Meringues that aren't quite meringuing

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shipton

Assistant Cook
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
4
One of my (well, my girlfriend's especially) recipes is a simple one calling for only 4 egg whites, a cup of sugar and a half cup of melted chocolate chips.

To make the meringue, and I believe I have done this successfully in the past before (though now I'm not too sure), my recipe says to combine the sugar and eggs over a double broiler and heat while whisking until hot (4-5 minutes). After you are supposed to beat the egg whites into stiff peaks.

I did this three times on the weekend, but each time I beat the eggs they gain no volume, remaining flat and dense. I think I did this before but now I'm not sure. Any suggestions why it did not work?

As well, I know most meringue recipes use cream of tartar to help stabilize the meringue. If I used this type of meringue instead would it work? The recipe results in the cookies being chewy inside, not hard and dry. (275F for 45 minutes)
 
This sounds a lot like a meringue cooky recipe I have...but we don't cook it. Just whip the meringue...add the chips and bake. Anyone else?
 
I would definitely agree... cooking the egg prior to beating will rarely result in a meringue. I am not an educated chef, but I would recommend beating the eggs on high speed until soft or stiff peaks, whichever the recipe suggests, and go from there, probably folding the meringue into the prepared dough.
 
As I suspected, but two things:

1, the chocolate is melted and added in for a marbling effect, rather than chocolate chips just being added. Will that cause the meringue to fall?

2, there is no other prepared dough. It's just meringue and melting chocolate.

It's pretty good, I'll post the recipe elsewhere.

Also, should I add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, etc?
 
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Shipton...I found a recipe on search...it said to melt and cool the chocolate, then fold it in after the whites are whipped. Add the sugar slowly to egg whites while beating. Hope this helps!
 
I'm moving this thread to the Desserts/Cookies forum.

I agree with the others here that 1. you don't need to heat the eggs first and 2. let the chocolate cool to room temp before adding it to the egg whites. You should add the sugar gradually. It doesn't have to be exactly Tbsp by Tbsp but doing so gradually will ensure that it's evenly and gently blended. You could also try mixing in finely chopped chocolate rather than melted chocolate to see if that keeps the whites more stabelized. I have a recipe that calls for chocolate in that form and I never have a problem with it.
 
meringues

I don't think heating the egg whites is the problem unless the heat was too high and you cooked them. Remember, your bowl and beaters must not be greasy. Clean the bowl with vinegar and lots of soap before trying to whip eggs. You can't have any egg yolk in the whites either. If I remember warming the eggs is supposed to produce greater volume.
Once I was making a recipe and it said to add nuts to the beaten egg white. I tried beating the nuts in and immediately deflated my egg whites.
The recipe said to FOLD in the nuts. The fat in the nuts deflated the egg whites. I learned a lesson.
 
Isn't it Italian Meringue that gets heated to a certain temp

while beating then you continue to beat until cooled. This type gets used as frosting and should stay quite stiff so I don't think the heating is the problem. How ever the temp is critical so I would suspect that the temp got to hot or the chocolate was added to early.
 
The recipe:

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped


1. Preheat over to 275F.
2. In a suacepan bring 1-2 inches of water to a simmer. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl over (but not touching of course) water, and melt stirring occasionally.
3. In another heatproof bowl, combine egg whites and sugar over (but not touching) simmering water and whisk until mixture is hot 4-5 minutes. Remove bowl form heat. Using an electric mixer beat on high speed until stiff peaks form and mixture is lukewarm 4-5 minutes.

After that you drizzle in the chocolate while folding, and then put on parchment and bake for 35-40 minutes (until outside is crisp and inside is chewy).

However, it's step 3 that's falling short. I go to bea thtem with the electric mixer, and they turn white, but remain dense and gain no volume. I'm going to try it again tomorrow with all your suggestions. Thank you all for your help so far!

i.e., I never actually got to the chocolate adding part, but I've don eit all before and it works.
 
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