makes 9 meringues 

•   3 medium egg whites (at room temperature) 

•   1 tsp of lemon juice 

•   170 g (6oz) caster sugar (I tried 160g and it works)

•   1 tsp cornflour 

* The quantity of lemon juice and cornflour are the same for both versions. I tested them and the result was good in both cases.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 130°C, (fan 110°C), 250°F, gas mark ½. Using an 8cm (3 ¼ in) diameter template (like a small saucer or bowl), mark out 12 circles on 2 sheets of baking parchment. Turn them face down onto 2 large baking sheets and set aside.
2. Get a really clean medium sized bowl. If it is not spotlessly clean, it will mean that the egg whites don’t whip up properly.
3. Tip the egg whites into the bowl, squeeze the lemon juice in and then whisk them to a medium peak. To test, lift the whisk out of the meringue with some of the white foam on the end.
4. Next add a spoonful of the sugar to the meringue and whisk really hard until all of the sugar has ‘dissolved’ and the mixture starts to look a bit shiny. Then add the remaining sugar gradually, while whisking all the time, until the mixture becomes really shiny and very stiff.
5. If you perform the whisk trick at this time, the peak will be almost straight up in the air.
6. Finally, whisk in the cornflour for a second or two until smooth. This gives the meringue a marshmallow texture inside with a crisp outside.
7. You can then dollop blobs of the mixture onto each of the 12 circles on the paper and spread each one out to the circle edge with the back of a spoon. I like to put a star nozzle in a piping bag and fill it with the meringue mixture. Then, starting in the centre of each circle, holding the piping bag vertically and squeezing it gently as you go, go round and round until the entire circle is filled to give a pretty flat rose shape. When you come to the end of the rose shape, keep the bag moving but stop squeezing it. This will give a neat ‘end’ to the rose. Repeat with the rest of the mix.
8. Bake in the oven for at least 40 minutes. Cool in the oven with the door ajar.   I leave them in the oven for a couple of hours to cool them completely. (If your meringues crack or became too brown, just turn the oven down by 10°C or so.) Once the meringues are ready, remove them from the oven. 
9. Decorate the meringues with the topping of you choice. I prefer creme fraiche to fresh cream for a lighter flavour with berries. 

The meringues cracked spectacularly?
Or piping didn't go as well as expected? 
Fear not. 
You can crush them and put them in a glass and make "Eton Mess."
Tidy. :)  





You may also try to make meringue nests as in the photos below.  

Last Christmas, I discovered amazing stuff called "Extra Thick Salted Caramel Cream with LUXARDO Caramel Liquor" at a supermarket. The flavour was SO lovely with sliced banana.