Those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while now might remember that back in the summer I tried my hand at baking meringues. They didn’t come out exactly as planned as I couldn’t get the egg whites to whip up stiff enough, but they looked pretty cute and tasted all right too, so it was a semi-success.
I vowed to try again, and when my parents got me a Kenwood stand mixer for my birthday in October, I was already excitedly planning another meringues-making session in my head. Didn’t actually get around to it until the day before Christmas, but isn’t that always how it goes. Cut to another 2,5 months later and here I am finally posting about it.
Anyway!
I am so happy with my stand mixer – it makes things so much easier! I mean, I don’t mind a bit of elbow grease and I’ve done absolutely fine without a stand mixer for years, but I love that thing. And I think a stand mixer is kind of necessary if you want to make meringues or macarons. My previous batch of meringues (the ones I made during the summer) were made with a hand mixer, and like I said; they came out alright, but not great. Plus, mixing a meringue with a handheld mixer becomes rather tedious after about 10 minutes.
So, with the help of my trusty red Kenwood, I gave CupcakeJemma’s recipe another try. Jemma’s recipe says you should weigh your egg whites and then use double the amount of sugar, and a bit of vanilla flavouring. I didn’t write down my exact weights and measurements this time around, but last time I used the following:
- 70 g egg whites (2 egg whites)
- 140 g extra fine sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla flavouring
Unlike last time, I actually managed to whip up my meringue the way it needs to be whipped up – it had stiff peaks! The piping was a bit of a mess, as always, meaning that the meringue ended up all over my hands, but luckily some of it made it onto the baking sheet as well. I added some sprinkles this time, and then they baked in the oven at a low temperature (100 °C) for about 35 minutes.
They turned out lovely! Some of them had small cracks, but you could hardly see them. And they tasted so good. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and almost melted on your tongue. I don’t really have that much of a sweet tooth (not even kidding) but I could eat about a million of these.
SO GOOD.
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I so agree! I have baked for years just using my old trusty hand mixer but getting a standmixer (mine is also a Kenwood) was really change for the better. Don’t use it much for egg whites but my buttercream is now so much fluffier and easier to make.
It’s such a help! I don’t really make buttercream, but I can imagine it turning out much better as well 🙂 I want to try and use my standmixer to make French macarons again sometime soon too!
They look great . the trick is to ensure your bowl is dry and to wipe the mixer things with a little white vinegar before use . Make sure the egg whites are not too cold either,ditto for ambient air in baking zone. oh yeah resisit the urge to open your oven door during. keep up the good work.
Thanks Louise! The vinegar thing really does help 🙂
They look lovely!! And delicious! I went to my friend’s baby shower back in October and the host had made pavlovas, which I had never had before. So gooood! And meringue-y haha.
Ahw, thanks Morgan! I’ve never made pavlova before, but it’s definitely on my TBB (To Be Baked? :’) ).
I love that you have a TBB!