Meringue Recipe

This meringue recipe is a personal favorite to use, make and unfortunately for me... eat as well!

The traditional Sardinian meringues are known as Bianchini (pronounced BEE AN KEY KNEE) which means ‘Whities’.

For the majority of Sardinians a perfect meringue cookie is when they are a pure white, have hard shell and a soft chewy center with a toasted almond surprise in the middle, flavored with the rind of fresh lemons.

How you like your meringues is a question of taste. The meringue cookie recipe doesn’t change only the length of time you leave them to dry out.

This meringue recipe is truly easy, all you have to do is whisk together egg whites and sugar, pipe them on to a tray and pop them in to the oven.

Having said that, I have been using this recipe for years and I have found out the long way round the little things that can make the difference.

I have included some useful tips on how to make perfect meringue... the so called recipe secrets! They are obviously not secrets just observations I have collected over the years.

Ready to give this recipe a go?

Makes about 15 meringue cookies depending on the sizes

Utensils:

• Open pre-heated 70°C
• Whisk
• Bowl (clean dry)
• Piping bag
• Piping nozzle
• Bowl scarper
• Oven tray
• Grease proof paper

Ingredients:

• 70g egg whites
• 160g caster sugar
• 30g toasted almonds
• 1 Grated lemon rind
• Hundreds and thousands to decorate

Recipe Method:

1. Whisk together egg whites and sugar (the stiffer the mixture the better!)

The whisk should stand on its own in the bowl

2. When the mixture is ready add the lemon rind and give it a quick whisk ( I do mean quick!)

3. Place the mixture into piping bag with nozzle (not essential you can also use a spoon)

4. Pipe small discs (not high, to use as a base) on to the baking tray with the grease proof paper

5. Place a few toasted almonds on the meringue disc

6. Cover the toasted almonds with the meringue mixture,

- decorate with hundreds and thousands

- and pop in the oven

Leave for about 1 hour at 70°C, then drop the oven temperature to 40°C for about another hour, then switch off the oven completely and leave them in the oven to dry out.

There you have it.. pretty easy!

Something I still do now when I try out a new recipe is take notes on oven temps and times.

I highly recommend that the first time you use this meringue recipe is that you take notes… the second time round will be a piece of cake!

Just one more thing to mention, as soon as the meringue mixture is ready, no messing about, get them piped and put in the oven asap.

Even the stiffest of meringue cookie mixtures starts to sag as soon as you switch the mixer off.

Be sure to see how to make perfect meringue tips and useful observations.

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Once you have mastered this basic meringue you can then go off and start experimenting with many variations.

Here are a few more pages related to meringues that may just interest you:

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