Meyer Lemon Meringues

I love to bake and cook. It is a passion so intense that lately I question my decision to become a teacher and wonder why I never went to culinary school. Being a complete amateur and self-taught cook gives me lots of room to make culinary mistakes though, and for that I am grateful. The cookies that I am posting about today are anything but a mistake. They are a delicious, relatively guilt-free, home-run of a treat. That's great for my recipe binder, and even better for my ample hips. A quick, pre-recipe note. I love to eat healthily. I have made a lot of changes to my diet over the past three years and for the most part, we eat a really balanced, whole foods diet in our home. Sometimes, this conflicts with my intense, long-standing love affair with all things butter and sugar and yeasty deliciousness. I have reconciled some of my guilt by realizing that anything I make at home, from scratch, with quality ingredients, is a bazillion times better for me than something from the store out of a preservative-laden box. So I bake. And I use sugar. And butter. And eggs. And I sample the batter along the way, and eat giant slices of cake. Yup. As long as I know what's in it and I make the choice to consume those things, it's okay. So you will see a variety of delicious, healthy recipes on here, and also some major indulgences-or rather, foodulgences.




The good news is, Meringues are in the middle of the naughty food spectrum-somewhere in between whole wheat, honey sweetened apple muffins, and decadent red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. While there is a cup and a quarter of refined white sugar, the rest of this delectable little treat is made of egg white, a teensy bit of salt, and delicious, organic Meyer Lemon. Behold your delicious main ingredients. It's okay to salivate. I am.

Start by preheating your oven to 200 degrees. Meringue doesn't bake so much as it dries out and leaves you with a light-as-air, marshmallowy dream of a snack, so the low temperature is necessary. Then, get to your finger-lickin-good work.

You need six egg whites for this recipe, so go ahead and separate six room temperature eggs. I like to set mine out the night before so they are really warm. You can immerse them in some warm water to bring them up to temperature if needed. You could save the yolks for use in a custard or lemon curd recipe. I gave mine to my darling golden retriever, who smells egg yolks six rooms away and comes scampering to my side hoping for a taste. Break the eggs and use the shells to gently shift the yolks back and forth, collecting the whites in a bowl. Set them aside for a few minutes.

Grab your amazing Meyer Lemons and give them a few rolls against the counter to release the juices. Meyer Lemons are much sweeter than conventional lemons, and they have a flavor depth and complexity that makes them worth their price. Enjoy them while they are in season and grab some to use in your cooking. Take one lemon and using a fine grater or zest microplane, zest a tablespoon of the rind. You'll be using this later on.

Slice your lemons, and squeeze the juice into a small bowl. You can dip the juice out and avoid the seeds, so don't worry about straining them. Set the juice aside.

If you have a food processor, get her ready for a quick task. Dip a cup and a quarter of sugar out of your bag or canister, and give it a few good pulses through the food processor. This refines your granules and makes a "superfine"sugar, which blends with the egg whites more easily. If you can't do this, your meringues will still be delish. Don't worry. Set your sugar aside.

Put your egg whites in a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. If you can use a stand mixer, I highly recommend it for this recipe. Turn your mixer on, first to low, and then increasing to medium speed for 1-2 minutes. 

When your egg whites begin to look frothy and soft and foamy, add four teaspoons of the Meyer Lemon juice and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. It should look like this. You can stream these ingredients in as the mixer is running.

Grab your sugar, and slowly stream that in. Increase the speed of the mixer to high, and let your egg whites whip up until they form stiff, glossy peaks. The peaks should hold their shape and be the consistency of Marshmallow Fluff. They will look and behave like this.

Go ahead and remove the bowl from your stand mixer, if you are using one. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the meringue, and fold it in gently by hand with a rubber spatula.

Yummmm.....ok, once you have done this, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. I forgot to do this, so my pictures do not reflect use of parchment paper, but it makes cleanup a lot easier and ensures that your meringues do not stick to your baking sheets. I can fit about 25 cookies per sheet, so your recipe should yield about 50 meringues. I am a fan of just plopping a teaspoon of the meringue on the sheet and calling it good. I like the funky shapes and forms, but if you are a perfectionist, you can pipe them from a decorating bag with a star tip and be all fancy and high-class. We don't do high-class very often around here. We just eat and lick our fingers. Your cookie sheet will look like this.

And your gorgeous meringues will look like this.

Pop these babies in the oven. I put mine on two racks. Close the oven door and don't open it until they are totally done. Bake them for 60 minutes at 200 degrees. Then, reduce the temperature to 175 degrees, and bake for another two hours. Shut the oven off, and let them sit for another hour. Remove to an airtight storage container. Be careful-they are delicate, so don't smash them. Here is a picture of the finished product. Glossy, delicate and decadent, but without a lot of the guilt. Just the way we like our desserts around here.

Go ahead, enjoy a few. Since they are mostly egg white, the score on the sin scale is minimal. Share them with friends. They will love the crunchy, sweet and marshmallowy deliciousness packed with the delicate Meyer Lemon tang. It's like biting into sunshine. You can vary the recipe in many ways-I have made them with peppermint extract instead of lemon juice, and also with a bit of vanilla and small semi-sweet chocolate chips. You will never be disappointed. 

Meyer Lemon Meringues

Ingredients

• 6  room temperature egg whites
• 4 teaspoons fresh Meyer Lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups  superfine sugar (regular granulated is okay too)
• 1 tablespoon grated Meyer Lemon rind

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

1. In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until they are soft and foamy. Add the lemon juice and salt while the mixer is running.
2. As soft peaks form, gently stream in the sugar until the egg whites have formed stiff, glossy peaks. They should hold their shape and look like marshmallow fluff.
3. Fold in the Meyer Lemon rind by hand with a rubber spatula. Use a teaspoon to drop small plops onto the parchment paper. You can also pipe them with a pastry bag and tip.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 200 degrees. Reduce the heat to 175 degrees and bake for another two hours. Shut the oven off, and allow the meringues to sit for another hour. Remove and store loosely in airtight containers.
5. Stuff your face and the faces of those you love  with these springy delights.