10 Meringue Recipes To Try At Home

Set your oven to 85°C.

Put the egg whites into a large clean bowl and whisk them until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, little by little, whisking continuously. The mixture should be stiff, white and glossy.

Now whisk in the vanilla extract and cornflour until well combined.

Swirl about a third of the cocoa powder into the mixture using a knife, then spoon small mounds, well spaced out, onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Continue to add the cocoa powder so that each layer of mixture has a good amount of cocoa powder visible. At this point you can scatter chopped hazelnuts onto the mini meringues if desired.

Put in the oven and cook for 2 hours. Allow to cool before serving.

In a bowl, soften the butter with a spatula. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the softened butter, ground almonds and icing sugar until smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, while beating. Incorporate the flour and salt. Mix the pastry dough until crumbly. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and rest overnight in the refrigerator.

To make the lemon custard, soften the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Zest two of the lemons and squeeze all three. In a bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. Combine the lemon juice, sugar and butter in a pan and bring to the boil. Gradually add the eggs, incorporating with a whisk. Cook over a low heat until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Squeeze the gelatine and incorporate. Add the lemon zest. Use an immersion blender to mix well. Put into an airtight container and rest overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 175°C/Gas Mark 4. Roll out the pastry dough into a 6mm -thick disc. Grease a tart pan with butter and line with the pastry. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

To make the Italian meringue, dissolve the sugar into 2 tablespoons of water and the lemon juice in a pan over a low heat. Bring to the boil and cook until the mixture reads 120°C on a cooking thermometer. If you don’t have a cooking thermometer, put a little of the syrup in a spoon and let one drop fall into a glass of cold water. If it forms a small, soft ball, the syrup is ready. In a grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Pour the syrup in a thin stream into the meringue while whisking until the mixture cools.

Fill the pastry case with the lemon custard. Use a plastic spatula to cover the tart with meringue, creating a dome in the centre. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.

First make the pastry. Place the flour in a food processor with the salt and sugar and whizz for a few seconds (this is a great way to ditch the process of sifting flour). Add the butter, and whizz again for about 20 seconds, or until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Turn out into a fridge-cold mixing bowl, and with a cold knife, slowly add enough of the whisked egg and water to bind the mixture together, being careful not to make the dough too wet. Bind the pastry into a ball. Kneading will make it tough, so try to handle it as little as possible.

Lay the pastry on a baking sheet and roll out to flatten a little. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes or until needed.

Once you are ready to make the pie, preheat the oven to 190˚C/170˚C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Dust the work surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it’s the thickness of a 50p piece. Very carefully line a 24cm deep tart tin. Let the pastry overhang the edge of the tart dish so you can trim it once it has been blind baked. Place the lined tin in the freezer for 10 minutes and then line the raw pastry with grease proof paper. filled with baking beans and blind bake it for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, take out the baking beans and grease proof paper and pop it back for a further 10 minutes.

Take out and leave to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 140˚C/120˚C Fan/Gas Mark 1. When the pastry is cool, carefully trim the pastry edges away with a knife, carving off the excess against the side of the tin, then brush away any crumbs with a pastry brush.

While the pastry bakes, prepare the filling. Put the juices, water, sugar, salt and zest in a pan and bring to the boil. Mix the cornflour with the gin to form a smooth paste and whisk this into the juice mixture. Keep whisking and it will start to thicken. Lower the heat and add the butter, whisking until it has all melted. Now take the pan off the heat and stir in the eggs, beating furiously until you have a lovely smooth consistency. Leave to rest covered with some cling film touching the surface of the sherbet curd to stop a skin forming while you wait for the base to bake and cool.

When ready to fill the tart, sieve the filling into the tart case to ensure a perfectly silky consistency. Level it out carefully with a spatula and return to the oven for 30 minutes.

To make the meringue, place the sugar in a saucepan and add four tablespoons of water and the vanilla. Turn on the heat and bring to the boil until the sugar is melted, but do not stir as this will crystallise the sugar syrup. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks so they fall down on themselves, and keeping the whisk going, slowly pour in the sugar syrup until it is all incorporated. With a metal spoon, top the tart with the meringue, creating lovely peaks as you go.

Turn the oven up to 180˚C/160˚C Fan/Gas Mark 4 and cook the pie for 10 minutes until golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for an hour before serving.

Preheat the oven to 90°C and line a large baking tray with baking parchment.

Place the egg whites into a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. You’ll need an electric hand whisk or stand mixer to get the volume required for great meringue, don’t try to do it by hand. Whisk the whites until they resemble stiff peaks.

Add the sugar into the egg whites one a spoonful at a time, and let each spoonful fully mix in before adding the next.

When all the sugar has been added, turn the mixer speed up and whisk for 8-10 minutes or until the mixture is really thick and glossy. If you rub a small amount between your fingers, you shouldn’t be able to feel any grains of sugar. If it still feels gritty, continue to whisk for a few more minutes until it feels smooth. Fold in the raspberry pieces.

Open up a piping bag, fold over the top and fill with the meringue mixture. Use a little bit of meringue to secure the baking parchment to the baking tray, then pipe kisses all over the tray.

Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 30 minutes until the kisses feel dry to the touch, and if you pick one up the base should be firm when pressed. Allow to cool completely before sandwiching with clotted cream and serving.