How to make the perfect meringue. Meringue: the secrets of cooking at home

French meringue cake (meringue) can be fragile and crumbly, tender and melting in your mouth, soft inside and crispy outside - it is no coincidence that the French called this airy dessert “kiss”, emphasizing its sweetness and sophistication. is a protein cake, and meringue is a protein cream from which meringues are made or which is used as a filling for confectionery. Due to the fact that meringue contains a small amount of ingredients, it seems that it is quite simple to prepare it, but meringue is a capricious dessert that sometimes behaves unpredictably. Not every culinary specialist (especially a beginner) knows how to cook meringues and meringues correctly, so it’s worth learning a few tricks first, thanks to which you will get a real French dessert without flaws.

Cooking meringues at home: the subtleties of French culinary art

Let's talk about how to bake meringue at home, which recipe to choose and how to achieve perfection in the art of making protein dough, which should be airy, foamy, light and at the same time dense, plastic and well-shaped. Knowing the secrets of cooking, you will get beautiful and delicious airy cakes and other desserts from egg whites whipped with sugar baked in the oven.

French, Italian and Swiss way of making meringue

There are three ways to prepare meringue - French, Italian and Swiss. The French prepare the protein mass very simply - beat the proteins with a pinch of salt, gradually adding powdered sugar until it keeps its shape perfectly. Meringues prepared according to the French recipe are tender and airy, but they are only suitable for cakes of a simple form, since graceful and ornate roses can blur and lose their original appearance.

Instead of sugar, Italians add thick and hot sugar syrup to the protein mass, pouring it in a thin stream and not stopping whipping for a second. A soft and tasty cream, which turns out to be a little custard due to hot syrup, is used to coat cakes, stuff tubes and eclairs. The cream mixes easily with butter to infuse new flavors, unlike French meringue, which, in combination with fats, immediately loses its shape.

The most virtuoso meringue is prepared according to the Swiss recipe, since it is made in a water bath - while the mass increases in volume several times. From a thick and elastic mass, fantasy cookies and ornate cream patterns on cakes are obtained that do not blur and look very impressive.

The intricacies of making perfect meringue

Utensils and kitchen utensils that you will use to beat egg whites should be perfectly clean and free of grease. The fact is that fat worsens the quality of the protein dough and prevents the shape of the meringue from being preserved, therefore, before cooking, you should pour boiling water over the dishes with the addition of lemon juice.

Many chefs recommend using only very fresh eggs, which is understandable if you are going to make a protein cream, that is, eat proteins without heat treatment. For the preparation of meringues, it is better to take a week-old egg, since the protein in the process of storing the eggs becomes drier and whipped much easier.

For meringue, not chilled, but warm proteins, the temperature of which is 22-25 ° C, are more suitable. Cold proteins whip faster, but the mass is less voluminous, more dense and unstable when baking. Warm proteins give a lush air mass with a stable relief, as a result of which the products rise perfectly in the oven, bake well and keep their shape.

Try to take not sugar, but powdered sugar, because the finer the grains, the better the protein mass is whipped, turning out to be more tender and light, and sugar that has not completely dissolved can creak on the teeth, which is not always pleasant when tasting dessert.

At the very beginning, the speed of whipping proteins should be slow in order to saturate the mass with oxygen, and when foam with bubbles appears, the speed can be set to maximum.

Add sugar gradually - 1 tsp each. at regular intervals. If sugar is added immediately, the meringues will settle after baking. Be patient so that the result meets your expectations!

For a crispy meringue, beat the whites to sharp peaks - when the mass reaches for the whisk, forming angles like a beak. If the protein cream forms round peaks on the whisk that gradually fall off, then you are dealing with soft peaks, ideal for making delicate cakes or biscuits.

In old cookbooks, advice is given to add a pinch of salt to the proteins at the beginning of whipping, and at the end - a few drops of lemon juice to form a lush and voluminous mass. With the advent of modern mixers and blenders, the need to add these products has disappeared, so they can be discarded. If, according to the recipe, flour and starch must be added to the protein mass, sift them to saturate with air so that the dough does not lose airiness.

It is better to bake meringue on confectionery paper at a temperature of 80-110 ° C for 1-2 hours. For this reason, the French jokingly call meringues “forgotten cookies”, just try not to forget about your dessert so that it does not get too dry. Ready-made cakes should be crispy, without a dark crust, and if you prefer more tender and soft meringues, bake them at 150 ° C until light yellow. You can bake the meringue for several minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C, and then reduce the heat to 100 ° C and bake for another half hour.

Do not open the oven while the meringues are baking, otherwise they will fall off and turn into cakes. It is better to check the products for readiness after cooling, since a warm cake inside may seem damp. Do not store meringues in the refrigerator so that they do not get damp!

On the basis of meringue, you can cook a lot of delicious confectionery with the addition of chocolate, marmalade, jelly, coffee, fruits, berries, curd cheeses, milk, whipped cream, nuts and spices. Meringues are poured with chocolate icing, served with ice cream, marshmallows, vanilla, butter or butter cream, they make filling for pancakes and sweet sandwiches, cakes and small petit four cakes. Meringue cakes are like light clouds that melt in your mouth, leaving a delicately sweet aftertaste that you want to experience again and again. Prepare fluffy meringues and enjoy great French desserts!

Cooking instructions

1 hour 10 minutes Print

1. Separate the proteins from the yolks. The main thing is to carefully separate them, otherwise the proteins will not whip well and nothing will come of it. I take two cups, carefully pour the whites into one, the yolks remain in the other (you can cover them with foil, put them in the refrigerator and then make something out of them too). Crib How to separate whites from yolks

2. Pour sugar into a measuring cup, up to the mark of 150 grams. Add 2 teaspoons (but you can do more, so the smell will be on the whole house) vanilla sugar.

3. We preheat the oven, but very weakly. I turn on 120 degrees. Tool Oven thermometer How the oven actually heats up, even if you set a specific temperature, can only be understood with experience. It is better to have a small thermometer on hand, which is placed in the oven or simply hung on the grate. And it is better that it shows degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit simultaneously and accurately - like a Swiss watch. A thermometer is important when it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature regime: for example, in the case of baking.

4. We take some bowl in which we will beat the squirrels (I have a special plastic bowl for this, you can beat anything in it), a mixer, and go! It is important, of course, that the mixer is powerful. If everything is in order, then 3-5 minutes should be enough to get a strong foam that will not fall out even if you turn the bowl upside down. Tool Mixer Beating egg whites, as well as kneading other substances like minced meat or dough, is convenient not by hand (as it takes time and effort), but with a mixer like KitchenAid. For example, the Artisan model has ten speed settings and three different attachments to work with any consistency, besides, it is also a versatile food processor.

5. Pour the sugar out of the glass, beat for another 5 minutes. Until the sugar more or less becomes one with the foam. It is done! To check how perfect everything is, you can run the whisks of the mixer over the surface of the foam, and if motionless traces remain, then everything is ok!

6. Put a sheet of baking paper on a baking sheet so that it fits in size.
Tool Baking paper For even baking, it is better to send open pies and quiches to the oven on a wire rack, and so that the sauce boiling from the heat does not drip between the rods, baking paper will help. For example, the Finns produce a good one - it is quite dense and is already divided into sheets that are easy to get out of the box. And more from paper is not required.

7. Well, we put future meringues on it in any form! I make magic tricks with a bag of different nozzles (something like a pastry syringe, only simpler). You can make small meringues or large ones. Smaller ones, by the way, bake faster. Tool Cone confectionery It is convenient to squeeze the filling onto the dough, like the cream, with a pastry cone. Then the portions are even and neat, and the hands do not get dirty with minced meat. The horn does not have to be bought, it is easily twisted from cellophane or some other waterproof material. For confectionery purposes, it is better to use cones with a variety of nozzles - usually several pieces are included in the set at once.

8. That's almost it! We put in the oven at 120 degrees, for 50-60-80 minutes, you can periodically check. If the outside is hard, then it's time to take it out.

Ah, meringue!.. Tender, crispy, crumbly, or, on the contrary, soft, like cotton candy inside and with a crispy ruddy crust on the outside ... Mmm, pleasure! No wonder the refined French called this delicacy a “kiss” (from French Baiser).

In pre-revolutionary Russia, meringue was called the "Spanish wind". It is also called meringues, and it is believed that it is more correct to call this dessert that way, because meringue is a protein cream, and meringues are the same cream, only dried. However, let's leave linguistics aside and try to cook this amazing dessert.

In general, the composition of the meringue is simple, like everything ingenious: proteins and sugar. Sometimes nut flour, starch, but this is not so significant. However, a short list of ingredients does not mean that preparing a fragile dessert is easy and simple. Meringue is a delicate, capricious substance, like a spoiled lady, and can bring many surprises and disappointments to an inexperienced chef.

Therefore, before you open the refrigerator and take out a tray with eggs, arm yourself with theoretical knowledge of the subject and strictly follow the strict rules for making meringue, and then you will succeed!

You can cook meringue in three ways.

french way

This is the simplest one, it can be used for trying to master this dish, as well as for making meringues in simple shapes, without fine patterns. The protein mass turns out to be lush, strong, but with clearly visible bubbles, so deposit virtuoso roses on a baking sheet do not make sense, they will “float”, if not immediately, then during baking. Therefore, you need to cook cakes from it in the oven or in the microwave without any special tricks - just oval cakes.

Ingredients:

• egg whites- 2 pcs
• Salt - a pinch
• Sugar or powdered sugar

French meringue is prepared like this: chilled whites of two eggs, pour into a saucepan or bowl, add a pinch of salt to them and start beating with a mixer or whisk (in general, this can be done even with a fork, it will only take a long time) until a strong foam. Then we begin to gradually add powdered sugar or sugar to them, continuing to beat. Powder will need approximately two hundred grams per protein. However, the exact amount of powder is determined "by eye", since it must be added to proteins until a certain point - the appearance of so-called "hard peaks". This is when the cream does not fall from the mixer or whisk raised up, and the peaks (“icicles” from meringue) do not bend under their own weight.

Italian way

cooking meringue differs from French in that rather steeply boiled sugar syrup is poured into whipped proteins instead of sugar. The syrup is poured in a hot, thin stream, and the whipping of the proteins in no case stops until the whole mass cools down.

This method is ideal for making creams - boiling syrup brews proteins, and the resulting cream does not fall off. With this cream, you can layer cakes, cook cakes with it, fill tubules or eclairs, decorate any dessert.

In addition, cream prepared in Italian mixes perfectly with butter, while “regular” meringue flows from contact with fat.

Ingredients:

• Egg whites - 2 pcs.
• Sugar syrup - about 300 g
• Citric acid or lemon juice

First, boil sugar syrup: two parts sugar, one part water, a little lemon juice. For a meringue of two proteins, you need to take two hundred grams of sugar per hundred grams of water. Beat the whites in a strong foam and, continuing to beat, pour hot syrup into them in a thin stream. Beat the cream until the mass is completely cool.

swiss way

cooking meringue is the most time consuming, due to the fact that you have to build a steam bath. But the meringue prepared in this way is the strongest, most persistent and dense. From the steamed mass, you can deposit the most fancy cookies, and they dry very quickly, faster than all the others, and you can draw beautiful intricate patterns with it.

Ingredients:

• egg whites
• Granulated sugar
• Lemon juice

The cooking method is: over a pot of boiling water, dishes with proteins and sugar are placed (one protein - one glass of sugar). The bottom of the pan should be heated only by steam and not in contact with water. We begin to beat the whites first at the lowest speed of the mixer until all the sugar has dissolved. And after that we add speed and beat until ready, getting a white, dense, thick cream at the exit.

So, the cooking method is chosen, and you are determined to surprise your guests with wonderful meringues. Stop for a few more minutes and remember a few very important rules, without which you will not succeed.

Rules for the preparation of "Meringue"

The optimal ratio of proteins to sugar is 1:2.6. In order to bake one baking sheet of small cakes, I take 3 eggs and 0.5 tbsp. Sahara.

Proteins must be fresh! Only fresh proteins are able to retain air and give a dense, thick mass.

To obtain a high-quality mass, proteins are cooled to a temperature of + 2 ° C before whipping (i.e., we take it from the refrigerator immediately before whipping). Uncooled proteins do not whip well, and the baked cake mix will be blurry. Sugar for meringue, by the way, is also best to cool.

Separate the whites very carefully so that not a drop of yolk gets into them. This is done as follows: over a separate dish, break the egg with the blunt side of the knife so that the shell cracks. Carefully break open the egg and release the protein into the bowl. The yolk remains in one of the shells. Just carefully pour the yolk into another shell, while the remaining protein slips into the bowl, and the clean, intact yolk remains in the shell.

Try to break each egg over a separate bowl, pouring the squirrels into a bowl - no one will find a surprise in the form of a rotten egg flopped into the rest of the squirrels pleasant.

It is advisable to grind sugar into powder or buy ready-made powdered sugar in the store. The size of the grains will not affect the quality and taste, you just have to beat the protein mass much longer, because this must be done until all the sugar has dissolved. Otherwise, the remaining grains will crunch on your teeth.

First, beat the proteins until their volume increases by 4-6 times, then slowly add vanilla powder, sugar All sugar is not added immediately, but several times (thin stream or small spoons)

When whipping proteins, it is good to use citric acid - in powder, in diluted form, or just lemon juice. Citric acid is diluted at the rate of 1 tsp. powder for 2 tsp. water. Citric acid is added to taste, sometimes a few drops are enough, but if you like a sour taste, you can add more, for example, a teaspoon of acid. Just don't use acetic acid!

Dishes and whisks should be not just clean, but perfectly clean, free of grease and any impurities. By the way, when choosing dishes for whipping, keep in mind that the volume of whipped proteins will increase four to five times. In addition, the bowl in which you beat the egg whites must be dry, otherwise the egg whites will not beat well.
To degrease, wash dishes in slightly soapy water, then rinse in very hot water. Wipe the dishes with a completely clean and dry cloth. For final assurance that there are no traces of grease, wipe the bowl and whisk with a slice of lemon.

Proteins should not be beaten in a metal bowl, otherwise they will darken.

There should be little protein so that the whisk does not completely sink into them, otherwise aeration will be impossible and the proteins will not beat well. The more proteins you use, the longer the whipping should be at each stage.

It is believed that it is better to beat the whites with a whisk, as they heat up from an electric mixer, so there may be a thin foam. But, as a rule, they beat well with a mixer: o)
First, the whites should be beaten at a slow speed for 2 minutes, until a yellow foam forms. If there are more than two proteins, then you need to beat longer.
Then you need to switch to medium speed and beat for another minute, and finally, continue whipping at maximum speed until the desired stage.

You can’t beat the whites for too long, because in this way you will achieve the opposite effect: the mass will not be airy and fluffy, but smooth and dense. Meringue from it, alas, you can no longer bake. Five to seven minutes of intense whipping is enough.

It used to be thought that even a drop of water could negate all efforts to beat the egg white. Now this statement is being refuted with might and main by experienced chefs, and some even add a few tablespoons of water to the proteins so that the dried meringues become especially brittle and dry. It is usually recommended to pour a teaspoon into proteins very cold water- so they beat better.

Sometimes a pinch of salt is added to the proteins before whipping - it gives strength to the proteins.

Catching the moment when the proteins are whipped to the maximum volume is difficult for a novice cook. However, this moment can be determined experimentally. There are three proven methods. In the first case, after stopping the whipping process, slightly raise the whisk so that the whipped proteins can form a peak. If the whipped protein does not fall off and clearly holds its height, then your work has been crowned with success. But if the whipped egg whites are to be used later in other ingredients, such as for a cake or soufflé, then the protein peaks should be slightly plastic, dropping slightly when the whisk is raised.

In the second case, just try to slowly and carefully turn the pan of squirrels upside down. If, at the same time, the foam does not try to drain along the walls, but holds firmly in the pan, the squirrels are ready.
In the third case, simply place a knife or fork (with cloves or a point on the bottom) in the center of the pan with protein foam. In strong whipped foam, both the knife and fork will stand firmly without the help of your hands.

If, according to the recipe, a little flour, starch or ground nuts are required to be added to the whipped proteins, then the flour and starch should be sifted to saturate them with air, and the nuts should be fried and ground as thinly as possible.

The baking tray should be prepared immediately so as not to mess with it later, when the protein mass is already ready and begins to quietly settle from impatience and boredom. Lay tracing paper, parchment paper or special baking paper lightly greased with margarine (butter) on a baking sheet. If you grease it with fat, the bottom of the cakes will tear, if you don’t grease it at all, you will eat meringue with paper.

You can lay out portions of the protein with a spoon or a confectionery syringe. You can transfer the protein mixture to a plastic bag, cut off the tip on one side and gently but quickly (since air evaporates, the quality becomes low, density increases, shape stability decreases) squeeze the resulting mass in the form of balls onto a baking sheet. Leave the distance between the "blanks", the meringue will increase in size.

If you decide to bake air baskets, then draw identical circles on the back of the baking paper (circle the bottom of the glass), fill the pastry syringe or cornet with a smooth round nozzle and fill the circles by squeezing the dough, moving in a spiral. Then, along the edge of the circles, deposit the dough in the form of a side in one continuous strip, or often plant small stars along the edge. After baking and cooling, fill the resulting baskets with cream or jam.

To get even cakes on the back of the paper, draw a circle or rectangle of the desired size with a pencil, then put the dough into a confectionery syringe or cornet and deposit the meringue along the outlined contour, moving in a spiral. You can start from the center, or you can start from the edges, it doesn’t matter.

Meringue should be placed in a preheated oven, let it heat up while you spread the mass with a teaspoon on a baking sheet covered with tracing paper. I set it to 150°C.
After you place the meringues in the preheated oven, they should immediately rise. As soon as the meringues "grow", you immediately need to immediately reduce the heat to a minimum (about 100 ° C), otherwise they will burn. Leave for approximately 2 hours. It is recommended to dry the meringues in the oven at a low temperature for a long time (one and a half to two hours), then they will dry well and turn out to be light, with a delicate texture.

By the way, my friend lights the oven only when she has already put a baking sheet in it and immediately turns it on to a temperature of 100 ° C - and her meringues are excellent. And it only takes 40-50 minutes to bake. Apparently a lot depends on the oven itself.

Cooking time depends on the size of the meringue and the characteristics of the oven. Do not open the oven for at least the first 30 minutes, otherwise the meringue will settle. But it’s better, in my opinion, not to open the oven for at least 1 hour, although some housewives believe that, unlike many other pastries, it is possible and even necessary to open the oven while cooking meringues - they open it slightly with an inserted pencil. Determining readiness is simple: baked meringues easily move away from the sheet.
The finished meringue is not white, but slightly creamy.

Ready (but still hot) meringues remain soft until cool, so they can be left in the oven off.

In order to remove the meringue cakes from the paper, place the cake along with the paper on the edge of the table and slowly slide it towards you, holding the cake with one hand, while pulling the paper down with the other. Acting carefully enough, you will get the cake whole and unharmed. Removing small meringues from paper is usually not a big deal.

For a new portion of meringue, take a fresh sheet of tracing paper each time.

Shaking should not be allowed during meringue baking - do not slam doors and windows, do not allow children to run and jump around the kitchen.

Ready-made meringues can be decorated with cream, poured with some syrup, shifted with berries, but, in my opinion, they are quite tasty on their own.

To prevent the meringue baskets from melting under the influence of cream, jam or jam, make a layer of melted chocolate. To do this, melt the grated chocolate in a water bath in a small amount of milk or cream, stirring constantly and periodically removing from steam so that the chocolate does not curl from excessively high temperature, stir until smooth and smear the inside of the baskets with a brush, trying to apply chocolate with a good such layer. The same operation can be done with cake layers - this will only add a crispy chocolate note to your dessert.

In order to decorate meringue cakes, you can prepare, for example, chocolate-nut cream. To do this, roast the nuts and grind with a blender. Melt the chocolate in a water bath and cool slightly. Meanwhile, whip the cream (preferably 35% fat). Chopped nuts and melted chocolate are added to the whipped mass. Using a pastry bag, meringue cakes are decorated with cream on top.

Meringue can be fastened in pairs (whipped cream or buttercream) and cooled.

Store the finished meringue in a dry place. You can store them in plastic bags, otherwise they will pick up moisture from the air and not be crispy.

That's all. Difficult? Try to cook and see for yourself.

	1. Carefully separate the proteins from the yolks and pour into a deep non-metallic bowl.
	2. Pour sugar or powdered sugar (a glass of sugar for every four to five proteins) into a separate cup and set aside.
	3. Start whipping the whites with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed.
	4. As soon as the protein foam becomes saturated white and acquires some density (you can check with a spoon), we begin to add sugar little by little (preferably one dessert spoon).
	5. Beat the foam until all the sugar is completely dissolved.
	6. At this stage, nuts, grated chocolate, condensed milk, or anything else to your taste can be added to the protein mass. Any "addition" is carefully mixed into the foam with a spoon.
	7. The readiness of the mass for baking is checked as follows: they collect foam in a slightly damp spoon and turn it over. The foam must not run out, fall out or lose its shape.
	8. On a sheet lined with parchment or foil, using the same spoon or pastry syringe, lay out cakes (the shape and size depend only on your desire).
	9. Meringue is dried in the oven at a minimum temperature (no more than one hundred degrees). Depending on the size of the cakes, the meringue dries for an hour or two. Ready-made cakes will turn out crispy and slightly crumbly.

Based on materials from kedem.ru, cherrylady.ua, domznaniy.ru

As you can see, making meringue at home does not require any super-complex skills. It's simple, fast, and most importantly, delicious! Bon appetit and culinary victories!

PS. Meringue is a delicious delicacy, but girls who are on strict diets should always remember that the calorie content of the dessert is very high: 100 g draws 310 kcal.

You have probably seen, tried, or cooked a scary brown meringue yourself. This is a catastrophe. Natural classic meringue should be snow-white. I myself often find on the Internet a lot of recipes for the so-called "meringue" with a slight brown tint. Don't trust them. It's not meringue. It's already a cookie. The moment the meringue changed color, it ceased to be a meringue and became a cookie.

! Remember the main rule of the oven: the meringue is not baked, the meringue is dried.

Meringue is a French crunchy pastry made from meringue. Meringue is beaten egg whites with sugar. Meringue can be made from any kind of meringue. There are three main varieties:

1. french- the easiest and most common way to beat egg whites. Just beat the whites, gradually adding sugar.
2. Swiss- more resistant meringue. Here the proteins are whipped in a water bath.
3. Italian- the most stable and most labor-intensive type of meringue. Prepared with sugar syrup.

For meringue, I prefer Swiss meringue. Such a meringue keeps its shape perfectly, it is more stable compared to the French one, but the process is not as energy-intensive as in the Italian one.

The main thing

What to do to make the meringue white, crispy and beautiful? Here are my 10 commandments.

1. The ideal ratio of sugar proteins in meringue is 1 part protein to 2 parts sugar. That is, ideally, you need to weigh the proteins and take exactly 2 times more sugar.
2. Separate the whites from the yolks while still cold, immediately after the refrigerator (so they are easier to separate). And then leave the proteins for 30 minutes at room temperature, covered with cling film.
3. In order for the proteins to whip into a steep foam, all the utensils that are involved in whipping the proteins must be crystal clear and dry.
4. For a water bath, it is desirable to use metal or glass heat-resistant dishes.
5. To stabilize the meringue, confectioners use cream of tartar. If you don't have one, you can replace it with a few drops of lemon juice.
6. The temperature of the oven with this method of cooking meringue should be no more than 100º. If the oven is powerful, then in order to avoid darkening, it is better to lower the temperature to 80 and increase the drying time to 2-3 hours.
7. Drying time for meringues depends on their size. As a rule, this process takes from 1 hour or more.
8. Do not open the oven during the first hour of drying! Otherwise, the meringues may crack or fall off.
9. The easiest way to check the doneness of the meringue is to tear one bezie from the baking sheet, if it comes off easily, then the meringue is ready. And if it sticks, then he needs a few more minutes.
10. Once the meringues are cooked, don't take them out of the oven right away. Leave them in the oven all night to dry them properly inside. Or at least for 1 hour.

And the meringue recipe on Swiss meringue

We will need:

• egg whites, room temperature - 225 gr. (7 pcs.)
• sugar - 450 gr. (2 glasses)
• lemon juice or cream of tartar - ½ tsp (optional)
• a few drops of vanilla or any other essence (optional)
• a few drops of food coloring (optional)

Before you start cooking meringue, carefully read the 10 rules for cooking meringue ⇑

From these ingredients, you will get a lot of bezes. Therefore, for the first time, I advise you to take 3-4 proteins, weigh them and add exactly 2 times more sugar, that is, 120 gr. protein take 240 gr. Sahara.

Cooking:

1. We heat the oven to 100º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
2. In a heat-resistant bowl, put the proteins, sugar and essence, and place it in a water bath. The water must not touch the bowl!
3. Constantly stirring with a whisk, heat the proteins until the sugar is completely dissolved for about 4 minutes (wipe the protein mass between your fingers - you should not feel the grains) - this is very important!
4. After the sugar has dissolved, remove the whites from the water bath, add lemon juice or cream of tartar and start beating with a mixer at low speed for 4 minutes.
5. Then we increase the mixer speed (to the maximum if the mixer power is less than 500 W, and to the penultimate scale if the mixer power is more than 500 W) and beat for another 3-4 minutes or until the mixer bowl cools down to room temperature.
6. If desired, add a couple of drops of essence or food coloring and beat for another 1 minute.
7. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag and place the meringue on the prepared baking sheet.
8. We dry the meringue from 1 to 4 hours (depending on the size), after which we turn off the oven and leave the meringue to dry all night.

Swiss meringue meringue is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

But here I thought well and decided that for the especially lazy you need to write down the simplest meringue recipe on French meringue. Such bezeshki are crispy both inside and out, but the taste is in no way inferior to the above))

Here is my perfect meringue recipe on a simple french meringue

Compound:

• egg whites - 115 gr. (4 things.)
• lemon juice - a few drops
• sugar - 115 gr.
• powdered sugar - 115 gr.

Cooking method:

1. In a clean, dry bowl, at medium mixer speed, beat the whites to soft peaks, i.e., the mass should turn white and be held on the whisk when raised. Add a few drops of lemon juice.
2. Then increase the speed of the mixer and, while continuing to beat, gradually introduce the sugar, adding 1 tablespoon at a time and beating for 3-4 seconds after each serving of sugar.
3. When the mass becomes shiny and glossy, and the peaks hold their shape firmly, turn off the mixer and sift 1/3 of the powdered sugar into the proteins, mix gently and mix in the remaining two parts of the powdered sugar in the same way.
4. Everything else is the same as last time: we place the meringue with a pastry bag on a baking sheet and bake at 100ºС for 1 hour.
5. After an hour, try to remove one bezie from the baking sheet: if it comes off easily, then you can turn off the oven, if it sticks, leave it for another 30-45 minutes, or even for 1 hour (this will depend on the size of your particular bezek).
   

   Another surefire way to test meringue for readiness is to break it in half: if it breaks and crunches, then it’s ready.

6. Ready French meringue meringue can be left in the oven turned off all night, or you can take it out immediately and cool.

We store ready-made pies in an airtight container (not in the refrigerator!) At room temperature for a week, or even more. To be honest, I keep them for months.

Preparation of classic meringue:

1. Carefully separate the yolks from the whites.
2. With a mixer at low speed, beat the whites until a thick and stable foam.
3. Continue beating while adding the powdered sugar little by little. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until sugar is completely dissolved. The mass should be dense, elastic and stable.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush with vegetable oil.
5. Put the whipped protein mass into a pastry bag, with the help of which it is squeezed in portions onto the prepared baking sheet.
6. Send the meringues to bake in an oven heated to 100 degrees for about 1 hour.

How to make meringue at home in the microwave?

To make homemade meringue an airy snow-white delicacy, follow all the cooking technology, and then a wonderful result will not keep you waiting. And if you do not have an oven, then use the microwave, where the cakes will turn out just as delicious.

Ingredients:

• Proteins - 2 pcs.
• Salt - a pinch
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Vanillin - a pinch
• Flour - for dusting the pan
• Vegetable oil - for greasing the pan

Step by step cooking meringue at home:

1. Carefully separate the whites from the yolks into a clean and dry bowl. Add a pinch of salt and beat with a mixer until fluffy.
2. Gradually add vanillin and 1 tbsp. sugar. Continue beating until you get a dense and well-balanced shape.
3. Grease a microwave oven tray with vegetable oil and sprinkle with a little flour.
4. Put the whipped meringue into a confectionery syringe, with which you squeeze it in portions onto the prepared baking sheet.
5. Turn on the microwave at 750 watts and dry the meringues for 1–1.5 minutes. At the end of the time, do not open the microwave door for 1-2 minutes so that the meringues ripen.

Meringue recipe in the oven

To serve the finished meringue in an original way, pour it with chocolate icing or butter cream, or put a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

• Chilled eggs - 5 pcs. (only squirrels)
• Sugar - 250 g
• Lemon - 1 slice
• Cornstarch - for dusting the baking sheet

Cooking:

1. Wipe the protein bowl with a slice of lemon. Then separate the proteins from the yolks so that not a single drop of the yolk gets into the container with the proteins.
2. Beat the whites for 2 minutes at minimum speed and start adding sugar little by little.
3. Gradually increase the speed to high and continue to beat the whites until a thick, stable foam.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with corn starch. Heat the oven to 100 degrees.
5. Transfer the protein mixture to a pastry bag or plastic bag, on which cut off the tip on one side, and gently squeeze the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet.
6. Dry the meringue in the oven for 1-1.5 hours without opening the door. If you want to get a viscous meringue inside, then set the temperature to 150 degrees and bake them for 20 minutes. Readiness can be checked with your finger: the top has hardened, which means it's ready.

Pictured meringue with chocolate chips

Despite the fact that the composition of the ingredients for making meringue contains a small amount of products, it seems to many that it is very easy to prepare. However, this is a rather capricious dessert that can behave unpredictably. Therefore, to bake meringue at home, you need to choose the right recipe. Then you will achieve perfection in the preparation of protein dough, and it should be both airy, light, foamy, plastic, dense and well retaining its shape. Owning all the secrets, your cake will turn out beautiful and tasty.

Secrets of the French culinary art of making the perfect homemade meringue:

• It is advisable to choose glass, plastic, copper or porcelain dishes for whipping. An aluminum container will give the proteins a slightly gray tint.
• Always use a dry and clean container and beaters - water in any form is unacceptable.
• Among experienced chefs, there is an opinion that if you wipe the bowl for whipping with a piece of lemon, then the proteins will turn out to be especially steep and lush.
• Always observe the temperature regime, because. meringue is not baked, but dried. If the oven has a "convention" function, then use it, this will help eliminate any hint of moisture.
• Before cooking, the proteins should be in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, then they will whip perfectly.
• Carefully separate the protein from the yolk, because. getting the yolk into the protein (even a little bit!) Will not allow it to whip to the desired consistency. Also, the protein will not whip if fat gets in, for example, from unwashed dishes.
• To be on the safe side, beat the white of each egg into a clean plate. eggs may not be fresh.
• Use powdered sugar instead of sugar, it will dissolve faster and better. Large sugar may not have time to completely break, which will crunch on your teeth.
• Sugar is introduced into proteins gradually in small portions. The mass is whipped with a mixer, first at a minimum speed so that it is saturated with oxygen, after which the speed increases to medium mode. It is advisable not to use the maximum speed, otherwise you can skip the readiness of the proteins, they will be killed, settle and water will separate.
• It is better to use eggs a week ago, because. during their storage, the protein becomes drier, which makes it much easier to beat.
• To keep the meringue dry and firm, the egg whites are whipped to "hard peaks" when lifting the whisk of the mixer, the whites stand firmly and firmly.
• The exact temperature and baking time depends only on the oven and the result you want to achieve: keep the shape and snow-white color or get an airy baked meringue, while losing its whiteness. The size of the meringue also affects the cooking time.
• When the meringues are baked, they must be left in the oven for an hour or two to dry and dry.
• Do not open the oven while baking the meringues, otherwise they will fall off.
• It is convenient to cook meringue in the evening, so that for the morning breakfast you get a wonderful dessert of the desired degree of dryness.
• The texture of the cake should be checked after it has cooled completely, because. warm meringue may still be raw and slightly viscous in the middle.
• If the recipe requires the addition of flour and starch to the protein mass, then they must be sifted to saturate with air, then the dough will not lose airiness.

Observing all the subtleties of meringue preparation, you will get it, similar to light clouds. The cake will melt in your mouth, leaving a sweet-tender aftertaste that you want to experience again. Prepare fluffy meringues and enjoy a great French dessert!