Contributed by Sunlight
I love making these because they're very quick and it's such fun watching the meringues swelling in the microwave. You can make little sculptures from the mixture if you're feeling whimsical and watch them distort as they blow up. You can colour the mixture with vegetable food colouring. They're safe for kids to make supervised.
Just beat the white of a large egg until it is very stiff and peaks. If you're adding other ingredients to flavor such as ground nuts or coffee essence, put them in before the sugar. Then, gently fold in sifted icing sugar until the mixture is the consistency of soft modeling clay. Don't stir too vigorously or you'll take the air out of the egg.
Place small balls of the mixture on baking parchment or greaseproof paper and cook one at a time in the microwave and cook on medium (or medium-low on a high-powered microwave) until the mixture puffs up and is cooked. Don't leave them in too long or they will start to brown. Takes about 20-30 seconds per meringue, and they come out really crispy and light too.
The mixture can be piped to get that traditional meringue swirl shape or to make nests, but I would use a metal icing piper as the mixture is a bit stiff for a bag. It usually takes microwaving a couple to get the hang of it but the mixture makes so much it doesn't matter and you can still eat the failures.
This page last updated 08/192003/