French meringue

French meringue is a very tasty and light dessert that can be served on its own, but, more often, various creams, layers for cakes and desserts are prepared on the basis of meringue. Meringue is often used as a topping on Easter cakes.

Cooking time: 180 minutes.

Servings: 6.

Calories: 254.

Ingredients

• egg whites - 3 pcs. (100 g);
• sugar (small) - 200 g;
• salt - 1 pinch;
• lemon juice - a few drops.

Cooking

Meringue is very easy to prepare, but some rules must be strictly followed in order to achieve a successful result.

There are three ways to prepare meringue - French, Italian and Swiss.

Meringue French - these are whites whipped with sugar, sugar crystals should be small. Meringue Italian - cooked on hot sugar syrup and whipped egg whites.

Meringue Swiss - proteins with sugar are heated in a water bath and whipped at the same time.

Today we will consider the method of preparing French meringue, the most common, simplest and familiar to many.

1. The first rule is to carefully separate the whites from the yolks. The yolk is fat, it will complicate the rise of the protein, so not the slightest drop of the yolk should get into the proteins. Another very important point - the eggs must be fresh. Bought one or three days before preparation. Proteins must be weighed.

2. The second rule - sugar should be taken twice as much protein.

3. The bowl in which we beat the French meringue must be clean and dry. To be safe, the bowl can be degreased with lemon juice. Cut off a small slice of lemon and wipe the inside of the bowl with it.

4. We send one pinch of salt to the bottom of the dish. We will beat the proteins together with salt, they will stabilize the proteins.

5. Send room temperature protein to a bowl. It makes no sense to cool them in the refrigerator. Warm proteins will whip into a denser foam than cold ones. Mixer bowl and whisk should also be at room temperature. Proteins begin to beat at low speed.

6. Beat the protein for one to two minutes until the mass acquires the structure of "sea foam".

7. Now the mixer should be switched to maximum speed. Beat for another two or three minutes. Already now it is clear that the mass has increased in volume several times and condensed. Soft peaks appeared.

8. Without ceasing to beat the whites at the maximum speed of the mixer, you can pour sugar into the bowl with a “rain”. Sugar does not need to be poured all at once, this will lower the proteins, and there will be practically no possibility to raise them. Only in parts, and in a thin stream, you need to add sugar.

9. If desired, for a glossy structure, a few drops of lemon juice can be added to the proteins. Continue beating for a couple more minutes.

10. The readiness of the meringue is checked very simply. A small amount of the mass must be rubbed between the fingers, if the sugar has dissolved and is not felt, then it is ready.

11. Also, the protein mass should have stable peaks and the mass should remain in the bowl, even if it is turned over. The meringue is ready. Then you can continue to work with her as you wish. We will dry the meringue for decoration.

12. You can divide the meringue into several parts and color with gel-based food coloring.

13. Add a few drops of dye to the protein mass. Color saturation is adjustable.

14. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag.

15. We plant it on parchment, at a distance from each other, since the meringue will “grow up” during baking.

16. We heat the oven to t-80⁰ C, send the baking sheet with the meringue to dry. While the meringue is in the oven, its door cannot be opened. The dessert should be baked for two and a half to three hours, depending on the size. Sometimes the oven temperature can be set higher and the baking time shortened. But in this case, it is more likely that the dessert will crack.

French meringue at home is ready. It turned out to be smooth, without cracks, with a glossy surface. On this basis, you can cook a large number of different desserts. The main thing is to follow all the rules of preparation.