Basic Meringue Recipe – Great For Meringue Nests

Being able to make meringue nests is one of the jobs I wish I had learned years ago.

Now that I know how to do it, making all sorts of meringues is now quite easy.  For this recipe you can use a piping bag, or if you don’t have one, just pop your meringue mix onto your making paper and use the back of a spoon to form peaks.

This will take around 30 – 45 minutes to dry in the over if the nests are small, but one large pavlova size meringue will take up to an hour and a half to dry out in the oven, and then it has to be left to cool.

The vinegar is in all my meringue recipes and will be forever more.  It helps to stabilise it, and the chances of it collapsing are greatly reduced, although meringues are by their nature, crumbly and light.

Basic Meringe Recipe – Useful For Meringue Nests

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Serves	10
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 5 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold

Ingredients

• 5 Egg Whites
• 250g Caster Sugar (I used golden sugar for the meringue in this picture.)
• Half teaspoon Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 2 teaspoons Cornflour

Method

Step 1.	Put the oven on to approximately 130 C or Gas 1 - 2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Step 2.	Separate the egg yolk from the egg whites and put them into a mixer bowl. Whisk them for a few minutes until they form stiff peaks.
Step 3.	Add the sugar slowly, about 50g at a time and whisk again for a few minutes each time, until the sugar is all added.
Step 4.	Add the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence and continue to mix for up to 8 minutes, until the mix is smooth and glossy.
Step 5.	Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Put your meringue mix into a piping bag with the nozzle of your choice. Starting from the middle, work out by going round in circles to create the meringue nest shape on your baking paper.
Step 6.	Pop your meringues into the oven for approximately 30 - 45 minutes. Let the meringues cool down in the oven if it's possible.