Meringue step by step (meringue sighs recipe)

Luisa, from the blog Cocinando con mi Carmela , brings you a classic recipe today: a delicious French meringue that Luisa presents today in the form of small sighs. It is one of those recipes that you usually use when you start using a KitchenAid. I assure you that it turns out perfect!

After a well-deserved vacation and a complete disconnection, this week everything has returned to normal; I have continued with my food photos, studio photos, baby photos, etc… and I am back to getting my hands dirty.

For a couple of months now, I've had a beautiful KitchenAid in my possession, and I had to make a recipe where it was the star. What better way to break it in than with some fantastic meringues? The truth is that the KitchenAid is unmatched when it comes to whipping egg whites, so I won't go on any longer. Let's get to it!

Below I will tell you four basic things when preparing meringues, and I will leave you the recipe to prepare what is called meringues or sighs .

How to make a good meringue

What is meringue made of? It is a foam obtained by beating egg whites sweetened with sugar. First we make the foam with the egg whites and beat them with a whisk or with our KitchenAid . When the foam forms we add the sugar in a shower, little by little. This particular type is called French meringue, but we can also find other types of meringues such as Italian or Japanese (the latter is prepared with ground almonds).

Meringue is a basic ingredient in baking , it is usually prepared and used in cakes, tarts or for delicious macarons, but they are also super pretty for any type of decoration.

Today's recipe is called meringues or sighs , and with the help of a pastry bag they will turn out super cute, since you can give them the shape you want depending on the nozzle you use.

Tips for preparing a good meringue

• Use very fresh egg whites at room temperature.
• The mixing bowl must be super clean and dry, and the egg whites must not contain any yolk, otherwise they will not whip.
• You can add cream of tartar or lemon juice (in my case they are made without any of these components), they help stabilize the meringue.
• Beat at medium speed.
• Once prepared, French meringue must be baked immediately or it will lose volume.
• When cooking, the oven should be at a low temperature, and the cooking time should be at least 1 hour.

Meringue sighs and KitchenAid Artisan food processor

Ingredients

• 80gr of egg whites
• 80gr of white sugar
• 80gr of powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)

Preparation

1. With the bowl of our food processor very dry and clean, we add the egg whites and beat them until stiff at a medium speed for about 6-7 minutes. You can also do this without the food processor, of course, beating constantly with a whisk or electric whisk .
2. Once the meringue is ready, without stopping, add the sugar in a sprinkling (if you want to add vanilla essence, add it at the same time as adding the sugar) and, little by little, continue beating for about 5 more minutes. After these minutes, add the icing sugar to the same bowl and this time with the help of a spatula, stir until everything is well mixed.
3. At this point we preheat the oven to 180ºC.
4. To make the mini meringues, we use a pastry bag and, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, we will form the meringue sighs, with a little space between them.
5. With this quantity I have had enough for two plates, which I have put in the oven at the same time and baked for about 70 minutes, lowering the oven temperature to 90ºC more or less (it will depend on each oven).
6. Once this time has passed, we turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven for a little longer.
7. Once we take them out, we place them on a rack and let them cool.