The easiest mini meringue recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F) fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper or parchment paper. Ensure the mixing bowl and utensils are clean and completely dry.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed for 1–2 minutes until they start to go frothy.
- Increase the speed to medium–high and gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you have added all of the sugar.
- Keep whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the meringue reaches stiff peaks. It should be thick, white and glossy. The easiest way to tell if the meringue is ready is by rubbing a small amount of meringue between your finger and thumb and seeing if you can still feel any sugar granules. If you can, keep whisking. As soon as it’s smooth and you cannot feel any sugar, stop whisking.
- Finally, add the vanilla to the meringue and beat on medium–high for 20 seconds.
- Transfer the meringue to a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip, approximately 1.5 cm (3/4 inch) in diameter. Gently pipe small meringue kisses (approximately 3 cm / 1 inch in diameter to make 32-34 mini meringues) onto the prepared tray.
- Bake the meringues for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes or until they’re crisp to touch.
- Turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool and dry out in the oven for another 1 hour.
Notes
Egg whites: You only need egg whites for this recipe (no egg yolks). It’s very important that you seperate the eggs carefully and don’t get one drop of egg yolk in the egg whites or they won’t fluff up as much as they should.
Caster sugar: Caster super is a fine white sugar that is used in meringues as it dissolves very easily. In most of my recipes, I recommend substituting granulated sugar for caster sugar, but for this one, it’s quite important that you get hold of caster sugar or superfine sugar. You can pulse granulated sugar or white sugar VERY briefly in a food processor if you’re in a pinch. But be careful, one too many pulses, and you’ll have icing sugar/powdered sugar – which will not work.
Vanilla extract: Chose the best vanilla extract you can find for this recipe. The flavour will really shine in these meringues. You could use vanilla bean paste or even just straight vanilla bean seeds if you like. Alternatively, you can get creative with the flavours and try another extract like peppermint extract.
Colouring: You can also colour the meringues with a few drops of good quality gel food colour or oil based food colour. Don’t use watery food colouring from the supermarket though. The high water content can deflate your meringue.
Storage: Mini meringues keep quite well in an airtight container at room temperature. Don’t keep them in the fridge. You need to make sure they have completely cooled and full dried out before placing them in a sealed container otherwise they can get a bit sticky – and stick to each other.
Make-ahead: Unfortunately you can’t freeze mini meringues but you can bake them a few days in advance.
