Make your family smile with these light and delicious meringues. Meringues are easy to make with an electric beater or cake mixer, and everyone likes them.
You don’t need to use a piping bag – for the meringues in the photo I used a plastic ziplock bag with one corner snipped off.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Makes: Approx 18 medium meringues
3 egg whites (a week old is best)
Pinch of salt
175g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
½ tsp white vinegar
Green food colouring (or blue and yellow)
Sprinkles (most supermarkets have a good selection)
For successful meringues, make sure your bowl and mixer are very clean – this helps the egg whites get as much volume as possible.
Preheat oven to 160C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Place egg whites in a mixing bowl. Add salt and beat until the egg whites form soft peaks when the beater is lifted up. Slowly add sugar with the beater running – a spoonful at a time until it is all added. Continue beating until the mixture is glossy and very thick. Add cornflour and vinegar and beat again. Add food colouring until you are happy with the colour.
Transfer the meringue mixture into a large ziplock bag and cut about 1-1.5cm off the corner with scissors. Squeeze the mixture towards the cut corner until it has no air bubbles and can be piped. Pipe the trees into spirals with 3 or four tiers and a point on top. Decorate with sprinkles.
Bake for 3 minutes at 160C and then reduce oven temperature to 120C. Cook 45 minutes or until meringues feel crisp to the touch. Store in an airtight container once cold – meringues will keep fresh for a week.
These can be eaten by themselves or with whipped cream and strawberries for a festive dessert.
