How to make perfect homemade meringues that don’t yellow or stay sticky
In this period before Carnival, why not prepare, in addition to chiacchiere and castagnole, colorful and tasty meringues?
In the popular imagination meringues are difficult to make at home—until recently I thought so too—but with this recipe I’ll reveal the secrets to making beautiful meringues that you can eat on their own or use to create or decorate excellent desserts.
An easy and quick recipe with which you’ll obtain cheerful and colorful meringues using simple everyday ingredients like eggs, granulated sugar and powdered sugar, plus colorful decorations.
In just a few minutes you’ll effortlessly turn plain egg whites into delicious and colorful little treats.
Just follow the procedure to make these homemade colored meringues. At the end of the recipe you’ll also find many variations to prepare Colored Meringues or Chocolate-Glazed Meringues as well as How to Make Meringues with the Thermomix.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Cooking time: 11 Hours 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6/8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 257.81 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 62.94 (g) of which sugars 61.97 (g)
- Proteins 3.32 (g)
- Fat 0.10 (g) of which saturated 0.00 (g)of which unsaturated 0.00 (g)
- Fibers 0.00 (g)
- Sodium 56.83 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites egg whites (about 4 egg whites (≈130 g))
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar ((≈130 g))
- 3 drops lemon juice (3–4 drops)
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp powdered sugar ((≈130 g))
- colored sugar sprinkles (for decoration)
Tools
- 1 Electric hand mixer
Steps
First of all you must weigh the ingredients: they should all have the same weight, that is the exact same amount of egg whites, granulated sugar and powdered sugar.
Today I used 130 g of egg whites to which I added 130 g of granulated sugar and 130 g of powdered sugar; with this amount you can make about 2 baking sheets of meringues. You can easily halve the quantity if you want to make fewer.
Put the egg whites in a bowl and start whipping them in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer. After 30 seconds, as soon as the egg whites begin to turn white, add (with the beaters still running) the granulated sugar. Continue to mix until the mixture becomes well whipped. Add 3 or 4 drops of lemon: these will stabilize the mixture and help the meringues remain whiter during baking. Finally, add the powdered sugar little by little, still with the beaters running. Continue until the mixture becomes a clear, well-whipped foam.
At this point transfer the mixture to a piping bag (poche) fitted with a star tip and form many small meringues directly on a baking tray lined with parchment paper (mine are about 3/4 inch in diameter — about 0.8 in). Decorate the meringues as you like with colored sugar sprinkles. Bake in a preheated static oven at 176–194°F for at least 4 hours. To be sure the meringues are ready before removing them from the oven, break one and taste it: if it is dry and crunchy your meringues are ready.
At the end of baking let the meringues cool completely before removing them from the tray.
STORAGE
Meringues can be stored for a long time in boxes or glass jars with lids due to the high sugar content and the dehydration from the oven. I strongly discourage putting meringues in the refrigerator or in humid places because they would immediately become soft and chewy. It is important that the meringues are well baked and dry even inside, otherwise they will not keep for long.
NOTES AND TIPS
EGG WHITES: Use room temperature, very fresh egg whites; they will whip much better.
SUGAR: For this recipe you need both types of sugar (granulated and powdered), but if you don’t have powdered sugar you can make it at home by processing granulated sugar in a blender for several seconds until it becomes like powdered sugar.
RATIOS: The quantities indicated in this recipe allowed me to prepare 2 baking sheets of meringues but actually, unlike other recipes, there are no mandatory amounts. The important thing is to respect the ratio between sugar and egg whites: the sugar (granulated + powdered) should always be double the egg whites. As an example, you can adjust according to the egg whites you have: have 50 g of egg whites? Add 50 g of granulated sugar and 50 g of powdered sugar.
VARIATIONS: Today’s meringue recipe is the basic recipe to which I added colored sprinkles but obviously you can omit them and make CLASSIC MERINGUES. Alternatively for special occasions you can add a pinch of powdered food coloring (when adding the powdered sugar) and you’ll bake beautiful COLORED MERINGUES.
If you love chocolate you can melt a few squares of dark chocolate in a bain-marie (or in the microwave) and dip half of the meringue in the melted chocolate, then let them dry for a few minutes on parchment paper. This way you’ll create CHOCOLATE-GLOAZED MERINGUES. For a less chocolatey version you can simply decorate the meringues by making lines on the surface with melted chocolate placed in a paper cone.
HOW TO MAKE MERINGUES WITH THE THERMOMIX
With the Thermomix you can prepare a particularly compact, shiny and homogeneous meringue mixture. Remember that the oven must be used at low temperature, between 176 and 194°F. To prepare Meringues with the Thermomix you will need: 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (≈300 g), 3 large egg whites (≈100 g) and 3 drops (≈5 g) of lemon juice. THERMOMIX MERINGUE PROCEDURE: Put the sugar in the bowl and run for 20 sec. at speed 10. Scrape down the mixture from the bottom with a spatula, then fit the butterfly whisk and add the egg whites and lemon: run for 7 minutes at 99°F (about 37°C) at speed 2. Let it cool completely without the lid—this will take about 10 minutes—then run again for 7 minutes at speed 2. Now the meringue mixture is ready; transfer it to a piping bag and form the meringues on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake the meringues in a preheated static oven at 176°F for about 2 hours.
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Recipe Variations
1 Chocolate Meringues: Once baked, dip the base in melted dark chocolate and let dry on parchment paper.
2 Colored Meringues: Add a pinch of gel food coloring (not liquid!) toward the end of whipping the egg whites.
3 Meringues with Crunch: Sprinkle the surface with chopped hazelnuts or pistachios before baking for a crunchy contrast.
Useful Tips
The door trick: Keeping the oven slightly ajar during baking (or only during cooling) is the secret to prevent them from remaining moist inside.
Weather and Humidity: Avoid making meringues on very rainy or humid days; the mixture will absorb the moisture from the air and you will have a hard time drying them.
Test Bake: To understand if they are ready, try to detach one from the paper: if it detaches easily and the base is dry, they are ready.
