Swiss Meringue

These are great big puffy meringue with a slightly chewy center.   Hubby loves meringue so i am working my way through different types of meringue recipes going right back to basics learning the technical difference between them all, and there are a few different types, meringue can be tricky trying to get chewy centers but still retain a crisp outside, failing to get a peak while whisking.

TOP TIP just a small amount a fat either in the bowl your using or a bit from a broken egg yolk can deflate your whites so they don't peak i either wipe my bowl out with a bit of white vinegar or vodka on a bit of kitchen towel as both of these liquids are great at removing grease.  I also break each egg away from the bowl and add them individually so i know i have no broken yolks.


Ingredients

4 egg whites
225g caster sugar  if you use golden sugar this will give your meringue more of a caramel and chewy texture

Pre heat the oven to 200c and place your sugar in oven proof dish and heat for 5 mins then remove and cool the oven down to 120c leaving the door open help cool,  heating the sugar helps it dissolve quicker into the egg whites (you dont have to do this but it does help)

While the sugar is heating up whisk the egg whites till you have soft peaks

When the sugar is ready add this a spoonful at a time to the egg white until all gone and the mixture is stiff

bake in the oven for 2 hours then turn the oven off keep the door shut and leave over night to cool and dry out.

To flavour

for swirls your meringue should you wish to scoop a few spoons out from the main mix mine were flavoured with strawberry i chopped up a few strawberries added a little water and 1 tsp sugar heated and then passed this through a sieve and added a bit of red colouring to punch the colour up and gently stirred this into the mixture to create swirls

Or you can add flavour directly to the meringue the above recipe i added 2 tsps of orange blossom water to the meringue and 100g of pistachios saving a third back to spinkle on top, be careful adding nuts to meringue as the oils in the nuts deflates the meringue so add at the end and fold in

Check out this pavlova recipe which has a more chewy meringue