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How to Make Meringue

Meringue is a very common topping for cream and custard pies; it's light, airy and slightly sweet. You can even bake the meringue on its own for a delicious, low-fat treat! Learning how to make meringue properly will provide you with a perfect meringue that lasts much longer than one that's simply whipped together.

Important meringue tips:

• Be sure all the utensils you're using are very, very clean; this includes the bowl and beaters. If you have any oils on your equipment it inhibits the full potential of the meringue, for this reason you also want to try to avoid using plastic, if possible use stainless steel. Plastic has a bad habit of holding onto oil in its pours, even through the best of cleaning processes. And don't touch anything with your hands that will come into direct contact with the meringue, again this is due to the oils.

• As a general rule you want to use about 1/4 c. sugar for each egg white, using less is fine just don't use less than 2 Tbsp. per egg white. Superfine sugar is better to use than regular table sugar as it dissolves faster, however there is no problem in using normal white sugar.

• Don't add the sugar too early, it's added when the whites form soft peaks (peaks that form but bend over). If you add your sugar too early you'll be spending a very long time beating before stiff peaks form.

• Once the eggs are separated you want to allow the whites to reach room temperature before starting the beating process, cold whites don't produce good meringues.

• **Important** You'll want to plan ahead just a bit to time it so you'll be adding the meringue not as soon as possible after the pie comes out of the oven. Adding the meringue to a piping hot pie will help the inside of the meringue cook, reducing weeping. Weeping is a term used to describe when meringues liquefy a bit, making it look like there's water on your pie.

• Another tip to reduce weeping is to sprinkle some finely crushed vanilla wafers or white bread crumbs on the pie before adding the meringue.

• Meringue on pies doesn't store well, if you put your pie in the fridge you can guarantee some weeping, and there isn't much you can do about it unfortunately.

The recipe for how to make meringue

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/3 c. water, cold
• 4 egg whites
• 1 c. white sugar, no less than 8Tbsp. (superfine sugar is best but not required)
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract(optional)

Directions

1. Separate your eggs, placing the egg whites in a bowl to be whipped; be very careful not to get any yolks in there as the fat will be quite detrimental.

2. If your eggs are cold allow the whites to set for at least 45 minutes to come up to room temperature.

3. Preheat oven to 425°F.

4. Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small saucepan.

5. Oven medium heat, bring to a simmer, stirring regularly.

6. Once translucent and thick, remove from heat and set aside.

7. Beat the whites on medium until foamy then add your tartar.

8. Continue beating until soft peaks form, at this stage you should be able to lift the beaters out of the whites and peaks will form, however they will be fairly soft and will bend over. Start adding your sugar one tablespoon at a time, beating each time until the sugar is fully dissolved before adding the next tablespoon. This is the most time intensive part of the process but it shouldn't be hurried or the final product will suffer.

9. After all the sugar has been added continue beating on medium until stiff peaks form. At this point you should be able to lift the beaters out of the meringue and the peaks that form will stay standing straight up.

10. Spread the meringue onto the very hot pie making sure to not leave any open spots around the edges (these openings promote weeping). If you wish you can now use a knife or back of a spoon to form peaks.

11. Place the pie back in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until meringue is nice and brown.

12. If the pie filling isn't very hot when you add the meringue you can lower the temperature of the oven to 325°F and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

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