Little secrets of making meringue cookies. Meringue - recipes with photos. Meringue secrets at home

Meringue is a surprisingly delicate delicacy that appeared around the 17th century in Switzerland. According to legend, the Italian master chef Gasparini, who came to the country, opened his pastry shop in Meyring, made unusually delicate cakes called "kisses" ("meringues"). These pastries glorified the masters and became famous first in Meiring, then throughout Switzerland, and then conquered the world.

In fact, making meringues is very easy. The dessert is based on eggs (protein) and sugar, as well as some additives designed to improve or change the taste of the finished product.

Meringue - preparing food and dishes

Meringue is a very delicate dessert and the least calorie of all sweets. It can be eaten in moderation even by those who are on diets.

Despite the fact that meringue is very easy to prepare, there are several tricks, without which the dessert may not work.

So, follow these rules:

Beat the egg with sugar in a copper bowl or a bowl made of another metal so that the heat is evenly distributed. The dishes must be completely clean.
Eggs for making meringues must be fresh. If you know that the egg is not entirely fresh, then it might be more appropriate to use powdered sugar instead of sugar.
When whisking whites, add sugar (or powdered sugar) very slowly, in a thin stream.
Beat with a blender (or mixer) on medium speed for about 5-8 minutes.
You need to bake in the oven at an average temperature of 120-140 degrees.

Meringue Recipes:

Recipe 1: meringue

If you prepare a dessert according to this recipe, then you will almost perfectly recreate the famous Swiss meringue. The secret of "Swiss technology" is that the meringue needs to be whipped over a steam bath. Thus, the whites will beat up as evenly as possible. The proportions of this meringue are 200 grams of sugar per 1 egg white. The dessert will turn out to be very sweet, almost sugary. If you are on a diet, then you better refuse such a meringue in favor of other recipes.

Required Ingredients:

Proteins (from fresh eggs) - 3 pieces
Sugar - 600 grams

Cooking method:

Dip the squirrels in a metal container. Begin to beat them with a mixer, gradually pouring half of the sugar into them. Sprinkle sugar in a thin stream.
Place the bowl of egg whites in a saucepan of boiling water and continue to beat with a mixer on medium speed. Add the remaining sugar.
Remove the bowl of egg whites and beat for another 3 minutes on medium speed until the egg whites have cooled.
Bake the meringue in the oven at 120 degrees for about 50 minutes. After turning off the heat, allow the dessert to harden and cool.

The “Swiss style” meringue turns out to be very sweet, and therefore it is best to serve the dessert with sour berries and fruits.

Recipe 2: Night meringue

For this recipe, you will need a mixture of sugar and powdered sugar and some lemon juice. The resulting meringue will have a pleasant sour flavor and will not be very cloying. The name of such a dessert is due to the fact that the meringue will need to be left to freeze in the oven overnight.

Required Ingredients:

4 squirrels (from fresh eggs)
Sugar 100 grams
Powdered sugar 200 grams
Lemon juice - half a teaspoon

Cooking method:

Sift the icing sugar through a sieve, add sugar to it and stir.
Turn on the preheat oven. Temperature - 120 degrees
Beat the egg whites with a mixer on high speed for about 4 minutes. Add half a teaspoon of lemon juice and a quarter of the sugar and powdered sugar mixture to the proteins. Beat with a mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed.
Add the remaining sugar gradually to the mixture and beat for about 4 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with paper, spoon or meringue on top of it, bake for an hour.
Turn off the oven, but don't take out the meringue. Leave them in the oven overnight. In the morning, find a ready-made dry treat.

Recipe 3: Cranberry meringue

Sweet and sour pale pink meringue will serve as an independent dish or as an addition to any dessert.

Required Ingredients:

Proteins from fresh eggs 4 pieces
Powdered sugar 1.5 cups
Cranberries 0.5 cups
Lemon juice ½ teaspoon

Cooking method:

Beat the egg whites with a mixer on medium speed for about 4 minutes.
Add icing sugar and lemon juice gradually to the protein foam.
Wash and grind the cranberries. Squeeze out the cranberry juice and add the pomace to the proteins. Continue to beat with a mixer for about 3-4 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 120 degrees.
Cover the baking sheet with paper, a spoon, or a pastry syringe and place on the meringue paper.
Bake the dessert for about 50 minutes without closing the oven door.

Recipe 4: coconut meringue

The recipe for coconut meringue is simple and easy to make, but the finished dessert will have a very exotic taste.

Required Ingredients:

Proteins from fresh eggs 4 pieces
Powdered sugar 100 grams
Sugar 200 grams
Coconut flakes 50 grams
Vanilla

Cooking method:

Sift the icing sugar through a sieve.
Beat the egg whites on medium speed for about 3 minutes.
Add powdered sugar into the foam in a thin stream, beat for 3 minutes.
Add sugar to the protein mass, also in a thin stream, beat for one to two minutes.
Pour coconut and vanilla into the mixture, stir well.
Preheat oven to 120 degrees.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment, lay out with a spoon or a meringue syringe. Bake the dessert for about 50 minutes. Cool before serving.

Recipe 5: Meringue with nuts

You can prepare the most delicate dessert if you add chopped nuts to the protein mass. You can use any type of nuts or a mixture of them. In addition, you can add rum essence to this meringue.

Required Ingredients:

Protein from fresh eggs 4 pieces
Powdered sugar 200 grams
A pinch of salt
Walnut 50 grams
Almond nut 50 grams

Cooking method:

Grind the nuts using a blender or meat grinder.
Sift the icing sugar through a sieve.
Begin whisking the protein by adding a pinch of salt to it.
Without turning off the mixer, add sugar and nut mass to the protein foam gradually.
Preheat oven to 140 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place the meringue on the parchment using a spoon or pastry syringe. Bake the dessert for about 50 minutes without closing the oven door.

Recipe 6: apple meringue pie

If you like charlotte, then such a meringue pie will definitely like it, because it is based on apples. This meringue pie has a delicious baked crust and a fragrant soft apple filling in the middle.

Required Ingredients:

Flour 1 glass
Sugar 150 grams
Butter 100 grams
Fresh eggs 2 pieces
Sweet apples 3 pieces
Milk 100 ml
A pinch of salt

Cooking method:

Wash the apples, peel them and cut into small cubes.
Sift flour through a sieve.
Separate the whites from the yolks.
Melt the butter.
Combine egg yolks, half sugar, salt and butter. Add flour to the mixture and knead until crumbly. Pour milk into the mixture and blend with a blender until smooth.
Take a baking pan, brush with vegetable oil and line the dough. Place the mold in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Let's make the meringue. To do this, combine the proteins with the remaining sugar to form a thick foam and refrigerate.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Remove the dough form from the freezer, put the chopped apples on the dough and send to the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the pie, pour the protein mixture over the apples and return to the oven, lowering the temperature to 120 degrees for one hour.

Recipe 7: banana meringue cake

These roll cakes are made in French pastry shops. There they cost from 3 to 5 euros per piece. The cakes are very tasty and tender, and are bought by French women with a bang. We will prepare such a dessert for much less. Instead of mascropon cheese, you can use any creamy unsalted cheese or full-fat cottage cheese with sour cream.

Required Ingredients:

Sugar -100 grams
Powdered sugar - 100 grams
Egg whites - 4 pieces
Mascropon cheese 300 grams
Medium banana 1 piece
Milk 5 tablespoons
Ground black coffee 2 tablespoons

Cooking method:

Turn on the oven to heat up, setting the temperature to 180 degrees.
Sift the icing sugar through a sieve.
Begin to beat the whites, gradually adding the powdered sugar and then the granulated sugar.
Lay parchment on a baking sheet, grease it with oil. Spread the protein mixture over the parchment and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
While the meringue is baking, prepare the filling for the cakes - rolls. To do this, peel the banana and puree it with a blender. Pour hot milk over the coffee and cover for 5 minutes. Begin to beat the mascropon with a mixer, adding the banana to it. Strain the coffee and add the coffee mass to the cheese.
Remove the meringue, remove it from the parchment and refrigerate. Spread with cream and roll into a roll. Put the cake in the refrigerator for 40 minutes, then remove and cut into portions.

Recipe 8: Almond Meringue Cakes with Orange

The meringue cakes you make using this recipe will have a completely unusual almond and fruit flavor. Made in the form of cupcakes, they will take you during tasting to sunny Italy - this country is the birthplace of meringue cakes with almonds. It should be noted that in addition to almonds, you can also use hazelnuts or cashews. But only almonds will give the meringue an unusual aroma.

Required Ingredients:

Proteins from fresh eggs 6 pieces
Powdered sugar 300 grams
Sugar 100 grams
Medium orange 1 piece
Orange zest
Lemon zest
Almonds 100 grams
A pinch of salt

Cooking method:

Sift the icing sugar through a sieve.
Grind the almonds by passing them through a meat grinder or using a blender.
Remove the skin from the orange and divide it into wedges.
Whisk 4 egg whites with salt on high speed.
Continuing to beat the protein, gradually add the icing sugar, orange zest and almonds.
Pour the protein into muffin tins, half full.
Stick orange slices into each mold.
Send the cakes to bake in the oven at about 140 degrees for 30 minutes.
Whisk remaining egg whites with lemon zest and sugar.
After half an hour, take out the cakes, fill them with protein mass and send them to bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve chilled.

Recipe 9: Cherry meringue pie

Puff pastry based on chocolate shortbread dough, cherry jam and crispy meringue. By the way, such a pie can be prepared with any jam, but it is best to use a thick one. For example, in addition to cherry, currant or orange will go, but definitely do not take strawberry. Squeeze the juice out of the jam before using it.

Required Ingredients:

Cherry jam (pitted) 100 grams
Flour 300 grams
Butter 100 grams
Sugar 250 grams
Fresh egg 2 pieces
Cocoa 1.5 tablespoon
Soda, slaked with vinegar ½ teaspoon

Cooking method:

Break the egg, separate the white from the yolk.
Melt the butter.
Mix the yolks with sugar (take 2/3 of the total sugar), cocoa and butter. Add sifted flour through a sieve to the mixture, soda, mix. The dough should be crumbly.
Take a baking pan, brush with butter and line the dough over it.
Squeeze the jam from the juice. Ideally, only cherry berries should remain.
Place the form with dough and jam in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.
Combine protein and remaining sugar until thick foam.
Remove the pie, put the protein foam on top and bake for another 40 minutes at 120 degrees.

Is it better to use sugar or powdered sugar for making meringues? Most confectioners believe that powdered sugar makes the protein mass more fluffy and uniform than sugar.
Do not rush to add sugar to the protein foam. It is best to beat the meringue this way. First, beat the whites for about 3 minutes, and then add sugar in a thin stream. If using powdered sugar, sift it through a sieve. So the proteins will be whipped into a more airy mass, since the powdered sugar is saturated with oxygen.
If the yolk gets into the white, the meringue will not work. Separate the whites from the yolk very carefully.
There should not even be a drop of liquid in the bowl where you whisk the whites, otherwise the whites will not whisk properly.
Put the egg whites in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes before making the meringue. This way they will beat up much better.
The meringue will beat better if you add a pinch of salt or a little lemon juice to the whites during the whipping process.
The prepared dessert should be stored exclusively in a dry place.

Like meringue and meringue. What's the difference between treats? They look exactly the same, and their compositions are identical. But until now, the topic of the difference between these two sweets has not been closed and raises many questions and disputes.

What is the difference between meringue and meringue

The most popular opinion about the difference between meringue and meringue is that it is not the same thing, although the composition is the same, but the methods of preparing these confectionery delights are different.

So meringue is an egg cream made from egg whites and sugar. And meringue is a crispy baked treat made from meringues laid out in a specific shape.

Origin story

The difference between meringue and meringue can be traced in the origin. The word "meringue" comes from France, and translated into Russian means "kiss".

But the term “meringue” is not so simple. One of the versions says that this word is also of French origin, but it got to France from the Swiss city of Meiringen, where a pastry chef named Gasparini lived. The date of appearance of this delicacy falls on the 17th century. A significant event for the confectionery world happened quite by accident: once the master got carried away with whipping proteins so that they turned into a thick foam. And Gasparini, deciding to experiment, sent the whipped proteins to the oven.

The result was a sweet crunchy delicacy that the local nobility really liked, and then gained popularity among ordinary people, because its preparation did not require a lot of money and time.

The second version of the origin of the meringue refers to the name of the famous chef François Massialo, who added this recipe to his book at the end of the 17th century.

It is said that the pastry chef developed the recipe for the delicacy on his own when he had excess proteins. He beat them with sugar and decided to bake them. François Massialo and began to call this dish "meringue".

General rules for making meringues

Today, there are several options for making meringue and meringue. What is the difference between them, we will tell later.

The most popular way to prepare these delicacies is French, there is also Swiss and Italian. But for all these recipes, there are general rules that should not be broken, otherwise the dessert will not work.

The dishes for whipping proteins must be absolutely dry, not a drop of water or fat should be present in it, otherwise the pastry chef will not see a steep protein foam.
Sugar should be poured only after the whites have been whipped into a foam.
Do not allow even a drop of yolk to get into the white.
Powdered sugar for cooking must be fresh, otherwise there is a high probability that it will pick up moisture from the air and thick foam will not work.
If the foam adheres tightly to the whisk, this indicates that the meringue is ready.

The meringues, the photos of which are presented in this article, are rather not baked, but dried. Therefore, during the entire cooking time, keep the oven door ajar, about one or one and a half centimeters. The exception is baking a meringue according to a Swiss recipe.

Leaving the oven fully open may cause the meringues to burn or remain slightly damp on the inside.

Store already prepared products in a tightly closed container, as they can absorb moisture from the air and soften.

French recipe

What is the difference between meringue and meringue, as well as the general rules of preparation, we found out, and now we will proceed directly to the preparation of the delicacy.

This recipe is of medium difficulty in making. It will take three and a half hours to create this confection.

After the expiration of the time, do not rush to scrape off the meringues. After cooling, they flake off without problems.

Swiss recipe

Consider the following method of making meringue and meringue. What is the difference between it and French, you can find out by reading carefully the following recipe.

It will take half the cooking time, the ingredients remain the same.

The whipping bowl should be placed in a container with hot water. The water temperature should not be higher than 42 degrees, otherwise the proteins will overheat. The peculiarity of the Swiss recipe is that the whites are immediately whipped with sugar.
Place the meringues in the oven, which is preheated to 110 degrees for 50 minutes or an hour, and bake with the oven door closed.

The meringues are denser than in the French version, slightly soft inside.

Italian recipe

Cooking this delicacy will not take more than an hour and a half. The ingredients for the recipe are as follows: two eggs, two hundred grams of sugar and one hundred grams of water.

First you need to pour sugar into a container and add water to it, cook over low heat until the mixture thickens a little. Beat the whites until slightly stagnant foam, add them in a thin stream to the hot syrup. When pouring in proteins, you need to intensively beat the mass until it thickens.

Not everyone can do this method of cooking meringue and meringue. What is the difference in this recipe, obviously - the products are especially delicate and airy, but during their preparation one should be careful and not rush.

How to make meringues at home

Making meringues at home is still controversial. It seems that you will take into account all the subtleties, you will do everything according to the recipe, but the proteins will not break into the foam, then they will soak on the second day, then they will be covered with an unhealthy tan with an unpleasant smell.

A short meringue recipe fits into one sentence: separate the whites from the yolks, beat with sugar and bake. But! It is necessary to take into account a number of requirements, deviation from which can lead to disastrous results.

1. To prepare a boiling white perfect meringue, you will need: for 8 proteins - 500 g of granulated sugar (preferably powder). You cannot take less sugar, otherwise the meringue will become wet on the second day.

for making meringues, the ratio of sugar to eggs is important

2. Everything should be dry: dishes, proteins, granulated sugar.

Dry sugar on a baking sheet. It is enough to heat it up and leave it open until it cools two or three times. Sugar is sometimes sold so raw that during this procedure a crust forms on its surface - break the crust, dry it.

granulated sugar must be dried in the oven and cooled

Cool to room temperature before mixing with proteins.

Separate the whites from the yolks so that the yolk is not torn. To do this, you can slightly break the middle of the egg and allow the egg white to spill into the bowl. Then pour from one half of the shell to the other until the yolk is left there alone. Better yet, play it safe and leave some protein in the shell.

A few hours before cooking (overnight), leave the proteins in an open bowl on the top shelf of the refrigerator. This will cool them down and dry a little more.

The dishes should be cool without the slightest signs of moisture or grease.

3. Beat with a mixer - the surface of the cream should be open. First, beat the whites, add a few salt crystals at the very beginning.

Add sugar in small portions. Don't add anything else.

it is important to add a few crystals of salt

Putting the whipped cream on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil with a spoon - there are no secrets.

4. The meringues are dried, not baked. When you try to bake, the cake burns out in the fourth minute.

The oven should be open, and the heat should be just enough to keep the meringue pan moderately hot. It is advisable to turn off the oven every half hour or hour and wait for the baking sheet to cool down. At this point, the meringue dries especially well. It will take several hours to dry. As soon as it is possible to remove the meringue from the baking sheet (using a spatula - try to move it), the cake can be considered ready.

in the oven the meringue will dry for 2 hours

Heating the meringue from above is unacceptable.

A frozen cloud of whipped proteins with sugar - an airy meringue. A perfectionist's dream.

Paul Bocuse's meringue recipe

Meringue is French cuisine. Meringue is our meringue. Today we will prepare a meringue according to the recipe of the famous Frenchman Paul Bocuse.

Ingredients:

2 squirrels
sugar 185 grams
a little caster sugar

the dishes for whipping must be completely clean - absolutely dry;
over-whipping proteins is as bad as under-whipping;
proteins are rather not baked, but dried (at a low temperature of 100-125 degrees);
the whipped mass must be very persistent (in French "to the bird's beaks");
checking the readiness of proteins - turn the bowl over and you are not hurt;
Sprinkle the laid out proteins on a baking sheet with powdered sugar through a strainer.

The history of the meringue and everything about him

Delicate and crispy meringue cakes have long taken their pride of place in the list of the most popular and beloved sweet desserts. But due to the complexity of preparation, many of us prefer to buy meringues in the store rather than making our own. To learn how to properly prepare meringues, check out our culinary tips.

Meringue or meringue (French baiser - kiss; French meringue - meringue) is a French dessert made from whipped egg whites with granulated sugar and baked in the oven. Sometimes cornstarch or tartar is also used (as a binding ingredient). Often vanilla and a little almond or coconut extract are added to the meringue. The cakes are light, airy and very sweet.

History

The word "Meringue" comes from the French. "Baiser" is a kiss. For the word "Merenga", regarding its origin, there are two hypotheses. According to the 1st, the meringues were invented in the city of Meiringen (Switzerland) by the Italian chef Gasparini. But the second hypothesis is considered the most probable: the first word “meringue” was used by Massialo François in his cookbook (1692).

Meringue types

The basis of any meringue is egg whites and sugar. But sometimes the recipe also involves the use of nut flour, starch and other components. It is sometimes very difficult for chefs who do not have enough experience with meringue cakes, so now we will tell you about the secrets of its preparation.

There are three main methods for making meringues:

French,
Italian,
Swiss.

The simplest is the French method (cakes are obtained in a simple, unpretentious form): beat the cooled egg whites into a strong foam, add a pinch of salt and beat, gradually adding granulated sugar, until stable peaks form. This method of making meringue cakes is the most common.

It is more difficult to make an Italian meringue (it can also be used as a cream or filling for confectionery): pour hot strong sugar syrup into the pre-beaten whites, without stopping whipping, in a thin stream, without stopping whipping. Beat the mass until it cools completely.

The meringue, which is prepared by the Swiss method, turns out to be the strongest, most dense. It can hold any shape, any complex patterns can be made from it. For cooking, boil water in a saucepan and place a container with egg whites and sugar over it (water during boiling should not touch the bottom of this container). Beat the whites slowly until the granulated sugar is completely dissolved, and then increase the speed and bring to a dense thick mass. "Swiss meringues" are most often used for the dessert "Pavlova's Cake".

A captivatingly sweet French treat that is crispy on the outside and melting on the inside is called meringue. In our country, it is better known as meringue. If meringue is called ready-made cakes, then meringue is a creamy mass from which they are baked. There is also an option with the degree of readiness of a sweet dish: the meringue is completely crumbly and dry, while the meringue has a soft core. Regardless of the name, the dessert is made from the same ingredients. How to make meringues right? The secrets of its preparation are not very difficult to remember.

Homemade meringue recipes

It is very easy to bake airy cookies at home, the main thing is to stock up on time, because the process of drying proteins takes at least an hour. At home, the dessert turns out to be much tastier than factory baked goods, it does not contain preservatives and is prepared from fresh products. You can serve meringues as an independent dish, garnished with cream and fruit, or combined with biscuits, ice cream.

The classic recipe for egg white and sugar in the oven

For a regular meringue, you need a minimum of products:

egg white - 4 pieces;
white sugar - 250 grams;
a few drops of lemon juice.

Cooking steps:

Place the whites in a clean container and start whisking.
When they become cloudy, add a small amount of sugar and lemon juice.
During the whipping process, all the sugar is added. The resulting consistency should be shiny and smooth, keep its shape.
Using a pastry envelope or a tablespoon, place the cakes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 80-110 degrees for an hour and a half. Allow to cool directly in the oven.

How to cook in the microwave

Baking puffed cookies is not the fastest process, but a microwave makes it a lot easier. You only need 2 ingredients:

egg white - 1 piece;
icing sugar - 270 grams.

Recipe:

Pour the icing sugar into a bowl.
Add chilled egg white.
Using a spoon, rub the mixture white for about 5 minutes.
Line the microwave turntable with baking paper.
Put the resulting cream in portions on a dish, if the mixture is too thick, you can shape it with your hands into small balls.
We bake for 1 minute at 750 W. To prevent the cake from falling off, do not open the microwave door during cooking until it cools down.

How to bake with nuts in a slow cooker

In the absence of an oven, it is possible to cook meringues in a multicooker, for this you will need:

proteins - 2 pieces;
nuts (almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts) - 30 grams;
white sugar - 60 grams;
a teaspoon of lemon juice - 1 piece;
a pinch of salt.

How to cook:

Combine whites with salt and beat on low speed.
After 2-3 minutes, add lemon juice and a little sugar to the mixture.
Gradually adding the remaining sugar, continue whisking until a firm, shiny mass is obtained.
Chop the nuts into crumbs, using a spatula, gently mix into the whipped egg whites.
Cover the bottom of the multicooker with baking paper, lay out.
Bake with the lid open for an hour and a half on the "Baking" mode.
Cool the finished cake for 30 minutes at room temperature.

How to make cake meringues

Some include a layer of whole crust or decoration with protein baked goods. How to make a unique cake meringue? Protein dough composition:

medium-sized egg whites - 5 pieces;
fine sugar - 320 grams;
a bag of vanillin.

How to bake a cake meringue:

Beat the whites into a stable foam until peaks form.
Add sugar with vanilla to the protein mass in small portions, continuing to beat for about 7 minutes. The mixture should keep its shape well, not spread.
Smooth the whipped squirrels laid out in the form with a knife or spatula so that the top does not have to be cut off and the cake turns out to be even.
Bake on oiled pastry paper, in a shape that matches the size of the future cake.
It is necessary to dry the meringue for the cake in a heated oven at a temperature of 100 degrees for about 1-2 hours.
Before lubricating with cream, be sure to cool the finished cake.

How to make a meringue cake with cream according to GOST

The "Air" cake, which we remember from childhood, can be made by hand. Crispy meringue and delicate buttercream blend beautifully to create a mouth-watering treat. The dessert is prepared in accordance with GOST:

egg white - 140 grams (4 pieces);
white sugar - 280 grams;
a pinch of citric acid.

Cooking process:

Beat the whites at room temperature into a strong foam, the mass should become dense, homogeneous.
Add citric acid, sugar and beat until smooth and crisp.
Place the dough immediately on a baking sheet with baking paper.
Bake for about 1.5 hours at 100 degrees. The finished meringue should crumble when broken.

Charlotte Custard for Interlayer contains the following:

fresh butter - 100 grams;
white sugar - 90 grams;
egg yolk - 1 piece;
vanilla sugar - 0.5 sachets;
low-fat milk - 65 grams;
cognac - 1 tablespoon.

Preparation:

Mix yolk, milk, sugar and heat over low heat until boiling, turn off after 2 minutes, cool to room temperature.
Beat the softened butter with vanilla sugar separately, add the cooled egg mixture, then the cognac, stirring well.
Lubricate the cakes with the resulting cream and glue in pairs, as in the photo below.

Sometimes it turns out that the mass does not thicken and does not whip. What to do? In this case, you can add lemon juice or cool the whites and then beat again. It is better to beat the whites in a plastic or glass container with a mixer with a whisk or whisk, but do not use a blender. At what temperature to bake meringues? It depends on the desired outcome. Crispy, crumbly meringues are obtained at 80–110 ° С, and softer ones - at temperatures from 160 ° С. Little secrets of making meringues:

Chicken eggs should be thoroughly washed with warm water and neutral soap before cooking. This greatly reduces the risk of contracting salmonellosis.
To prepare a more tender meringue, you need to use not cold proteins, but room temperature.
If the meringue whites are runny even after a long period of beating, they may have been poorly separated from the yolks, or moisture or fat has entered the beating bowl.
To get a homogeneous mass, it is better to use powdered sugar or fine sugar.
Sugar should be added slowly and in small portions.
For dry meringues, whites need to be whipped to "hard peaks", to obtain meringues with a soft or liquid center, whipping needs to be stopped when the mass takes on more rounded peak shapes.
The finished meringue is stored at room temperature: in the refrigerator it will become damp and lose its quality.

Colored meringues

Meringue is the most delicate dessert created by experienced European chefs. Today, like many centuries ago, it is very popular with all sweet lovers. By the way, any housewife can easily cook it in the conditions of an ordinary home kitchen. How to make a meringue for the perfect airy dessert? There may be several options here.

Classic meringue in the oven

Before starting work, you need to understand for yourself what a meringue is.

Dessert consists of egg whites, whipped into a dense foam with sugar. The prepared mass is molded and then heat treated. Usually the workpieces are dried in the oven.

To make a meringue correctly, you will need:

3 egg whites;
1 pinch of salt;
250 grams of sugar.

Meringue in the oven at home should be cooked in stages:

First, breaking eggs into a plate, carefully separate the whites. The yolks can be set aside as they are no longer needed in this recipe.
Beat the whites with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed of rotation of the attachments. The mass will first begin to bubble, and over time, a fine, but quite fluffy foam forms.
Without stopping intensive stirring, add sugar in portions. You shouldn't rush here. The next portion should be added only when the sugar in the total mass is completely dissolved. The mixture should be thick, slightly viscous and have a pleasant glossy shade.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Next, the products need to be shaped. You can do this with a regular spoon or use a special pastry syringe (or bag).
Place the blanks directly on the parchment. It is not necessary to pre-treat it with oil.
Preheat the oven to 110 degrees.
Send a baking sheet with blanks into it for at least one hour.

You can check the readiness by touching the products with your finger. If their surface is hard enough, turn off the fire.

Steamed in a slow cooker

Today, many housewives use a multicooker for cooking. It turns out that you can also make excellent meringues with it.

According to the recipe for this you need to take:

1 cup of sugar;
2 eggs;
10 milliliters of sunflower oil;
a pinch of citric acid.

How to cook meringues using a multicooker:

Separate the whites from the yolks.
Beat them with a mixer together with "lemon" in a strong foam.
Slowly adding sugar, continue stirring at maximum speed.
Oil the bottom of the multicooker bowl.
Place blanks in the form of "roses" or "snails" on it with a confectionery syringe or a simple tablespoon.
Set the "Baking" mode. Cook for an hour and a half. In this case, you should not close the lid. Otherwise, steam will constantly accumulate inside and the products will not be able to dry out. Therefore, contrary to the advice of some culinary experts, it is not recommended to cook such a dessert "steamed".

After the sound signal, the multicooker should be turned off and wait for the products to cool completely. The meringues are snow-white and crispy. True, it won't be easy to tear them off the bottom of the bowl.

With strawberry

Fans of original desserts can be offered to prepare meringues in the form of air nests filled with fresh strawberries.

For this option, you will need:

120 grams of sugar;
2 egg whites.

For filling:

strawberries;
powdered sugar.

Everything is done very simply:

Place the egg whites in a chilled bowl and beat until the mass turns into a stable foam. The container must be perfectly dry and clean.
While continuing to beat, slowly add sugar. Gradually, the mixture will turn into a smooth and dense enough mass that will not drain from the whisk.
Transfer it to a pastry bag and attach the star-shaped attachment to the tip.
On a baking sheet covered with parchment, deposit the blanks, drawing flat spirals. Leave a small distance between the products so that they do not stick together.
Send the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 1 hour at 150 degrees. Then turn off the heat and leave the blanks in the chamber for another 35 minutes, opening the door slightly.
Rinse the berries and tear off the sepals from them. Gently cut the fruits into slices.
Place pieces of strawberries on each "nest" and sprinkle with powder on top.

It is better to eat such a dessert right away, until the juice from the berries has soaked the crispy meringue.

Meringue in the microwave

When the time for cooking is limited, a microwave comes to the rescue of housewives. This machine can handle any job in minutes.

To prepare meringue, you need only 2 ingredients in the following ratio:

1 egg;
270 grams of powdered sugar.

How to make meringues in the microwave:

Pour the powder into a deep bowl.
Separate the white from the yolk.
Add it to the powder and rub thoroughly for 5 minutes. The mass is soft and very smooth. It is impossible to achieve this with a mixer.
Cover the plate with baking paper.
Place blanks from the prepared mass on it with a spoon or syringe.
Put the plate in the oven and set the power to 750 W. Literally in 60 - 90 seconds, the meringues will be ready.

In order for the products to "mature", they need to stand inside the chamber for about 1 minute. Only then can the door be opened.

Chocolate meringue at home

Some people prefer to prepare the popular airy dessert with a chocolate flavor.

It is not difficult to do this if you have:

100 grams of granulated sugar;
whites of two eggs;
50 grams of dark chocolate.

To prepare meringues, in this case you will need:

Separate the whites from the yolks.
Place them in a clean dish and refrigerate for 1 hour.
After this time, beat the whites with a whisk. The mass should gradually double.
Without stopping whipping, add sugar little by little.
Heat the chocolate in a water bath. Alternatively, you can put it in a plastic bag, break it into pieces, and then put it in a pot of hot water for a few minutes.
Add warm chocolate to the proteins and stir gently with a spatula so that the mass does not settle. In this case, you do not need to use a mixer.
Place the resulting mixture using a pastry bag on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Dry the workpieces in the oven for an hour at 130 degrees.

After that, you need to wait until the products have completely cooled down. Only then will they be easily removed from the baking sheet. The result is an unusually delicious airy cakes with a pleasant chocolate aroma.

Cooking a "wet" dessert

The so-called "wet" meringue is often used to decorate cakes and other confectionery products. In fact, this is a delicate, yet dense enough protein cream.

They can be used to cover the surface of finished products or to make decorative figures (flowers). How to make a meringue "wet"?

This will require almost the same components as always:

2 eggs;
a quarter of a teaspoon of "lemon";
100 grams of sugar.

In this case, a slightly different technology is used:

First, as usual, the whites must be separated from the yolks.
Pour them into a clean bowl.
Pour sugar there and mix the food a little with a regular fork. To make the mass beaten later better, you can add a little fine salt.
Prepare a steam bath. To do this, place the container on a pot of hot water. However, it should not touch the liquid.
Put the pot on the stove. Beat the egg mass with a mixer for 5 - 6 minutes at high speed. As soon as it thickens enough, add the "lemon".
Remove the container from the pan and continue whisking for about 3 to 4 minutes. The result is a glossy cream with a fairly dense consistency.
The mass can be deposited on a baking sheet in an already known way or made from it with the help of nozzles openwork "flowers".
Dry in the oven for 1.5 hours at 100 degrees.

Even after baking, the meringues remain a little stringy. Perhaps that is why the dessert is called "wet".

Beat the remaining proteins with a mixer at low speed. The mass will gradually increase.

It is advisable to grind sugar on a coffee grinder. You can immediately take ready-made powder.

Add it to the eggs and continue beating, gradually increasing the speed.

So only the mass will become dense enough, fill up the "lemon". Beat after that for another 3 minutes at maximum speed.

Place the shiny dense mass on a baking sheet lined with parchment with a spoon.

Sink one stick inside each workpiece.

Bake the products in the oven at 100 degrees for about 60 minutes.

It is better to remove the products from the baking sheet only after they have completely cooled down.

The subtleties of making a flawless meringue

Getting to work, each housewife should study in advance all the subtleties of this, at first glance, simple process. How to make meringues so that the products are of proper quality?

To do this, you need to remember several important rules:

Dishes and all tools (spoon, whisk) must be perfectly clean and fat-free. Otherwise, it will be difficult to carry out the whipping procedure.
In most cases, experts advise using warm eggs (about 20 degrees). To do this, they need to be taken out of the refrigerator in advance or the separated proteins should be held in a bowl for 6 - 7 minutes over a dish with hot water.
It is better to take small sugar. This will dissolve faster. In addition, the presence of a large number of small particles improves whipping. Ideally, it is better to use icing sugar.
Begin whipping at low speed. So proteins are saturated with air as much as possible. As soon as the mass begins to foam, the speed can be increased.
To make the meringue crispy, whip the whites until they are hard peaks. The mass should be firm, stable and not drip from the whisk.
Sugar should not be added immediately, but gradually, as it dissolves.
Strictly observe the temperature regime.

Knowing these subtleties will turn the meringue preparation process into a pleasant procedure that does not require much effort from the hostess.