Cookies like meringue as they call it. Meringue step-by-step recipe with video and photos – French cuisine: pastries and desserts

Interesting fact: meringue is sometimes jokingly called “forgotten cookies” because it takes quite a long time to prepare, and after baking it can remain in the oven for some time (simmer, cool).

How to make tender meringues at home? Remember to wash the eggs thoroughly with warm water and soap. The most important thing is to beat the whites correctly. When whipped correctly, sugar grains dissolve and are not noticeable in the finished dessert. But if you are preparing meringue for the first time, it is better to take powdered sugar. To make dry meringue, the egg whites are whipped very stiffly, until stiff peaks form, and then dried for a long time in the oven at a temperature of 70-100 degrees. And if you want a soft or even liquid center, then it’s better to stop when the whites are whipped to medium peaks. The main ingredients of any meringue are proteins and sugar, but this recipe suggests adding a little more flour to make the cookies a little heavier and so that they are not too brittle. For decoration, leave a few whole nuts and choose something with sourness: fresh berries, pieces of citrus or pomegranate seeds.

Ingredients:

for the meringue cookies:

5 proteins;
1 pinch of salt;
1/4 tsp. citric acid;
200 g sugar;
2 tbsp. premium flour;
2 tbsp. cocoa powder;
a little powdered sugar for dusting.

for cream:

200 g butter;
3 tbsp. raw condensed milk;
a pinch of citric acid;
a couple drops of vanilla extract (optional)

Recipe for airy chocolate-nut meringue cookies with butter cream

1. Chop the nuts with a knife into fine crumbs. They will go into the cookie dough, so don't leave any large pieces. It tastes best with walnuts, but you can also try with hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, or even take several types.

2. Combine nuts, flour, cocoa, that is, all the dry ingredients for cookies. The higher quality the cocoa powder, the tastier the cookies with it will be.

3. Separate the yolks from the eggs; only the whites are used for the meringue. Remember that in addition to the yolk, water should not get into the white. Wipe the washed shell before breaking the egg.

There are some tricks for neat separation. For example, you can use a funnel for liquids; it allows you to strain the whites without damaging the yolk. Or break all the eggs into a bowl, and then use a plastic bottle to collect all the yolks, they are perfectly sucked through the neck of the bottle. And for some, it’s convenient to pour the yolk from shell to shell the old fashioned way until all the whites have drained into a bowl.

4. Beat the whites with a whisk first at low speed. To obtain stable and shiny peaks, add a pinch of salt and citric acid. Sometimes it is recommended to add lemon juice, but this is excess liquid, it is better without it. When bubbles appear in the mixture, switch the mixer to medium speed and add sugar in small portions – “rain”. The mass will begin to turn white and thicken. By the way, if the whites are not whipped, try cooling them in the refrigerator. But for a more delicate meringue, it is better to take the whites at room temperature.

5. Bring to readiness at high power. The mixture should be smooth and shiny, and when you remove the mixer beaters from it, persistent (hard) snow-white peaks should remain on the surface.

6. Add the whipped egg whites and sugar to the dry ingredients.

7. Mix the dough thoroughly.

8. Transfer to a small baking sheet or pan lined with parchment paper.

9. Now let's prepare the cream. Combine soft butter and condensed milk in a bowl.

10. If desired, add citric acid, vanilla and beat with a mixer until a homogeneous mass is formed. Cool the buttercream with condensed milk in the refrigerator, so it will hold its shape when assembling the cakes. The result is a not very sweet, but pleasant-tasting cream. Adjust sweetness to your taste. If the cream seems bland, add a little more condensed milk, but remember that the meringue will be quite sweet (this is the technology for its preparation).

11. For decoration, you can take something sour: pomegranate seeds, tangerine slices, cranberries, fresh currants, cherries, raspberries, etc. You need to set off the sweet taste of the dessert with a slight sourness and give the cakes bright colors.

12. Bake meringue with nuts in two stages: first 30 minutes at 160 degrees, then another 30 at 100 degrees. The process of drying proteins always lasts at least an hour.

13. Cool the meringue and carefully remove it from the paper.

14. Cut it, don’t be afraid: the meringue will crumble unsightly. But this is not scary, on the contrary: slight carelessness gives the dessert charm.

15. Spread cream on one piece and cover with the second. It is important to lubricate the cooled meringue so that the cream does not drip.

16. Beautifully squeeze the cream on top using a pastry bag, sprinkle with powdered sugar, decorate with a whole nut and something sour.

17. Chocolate nut meringue cakes with buttercream are ready. Bon appetit!

Do you like meringues? What about the Count's Ruins cake? I am very much! But before, meringue seemed capricious to me. With these tips you will succeed, because making meringue is as easy as shelling pears. Why did I decide to call this dessert meringue cookies? To avoid confusion, because meringues are baked not only into small cookies, but also into cakes, all sorts of additives are added, and simply whipped egg whites in their raw form are also called meringue.

Necessary:

Proteins - 2 pcs.
Sugar - 120 g
Vanillin - optional.

Preparation:

So, let's prepare the protein mass. In detail with all the subtleties -.

Place on a baking sheet.

I use Teflon. I don’t lubricate it with anything - it comes off well.

You can cover it with paper.

I do not recommend drying on silicone mats, as the bottom may remain damp.

Put it in the oven. We heat it no more than 100 degrees.

If it is higher, the meringue may turn beige. I can see that the tips have become the color of coffee with milk.

Not critical, but I like snow-white. Next time I will monitor the temperature more carefully and will not allow it to rise above 90.

It takes 1-1.5 hours to dry. Then leave in the oven until it cools. This is best - as dry a meringue as possible. But if you need to take it out faster, then it’s not fatal.

A very tasty “kiss”.

Meringue from the word baiser - kiss . There are several types of meringue depending on the method of preparation. I'll make regular French meringue. These cookies are also called “forgotten cookies” because it is better to bake them, or rather dry them, in the evening, and then forget the cookies in the oven overnight.

For the meringue, prepare the eggs. Attention! The eggs and the container in which we will beat the whites must be chilled, from the refrigerator. A drop of salt, sugar, lemon juice.

Separate the whites from the yolks. We won't use yolks.

Beat the whites with salt into a light foam and gradually add sugar without ceasing to beat. Add lemon juice. We should get a fluffy and very stable mass. The container in which you will beat the egg whites should be very clean and grease-free. Otherwise, the meringue won't work.

Using a pastry syringe or envelope, pipe the whipped whites onto a sheet lined with baking paper. Place in the oven at a temperature of 90-100 degrees and bake for 1.5 hours. Then you can leave the meringue in the oven until it cools. An indicator of a finished and correct cookie is that the meringue easily comes off the paper and is dry inside. If the temperature is higher, the meringue will darken.

I use a closed star nozzle with a diameter of 9 mm for depositing meringues.

Store finished meringue cookies in a dry place. If your room has high humidity, the cookies will quickly lose their properties.

Bon appetit!

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than cooking for yourself))

Content

A captivatingly sweet French delicacy, crispy on the outside and melting on the inside, is called meringue. In our country it is better known as meringue. If ready-made cakes are called meringues, then meringue is the creamy mass from which they are baked. There is also an option with the degree of readiness of the sweet dish: the meringue turns out completely crumbly and dry, while the meringue has a soft center. Regardless of the name, the dessert is made from the same ingredients. How to make meringue correctly? The secrets of its preparation are not very difficult to remember.

Recipes for making meringue at home

It’s very easy to bake fluffy cookies at home; the main thing is to have enough time, because the process of drying the whites lasts at least an hour. At home, dessert turns out much tastier than factory baked goods; it does not contain preservatives and is prepared from fresh ingredients. You can serve meringues as an independent dish, garnished with cream and fruit, or combine them with biscuits and ice cream.

Classic recipe of egg whites and sugar in the oven

For regular meringue you will need a minimum of products:

egg white – 4 pieces;
white sugar – 250 grams;
a few drops of lemon juice.

Cooking steps:

Place the whites in a clean container and start beating.
When they become cloudy, add a small amount of sugar and lemon juice.
All the sugar is added during the beating process. The resulting consistency should be shiny and smooth and should hold its shape.
Using a pastry envelope or a tablespoon, place the cakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 80-110 degrees for one and a half hours. Let cool directly in the oven.

How to cook in the microwave

Baking fluffy cookies is not the fastest process, but the microwave makes it a lot easier. You only need 2 ingredients:

egg white – 1 piece;
powdered sugar – 270 grams.

Cooking recipe:

Pour powdered sugar into a bowl.
Add chilled egg white.
Using a spoon, rub the mixture until white for about 5 minutes.
Line the microwave turntable with baking paper.
Place the resulting cream in portions on a dish; if the mixture is too thick, you can form it into small balls with your hands.
Bake for 1 minute at 750 W. To prevent the cake from falling off, do not open the microwave door during cooking until it has cooled down.

How to bake with nuts in a slow cooker

If you don’t have an oven, you can cook meringues in a slow cooker; for this you will need:

whites – 2 pieces;
nuts (almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts) – 30 grams;
white sugar – 60 grams;
teaspoon lemon juice – 1 piece;
a pinch of salt.

How to cook:

Combine the whites with salt and beat at low speed.
After 2-3 minutes, add lemon juice and a little sugar to the mixture.
Gradually add the remaining sugar and continue beating until a strong, shiny mass is obtained.
Grind the nuts into crumbs and carefully fold into the beaten egg whites using a spatula.
Cover the bottom of the multicooker with baking paper and place.
Bake with the lid open for an hour and a half on the “Baking” mode.
Cool the finished cake for 30 minutes at room temperature.

How to prepare meringue for a cake

Some cake recipes include layering with a whole cake layer or decorating with protein baked goods. How to make unique meringue for a cake? Protein dough composition:

medium-sized egg whites – 5 pieces;
fine sugar – 320 grams;
a packet of vanillin.

How to bake meringue for a cake:

Beat the whites into a stable foam until peaks form.
Add sugar and vanilla to the protein mass in small portions, continuing to beat for about 7 minutes. The mixture should hold its shape well and not spread.
Use a knife or spatula to smooth out the whipped egg whites placed in the pan so that the top does not have to be cut off and the cake is even.
Bake on oiled pastry paper in a mold corresponding to the size of the future cake.
Dry the meringue for the cake in a heated oven at 100 degrees for about 1-2 hours.
Before applying cream, be sure to cool the finished cake.

How to make meringue cake with cream according to GOST

The “Air” cake, which we remember from childhood, can be prepared with your own hands. Crispy meringue and delicate buttercream combine perfectly to form a mouth-watering treat. The dessert is prepared in accordance with GOST:

egg white – 140 grams (4 pieces);
white sugar – 280 grams;
a pinch of citric acid.

Cooking process:

Beat the whites at room temperature into a strong foam; the mass should become dense and homogeneous.
Add citric acid, sugar and beat until a snow-white smooth mass is obtained.
Immediately place the dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for about 1.5 hours at 100 degrees. The finished meringue should crumble when broken.

Charlotte's custard layer contains the following:

fresh butter – 100 grams;
white sugar – 90 grams;
egg yolk – 1 piece;
vanilla sugar – 0.5 sachet;
low-fat milk – 65 grams;
cognac – 1 tablespoon.

Preparation:

Mix the yolk, milk, sugar and heat over low heat until boiling, after 2 minutes turn off, cool to room temperature.
Separately, beat the softened butter with vanilla sugar, add the cooled egg mixture, then the cognac, constantly stirring well.
Grease the cakes with the resulting cream and glue them in pairs, as in the photo below.

Sometimes it turns out that the mass does not thicken and does not whip. What to do? In this case, you can add lemon juice or cool the whites and then beat again. It is better to beat the whites in a plastic or glass bowl with a mixer with a whisk attachment or a whisk, but do not use a blender. At what temperature should meringues be baked? It depends on the desired result. Crispy, crumbly meringues are obtained at 80–110 °C, and softer ones are obtained at temperatures from 160 °C. Little secrets of making meringue:

Before cooking, wash chicken eggs thoroughly with warm water and neutral soap. This significantly reduces the risk of salmonella infection.
To prepare a more tender meringue, you need to use room temperature proteins rather than cold ones.
If the meringue whites are liquid even after beating for a long time, it is likely that they were poorly separated from the yolks, or moisture or fat got into the whipping bowl.
To get a homogeneous mass, it is better to use powdered sugar or fine sugar.
Add sugar slowly and in small portions.
For dry meringue, the whites must be beaten to “stiff peaks” to obtain meringues with a soft or runny center, beating should be stopped when the mixture takes on more rounded peak shapes.
The finished meringue is stored at room temperature: in the refrigerator it will become damp and lose its quality.

Mix flour, butter and sugar, chop with a knife or rub into crumbs with your fingers

Add yolks, sour cream, mix

Form the dough into a ball, if the dough sticks to your hands too much, add a little more flour, put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes

Beat the whites with powdered sugar until fluffy for 10-12 minutes.

Grind the walnuts into crumbs in a blender or other convenient way.

Add to the whites and mix very carefully so as not to precipitate the mass.

Roll out the flatbread

Fold in half

Then in half again

Pinch the walls in the center so that the cookie does not fall apart, use a spoon to push back the edges to form “pockets”

Fill the “pockets” with the meringue mixture. At first I thought about leaving some of the meringue, because... It seemed to me that there was a lot of it and I could find another use for it, but in fact it was completely used in the preparation of shells.

Place on a parchment-lined (or greased) baking sheet and bake at 130-150 degrees for 30-40 minutes. In general, we bake as we are accustomed to baking meringues, taking into account the characteristics of our oven.

If desired, you can sprinkle with powdered sugar. Delicious cookies are ready! All that remains is to please yourself and your loved ones.