Meringues!!!

After the wonderful breakfast at K and J, I decided to give it a shot at making Meringues. Turns out that it wasn't that difficult and was actually one of the most fun recipes ever.

Here's the ingredient List
------------------------------

4 egg whites (make sure there is no yolk at all)
200g caster sugar
Vanilla or Mint Essence

The art and should i say the science of whipping egg whites can be considered a subject in itself. Did abit of research after my extremely tedious task of whipping the egg whites. Fortunately I had an electric mixture but that still took me 40 mins !!!. Anyway what I did was, seperate the egg yolks from the whites and then start beating the egg whites till they become a foamy white mix and finally after almost half an hour later become foamy peeks. At this point I added in half the caster sugar and whipped abit more to dissolve the sugar. Lastly, Add in the remaining caster sugar and gently fold it in so that no more caster sugar is visible. You can pipe out your mixture or spoon them onto an aluminium sheet. Bake at 90 degrees celcius and turn off the heat after 45mins and let it rest in the oven for another hour or so. Here's where the art comes into play: Use a low heat to avoid burning the top and keep it in the oven long enough so that the meringues are thoroughly solid and not liquidish.

Some tips for easy whipping
----------------------------------
1. use a small deep bowl with a rounded bottom for 4 to 5 egg whites or a large, deep bowl for more
2. Bring egg whites to room temperature
3. A copper bowl is ideal, since it will react chemically with egg whites to form fluffy, high peaks. Copper mixes with the sulphur in the egg whites to form a tight bond. wow!
4. When using a stainless steel or glass bowl, add cream of tartar or lemon juice to achieve the same result as with a copper bowl.
5. When your egg whites get fluffy...STOP! If you overbeat them, they will liquify again
6. It is best to begin at a slow speed and gradually move up to high when beating egg whites.

Enjoy !!!