My First Time Baking A Meringue

Recently, I started watching “The Great British Bake Off” on youtube. I’ve known about this show for some time, but for some reason, never watched it! My curiosity finally got the better of me and I watched episodes on youtube. From the moment the contestants started baking their “tray bake”, I was hooked.

I am always impressed with the contestants on cooking shows because I know that I could never do that. I love to bake and I love to cook, but I hate being pressured, like in these challenges. For these contestants to cope AND produce delicious treats… I have much respect.

On one episode of the Great British Bake-off that I watched, the contestants were charged with making a meringue dessert. I’m not a huge meringue lover, like my mother, but for some reason, I too felt compelled to bake a meringue. For weeks, all I could think about was meringues and found myself researching different recipes!

My meringue obsession finally came to a halt last week, when I was charged, by my mother, to bake a meringue for some guests we were having. I was nervous, but excited, and stepped up to the challenge.

For some reason, I always thought making a meringue was super difficult, but I was surprised by how easy it was! It's possible that I just didn't make my meringue properly, but it looked the part and it tasted delicious! Either way, I was pleased with the results.

The meringue was served with a lemon curd, made by my mother. I found the recipe for both the meringue and lemon curd online here. If you don't feel like visiting that website and you'd like a step-by-step guide to baking the perfect meringue, please check out the rest of this post.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 large egg whites (at room temp)
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300F with the rack in the middle. 

2. On a piece of parchment paper, trace a 7 in circle. Turn the parchment over and place on a baking pan.

3. Whisk superfine sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites (with a pinch of salt) using an electric mixer. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Add some water (to loosen egg whites) and beat until soft white peaks held again. This step will take a while, so be patient!

5. Increasing the speed to medium high, beat in sugar mixture slowly. After all the sugar has been added, keep beating for another minute. 

6. Increasing the mixer speed to high, add the vinegar. You want your meringue to be glossy and hold stiff peaks. I was always told that you know your meringue is done when you can flip the bowl upside down and the merging still stays in the bowl. 

7. Gently spoon out the meringue onto the baking parchment. Try to stay within the 7 in ring, but move out, if you have to. My meringue exceed the 7 inches, so that's what I did. When you spread out the meringue, make sure the sides are higher than the inside. Remember, you will be placing lemon curd and possibly fruits in the middle, so you want to create a valley in the center.

8. Bake meringue until it's pale gold and has a crust --- about 45 minutes. Once the meringue is baked, the outside will be crunchy, but the inside will still be marshmallow like. 

9. Once your meringue is baked, turn the oven off and prop the oven door open. Let meringue cool in the oven for one hour. 

10. Once your hour is up, remove the meringue from the oven.

I made my meringue 24 hours before our guests arrived, so once it cooled, I carefully wrapped it in cling film and let it sit overnight. The next day, as I mentioned earlier, my mother made the lemon curd filling and topped the dessert with strawberries. The meringue and lemon curd was delicious!