Meringue

From time to time, whether on this blog or elsewhere, you might come across a recipe that calls for egg yolks, leaving you with egg whites. Perhaps you've always thought "What a waste!" as you've tossed the egg whites in the bin, or given them to the dog to eat.

Well, don't.

Egg whites are exactly what you need to make meringues!

In fact, egg whites and caster sugar are all you need to make meringues. I kid you not.

And, once you've got your meringues (assuming you can prevent your family from eating them as is), there are so many things you can do with them!

Oven temperature
Low! About 100C

Ingredients
2 egg whites
120g caster sugar (or 60g caster and 60g icing sugar)

Method

• Whip those egg whites until they're so stiff you can turn the bowl upside down and they stay put. No, I'm not joking. And it happens faster than you think.
• Gradually and gently fold in the sugar (oh, alright, you can use the electric beater if you like... since it's you).
• Place a piece of baking parchment onto a baking tray (or spray the baking tray with something non-stick-ish)
• Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking parchment. If you feel clever, and you own the necessary equipment, you can pipe the mixture onto the parchment, but it tastes the same in the end!
• Bake for about an hour and a half. I like my meringues chewy in the middle. But if you like them crispy right through, bake them for about 3 hours.
• Remove and cool.

Okay, so now what to do with them (other than eat them as they are, that is):

• Spread the flat sides with whipped cream and sandwich two together.
• Spread the flat sides with some other kind of cake icing or filling or topping or whatever and ditto.
• Layer them in a glass bowl (or individual glass serving bowls) with strawberries, raspberries and whipped cream. If they're too big for that, crush them first. You can fling in some mini marshmallows, too if you like. Shave some chocolate over the top for fanciness.
• Ditto the above, but with chocolate-y things such as bits of brownie, maltesers, chocolate sauce.
• You could make one large meringue and top it with fruit.

Let your imagination run wild.