Finnish Meringue Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes meringues chewy in the middle? ›

Chewiness. The chewiness of the meringues is created by cooking the meringues at a slightly higher temperature for a shorter time, thereby keeping some of the moisture inside. They will also go a slightly milky coffee colour.

While low heat will dry them out, meringues do not become hard and crisp until they have had a chance to cool for five or ten minutes. 1. Sift 2 tablespoons granulated sugar with confectioners' sugar; set aside.

Make sure that you are turning down the oven temperature immediately after putting the meringue in the oven. If you have a top element in your oven it may be worth seeing if this can be turned off or put the meringue on a lower shelf, as direct radiant heat from a top element could be causing the darker colour.

Meringue rules: The final verdict

Abide — Avoid yolks; use a non-plastic bowl; add sugar slowly, and bake low and slow. Let slide — Don't pull your hair out if your eggs are cold, you don't have superfine sugar, or it's a humid day.

Italian Meringue Recipe

This type of meringue is commonly known as the most challenging of the three to master, but with the right technique you can create delicious desserts topped with this fluffy Italian treat. Like most meringue recipes, Italian meringue starts with sugar, water and egg whites.

Turn the whisk around and examine the bottom of the meringue that was collected on the whisk. It should have soft but distinct formed waves on the bottom. If the meringue is chunky, the waves are chunky, or there are too many little hard peaks all over the meringue, that means you've over whipped.

Chewy meringues are the result of two possible situations, under-baking and humidity.

I heat the oven to relatively high, then turn it right down as soon as the meringue is in, so it puffs up.” As Lepard says, “You are not so much cooking meringue as drying it out, so there's no great mystery to a chewy one: just cook it for less time than you normally do.”

Also, it is a good idea to use parchment paper or aluminum foil to line your baking sheets, not wax paper, as the meringue will sometimes stick to wax paper. Baking the meringues in a slow oven allows for gradual evaporation of the moisture from the meringues.

Bake for 60 minutes, then turn off the oven but do not take out the cookies. Let them sit in the oven until they are completely cold. I leave mine in overnight. Cookies can be stored in a ziplock bag unrefrigerated for up to two weeks.

Can you over mix meringue cookies? ›

Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold. This will affect your meringue's crispness, as well as making it more likely to collapse or weep beads of sugar. As my meringue guru Gary Mehigan advises: “If you over whip the egg whites you cannot fix it.

Fats, water, or dirt may compromise the meringue and prevent it from achieving the fluffy heights you desire. Avoid plastic bowls, which can retain traces of oil. Separate your eggs carefully. Enough yolk will also prevent the egg white proteins from binding together in the way you need.

The cornflour and vinegar that is added strengthens the egg white and make it more stable and you get the marshmallowy centres from the shorter cooking time.