How to Make Swiss Meringue + Meringue Cookies Recipe | YellowMixer.com Baking Blog (2024)
If you are a beginner, I advise you to start with this recipe in order to learn how to make Swiss meringue. It is more reliable and gives you much more chances to get a good result.
For general information, there are three ways to whisk egg whites and accordingly 3 types of meringue: French, Swiss and Italian.
French meringue – egg whites whipped with sugar; Swiss meringue – whites are heated with sugar and then whipped; Italian meringue – whites whipped with hot sugar syrup.
Rules for whipping egg whites
There are general rules for whippingegg whites, they do not depend on the way they are cooked:
Fat – fight! It is unacceptable to get even the slightest particle of fat into the whites and whipping dishes. Not a drop at all. The dishes should be clean and dry, and the white should be separated from the yolk very carefully (the yolk contains fat). To be sure, you can degrease the dishes before cooking: wipe them with a napkin with lemon juice.
Dishes. Preferably metal or glass. Plastic absorbs fats and over time it becomes almost impossible to completely degrease it. In addition, if you will heat the whites, the plastic will melt when it touches the hot dishes in a water bath.
The temperature of the ingredients. The egg whites at room temperature whip easier, faster and more fluffy than cold ones;
Sugar gives meringue stability, so it’s essential. There’s a little trick (not a trick at all) that neutralizes this sweetness a bit, but still, meringue is a dessert for the sweet tooth.
The sugar should be completely dissolved in the whites. It’s very important! Have you ever had a meringue that leaks syrup while baking and then turns into caramel? Well, that was the sugar that didn’t dissolve.
To make meringue, the egg whites and sugar should be whipped until they form stiff, smooth, stable peaks. This process can take 20 or 30 minutes – it mainly depends on the power of your mixer, if everything else is done correctly (clean dishes, no fat in the protein).
Color the meringue while whipping. Preferably with dry food coloring, especially if you want a bright color.
This time we’ll learn how to cook meringue on the water bath, that is Swiss meringue.
Ingredients:
100 g egg whites (from about 3 large eggs) a pinch of salt 200 g white sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice
1. Combine whites, salt and sugar in a bowl. (The bowl should be metal or glass, NOT plastic.)
2. Make a water bath: pour a little water in a small pan, literally 2 cm from the bottom, bring to a boil, reduce heat (the water should boil slightly), put a container with whites and sugar on top so that it does not touch boiling water (this is important!).
3. Constantly stirring with a whisk, warm until sugar is completely dissolved. Ideally, the temperature of whites for Swiss meringue should be 130-140 degrees F, but it’s enough when you try with your finger to feel that there are no sugar grains in whites.
4. Remove the bowl from the water bath and whip the mixture with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed to maximum. Whip until getting firm, dense peaks.
5. Add lemon juice and whip at low speed for a few seconds until the juice mixes with the meringue.
Now your Swiss meringue is getting done, and you can use it where you want, for example, make Swiss buttercream or bake meringue cookies:
Put the meringues on the parchment using two spoons or a pastry bag. Bake meringues at 175-200 degrees F for 1–3 hours. The longer you bake, the drier will be meringues inside. If you want a viscous center like nougat, bake 1-1.5 hours. Baking time also depends on the size of the meringue: small ones will dry quickly, while large ones will take more time to get dried.
Keep the meringue cookies in a tightly closed airtight container.
Why does baked meringue get wet in a few hours after cooking? And what to do with dampmeringues?
Meringue soaks due to humidity in the room or when touching wet surfaces, such as cake frosting or container walls, on which condensation has appeared. Do not leave baked meringues in a closed, turned off oven and store them in a dry, tightly closed container. If the meringues got damp, dry them again in the oven, half an hour at 160-175 degrees F.
How to make meringue cookies | YellowMixer.com
Print Recipe
Cooking Time: 30 min
Ingredients
100 g egg whites (from about 3 large eggs)
a pinch of salt
200 g white sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
1
Combine whites, salt and sugar in a bowl. (The bowl should be metal or glass, NOT plastic.)
Make a water bath: pour a little water in a small pan, literally 2 cm from the bottom, bring to a boil, reduce heat (the water should boil slightly), put a container with whites and sugar on top so that it does not touch boiling water (this is important!).
3
Constantly stirring with a whisk, warm until sugar is completely dissolved. Ideally, the temperature of whites for Swiss meringue should be 130-140 degrees F, but it's enough when you try with your finger to feel that there are no sugar grains in whites.
4
Remove the bowl from the water bath and whip the mixture with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed to maximum. Whip until getting firm, dense peaks.
5
Add lemon juice and whip at low speed for a few seconds until the juice mixes with the meringue.
6
Put the meringues on the parchment using two spoons or a pastry bag.
7
Bake meringues at 175-200 degrees F for 1–3 hours. The longer you bake, the drier will be meringues inside. If you want a viscous center like nougat, bake 1-1.5 hours. Baking time also depends on the size of the meringue: small ones will dry quickly, while large ones will take more time to get dried.
Notes
Keep the meringue cookies in a tightly closed airtight container.
It's softer yet denser in texture than French meringue and is often used as a base for buttercream frostings, cookies, or Pavlova. Of the three types, this is considered the middle of the road in terms of stability.
If you've found that your meringues have gotten soft after you finished baking them, you can actually pop them back in the oven at 225F for another 10-20 minutes (watch them, if they begin to turn golden brown around the edges turn off the heat immediately) and then let them cool in the oven for another hour, this has ...
Italian meringue is generally considered to be the most stable of the meringues (which makes it suitable for making frosting too), but also, the most difficult to make of the three meringue types. You'll also need a kitchen thermometer as your mixture has to reach a temperature of 115°C (very hot!).
If yours tastes like you're eating a stick of butter, perhaps your meringue wasn't whipped to stiff peaks before adding butter, or the butter was too cold, in which case it just needs some more whipping. Or you added too much butter.
In a KitchenAid mixer, it usually takes about 20-25 minutes to make a good, stiff meringue from start to finish. If you're at the 20-minute mark and the meringue still isn't at stiff peaks, check your temperature. Is it hot and humid in your kitchen? Then a 15-20 minute meringue timeout in the fridge will help!
Maybe the meringue whipped too long, cooling to well below 75°F (24°C). Maybe the butter came straight from the fridge. Maybe your buttercream was even frozen in advance, but didn't fully thaw. Doesn't matter why—if your Swiss meringue buttercream looks dense and greasy (or even tastes that way), it's simply too cold.
Swiss meringue buttercream is either soupy or curdled due to the temperature of the butter; it is either too warm or too cold. Both issues can be fixed either chilling or gently heating the buttercream.
You can't overbeat meringue - It's true! You can't ruin it by mixing too much, so once all of the sugar is added, be sure that your meringue is glossy and that you have super firm, stiff peaks when you remove the beater from the mixer. Don't be afraid to mix a little longer if it appears too soft.
A warning — if you add your sugar too slowly the mix will get too fluffy and the texture of the meringues will be too open. Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold.
Thanks to the modern mixer, meringue making is a lot easier and older eggs aren't necessary. In fact, older eggs create a less stable foam because the liquid drains more easily from the bubbles. As a general rule of thumb, if stability is more important than volume, use fresher eggs.
Cornstarch: Cornstarch is an excellent way to foolproof your meringue. Use it to create added fluff and keep your hard-won volume from shrinking. Cream of Tartar: Often added in when making meringues, acidic cream of tartar provides lift and stabilization.
Swiss meringue is ideal for piping, as it holds its shape well, and incorporating with other mixtures or ingredients, as it also retains its volume. Swiss meringue can also be made into a silky smooth Swiss meringue buttercream.
never use a plastic bowl, metal or glass only and make sure there is not even a drop of egg yolk. Fat will cause your whites to not reach stiff peaks. Also, adding cream of tartar or a little lemon juice will help make a solid meringue.
It can take a while for a meringue to reach stiff peaks and for the sugar to dissolve—about five minutes with a hand mixer. If the sugar has not dissolved (for example, if it tastes gritty), keep beating.
In a large clean, grease-free bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, use the whisk attachement to whip the egg whites on low speed until foamy bubbles appear at the top. Add the vanilla bean paste and vinegar (or cream of tartar) and continue whipping until really foamy.
Always prepare the meringue before preparing the pie filling so it's ready to spread while the filling is still hot. The heat from the filling will "cook" the meringue onto the filling and make it less likely to leak or shrink. Seal the meringue completely to the edge of the pie so it touches the crust.
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