Meringues
updated

I wanted to do something with the egg whites that were left from the gnocchi dish below. Meringues are almost only egg whites! Egg whites can be easily frozen as well for later use. Check out Mr. Blitz's comments to this post about the details. Thank you, Mr. Blitz!





Ingredients:

5 egg whites
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto (the usual recipe uses a bit of vanilla extract instead)


Instructions:

Put the egg whites into a mixer or a bowl if you're going to whip the eggs manually. I used my super-duper Betty Bossi mixer from Switzerland. Nothing beats this one! After the egg whites harden a bit, mix in the sugar and the amaretto (or vanilla extract). Beat the whites until they're really firm. It's firm enough, if you can turn the bowl upside down, and the mixture doesn't fall out!

Place some parchment paper, or even better, a special non-stick baking sheet on your oven grid or whatever you have to put things on in your oven. Thanks again to Mr. Blitz for those recommendations. When i did this recipe (and i'm not much of a baker), I used aluminum foil and had some sticking problems. So i would suggest not to use aluminum foil.

With a spoon, place small, artistic looking shapes onto your parchment paper or baking sheet, leaving some space between because the meringues will grow a bit in the oven!

Preheat the oven to 250 F.

Put the meringues into the middle of the oven and let them bake for 1 hour. The important part is, to not open the oven door while the meringues are in there! After 1 hour, reduce the heat to 200 F. Let them bake for another 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 175 F. After another 20 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the meringues in there for yet another 20 minutes. After a total of 2 hours, open the oven door and remove them.

I think they taste best right after removing them from the oven. Meringues are very sensitive to humidity and you might end up with sponge-like meringues if they get exposed too much. I really don't consider myself a pastry or baking guru. If you have any other comments or suggestions about this, please don't hesitate to post them!