Heavenly Meringues

I’ve always been a bit wary about making meringues.  They seem so soft and delicate and, well...mysterious.  A little bit of fear of the unknown has held me back.  Crazy, I know, given how easy they are (as I recently discovered).

I was inspired by the latest issue of Donna Hay Magazine (the 10^th anniversary issue), which had an amazingly simple yet brilliant recipe for meringues, including a variation for chocolate ones.

So I whipped these little beauties up, and they were absolutely delicious.  They had a lovely thin, cracking crust on the outside, with a soft and fluffy and wonderfully chewy centre.  I was a little surprised that the plain ones didn't stay snowy white, developing a beautiful light golden colour instread. Mr D. and I greedily devoured them with fresh strawberries and cream.

After experiencing these heavenly little delights, I will never buy those tough supermarket ones again!

Here’s the recipe.  Enjoy!

Meringues

(adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 59)

Makes 12

Ingredients

4 eggwhites

1 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Method

1.       Preheat oven to 120 degrees C.

2.       Place the eggwhites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until soft peaks form.

3.       Gradually add the sugar and vinegar and whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy.

4.       Place spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 25 minutes.

5.       Turn the oven off and allow meringues to cool in the oven for 1 hour.

6.       Serve with fresh strawberries and cream.

For chocolate meringues, after Step 3 gently fold 100g melted good quality dark chocolate through the mixture to create a swirl, then continue with the recipe.  The chocolate meringues won’t be quite as big and fluffy as the plain ones, and a little more crumbly.

So tell me, is there a food that you were once hesitant to cook, only to realise it was actually really simple?