Watch our handy to video to see how these easy basic meringues are made:
Make-ahead Christmas dessert recipes · British recipes
Easy basic meringue
Think meringue is too fiddly or time consuming to make from scratch for a pavlova or roulade? Think again! Make perfect meringues every time, with this easy basic meringue recipe.
Serves6
Hands-on15 min
Oven1 hour 15 min
DifficultyEasy
Method
Preheat the oven to 140°C/fan 120°C/gas 1. In a large, grease-free mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. While continuously whisking, slowly add the caster sugar – 1 tbsp at a time – until you have a stiff, glossy meringue mixture. Whisk in the vanilla extract until combined.
Line a baking tray with baking paper, fixing it in place with a tiny blob of meringue in each corner (see the video below). Using a metal spoon, place 6 craggy dollops of meringue on the baking paper, well spaced apart.
Bake for 1¼ hours for mallowy centres, or 1½ hours if you prefer crisper meringues. Peel off the baking paper, then transfer the mallowy meringues to a wire rack to cool, or leave the crisp ones in the turned-off oven for at least 4 hours to cool slowly, then transfer to a wire rack.
Nutrition
| Calories | 121kcals |
|---|---|
| Fat | trace (trace saturated) |
| Protein | 1.6g |
| Carbohydrates | 30.6g (30.6g sugars) |
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I love this recipe because I had never mastered meringue until I tried this!
I’ve tried lots of meringue recipes before, that haven’t worked so well, but this one works extremely well! The secret seems to be to add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, and whisk well inbetween. The meringues puffed up beautifully (and stayed that way), and were lovely and crisp on the outside, slightly soft in the centre. I left some in the oven (switched off after cooking) overnight, and they came out completely crisp, all the way through.
Very good app will thought out app
More recipies please
My first time making meringue and this recipe worked perfectly, thank u!
Tried meringue before and not had a lot of success, but this was spot on first time.