There are several more complicated meringue recipes on this site, but this recipe makes great meringue simply. I'm not sure the cream of tartar is necessary. Cream of tartar is supposed to be a stabilizer, so if you're worried about it turning out, just throw in a couple of dashes. I agree the meringue doesn't need this much sugar; I use 6 tablespoons of sugar with 4 egg whites, and it's plenty sweet for us. I've also added 1 t. vanilla when I want it to be a little more flavorful. Things to remember when making meringue:
1. Make in a very clean steel or glass bowl; grease will break down your meringue. Don't use plastic bowls!
2. Egg whites must be pure; if you get a little yolk in them, it's full of fats that will break down your meringue.
3. Beat on high until the peaks start bulging out in front of your beaters. For me, this takes about 7-8 minutes.
4. Add the sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar when you are about halfway to 3/4 through.
5. If you want the meringue to not separate and make a liquid layer on your pie, put it on your custard or filling while it is still hot. The hot custard cooks the meringue from the bottom, and the oven cooks it from the top. If you put meringue on cool filling, the bottom of it may stay raw and can separate.
6. When you put on the meringue, use your knife to meld it to the edge of your pie crust.
7. Cook in a 350F oven for 7 minutes for lightly browned.
8. Make right when you need it; make it too early and it will set up in the b
1/3 cup sugar is plenty for three egg whites. I used on coconut cream pie and baked it 15 minutes at 35o. Very good!
It's a nice simple recipe but no instruction on how long to bake for different pies. I used this recipe with a Chocolate Cream Pie. I made te pie up according to directions and then slathered on the Merinque and baked it at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes. Just enough to brown the peaks.
No need or Cream of Tartar. If you bake this for a long time at low temperature (200 x 120 min) you get a crunchy meringue all through. If you bake at higher temps for shorter times (350 x 15 min) the top browns and the insides stay creamy. This seems like a lot of sugar. I use about 1/4 c for 4-5 egg whites and it's plenty sweet on top of a sweet pie.
There were no instructions in this recipe about how to cook them so i had to look in a recipe book to see what they said. I cooked them for about 3 hours at 200 degrees and they came out great. I also added vanilla to the batter for extra flavor. It is a very easy recipe but it takes forever to bake!
This is simple and delicious...I added a 1/2 tps of Pure Vanilla Extract and it just made it all the better!
Wow! I had no idea how easy meringue is to prepare! I took the advice of another reviewer and used ~1/4 cup of sugar and it tastes and looks great! I baked it on 200 C for about 9 minutes. Wonderful! Thank you so much!!
Good easy recipe for meringue. Used 1/4 t vanilla and no cream of tartar. With 4 egg whites I used 1/3 c sugar. So pretty much I changed everything except the ingredients:) That's the only reason it gets a 4 instead of 5.
This is the first meringue I've ever been really 100% happy with. Incidentally this is the first one that ever used cream of tartar that I've tried. It was worth every penny - my meringue looked pure white like clouds and didn't start to break before hitting stiff peaks. Thank you! EDIT: I made this one again without the cream of tartar and with only 1/2 cup sugar and baked 13 mins @ 375. I don't know which change made the difference but I'm even happier with it the 2nd time.
