Given that all of the ice cream recipes I have given here call for egg yolks, I wanted to re-visit meringues, since they are such an obvious solution in terms of what to do with the egg whites. I wrote up a recipe before here, but I think the following is simpler and better.
Meringues are a lovely dessert – crunchy puff of sweetness on the palate. They can be enjoyed on their own, with whipped cream, or with ice cream and fruit. You can shape them into little baskets or simply make little meringue drops. They are, of course, gluten-free.
Meringues are said to have been invented in the 15th Century in the Swiss town of Meiringen by an Italian chef named Gasparini. They are made simply by beating egg whites, adding sugar and other ingredients, and then baking them. I like mine with a little hint of lemon. This recipe makes quite a lot of meringue, but since the ice creams mostly call for 5 egg yolks, it seems useful to use the 5 egg whites!
Ingredients:
- 5 egg whites
- 350 g caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
What to Do:
- Preheat the oven to 150C.
- Butter two large baking sheets.
- Beat the egg whites in a dry glass or stainless steel bowl (if using an electric mixer, do this at medium speed rather than high speed, which will take a bit longer but give the meringues more strength) until fairly stiff.
Beat in the sugar in a slow stream, and then add the lemon juice, mixing all the time.- Beat until very stiff and shiny.
- Using two spoons, place on the baking sheet. It should make 18 large meringues, so divide accordingly, leaving space around the meringues to allow them to expand.
- You can shape them as you wish!
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Cool on wire racks.
Notes:
- If you want to make meringue nests, the easiest way is with a piping bag. Start in the centre, work out in a tight spiral, then build up the sides. Make them smaller that you might think, for the baked meringues will expand!
- There are many of things you can add to meringues in terms of flavouring – vanilla essence, almond essence, and cocoa for chocolate meringues are just a few examples. If you do add flavouring, always add it at the end, once the meringues are stiff.
Technorati tags: meringue, recipe, ice cream, dessert, baking
Another lovely thing to make would be a meringue roulade which is way easier than it sounds. with smashed up Cadburys flake, raspberries and cream mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
MMM I love meringues. Especially crushed up and mixed with an equal quantity of whipped cream and some nice dark chocolate sauce and frozen in a loaf tin , cut into slices and served with more warm chocolate sauce. MMM
I’ve actually had quite a few people ask what I do with the egg whites when they see the number of yolks some ice creams call for. I’ve been told that egg whites freeze well, so I ‘ve go no excuse not to try something like this.
PS I’m eagerly awaiting the new book. I did a search on amazon.com for ice cream ireland and was surprised to see a $900 book with nearly the same name. It was an analyst report about icecream *in* Ireland. I bet you’re in there, nonetheless!
Thanks, guys! Brian – yeah, that’s an analysis of the ice cream market. I’m too cheap to buy it though!
Cool idea, I’ve never made meringues before. I usually end up throwing my extra egg whites into what ever I’m baking or cooking that wouldn’t hurt from it. BUT I’ve got a b-day coming up and plans to treat myself to homemade ice cream so maybe there will be meringues in my future as well…? Hmmmmmm………I’ll have to see, cause if I’ve got ice cream it would be hard to eat anything else, tasty meringues or not. haha
i love it, thanks for sharing.
yay! I always use them to make an omelet rather than waste them. But meringues beat out egg-white omelet anyday! my hubby will be so happy!
I know this is a very dated post for you, but the meringues are still just lovely. Would you mind sharing how you achieved the peachy/pink color?
thank you!
I think it just might be the light! However, if you do want to make pink meringues, you can mix in a little strawberry or raspberry jam or puree for the colour.