Brown Sugar Meringues are so yummy, would you like to learn how? Hi, it’s Jillian here with April's Delicious Bites recipe. I was visiting my brother in the country a few weeks ago and I started thinking about the change of season. I know for most of you, spring is just around the corner, whilst here in Sydney we’re about to head into autumn. For some reason the move into autumn is a little more obvious in the country than in the city. The tomatoes and figs are just coming to an end while the pumpkins are sprouting like mad.

When I’m in the country I love visiting the chickens. We have a bit of a chat and I give them a bowl of kitchen scraps before collecting the day’s eggs. With all those lovely fresh eggs at my disposal I decided to make meringues. Meringues were one of the first things I learned to bake and I remember packing a few of them into my school lunch box. I changed up my old recipe a little by adding some brown sugar to the mix. The brown sugar adds a slightly different taste to the finished product and the meringues are a little chewier than regular meringues.

Meringues are pretty simple to make as long as you follow a few basic rules:

• When you separate the eggs make sure there is no yolk in the mixture or else the egg whites won't whip.
• I don’t have a copper bowl so I use a glass or metal bowl which I wash and dry just before making the meringue mixture. Any lingering grease or water will stop the egg whites from whipping nicely.
• Meringues need to be cooked at a fairly low temperature. I’ve given 120°C/250°F as a suggestion ‘cos my old gas oven can’t go any lower than that.
• You can use the leftover yolks to make ice cream, custard or some homemade lemon curd to serve with the meringues.

Okay, here's how to make 'em. Ready?

Brown Sugar Meringues

You will need:

2 egg whites (from 60 gm eggs) 1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar minus 1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Prepare

Preheat oven to 120°C/250°F Lightly grease an oven tray and dust with cornflour (corn starch) or line with baking paper. In a small bowl combine both of your sugars. In a medium size bowl using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the sugar dissolves and the meringue turns very glossy. Gently stir in the vanilla. Using a large spoon, drop dollops of meringue onto the prepared baking sheet. You should get 8 - 10 medium size meringues from this mixture. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes for Pavlova like meringues or 1 1/4 hours for crisp meringues. You can leave the meringues to cool in the switched off oven.

Carefully remove the meringues from the baking tray and place on a wire rack. When completely cold, store the meringues in an airtight container until ready to serve. You can eat them as they are or serve them like mini Pavlovas topped with lemon curd, cream and berries, fresh from the garden.

If you'd like the recipe for the homemade lemon curd, let me know and I'll post it in the comments section. 

I hope you enjoyed this month’s Delicious Bites recipe. I’ll be back again next month with another recipe for you. - Jillian

(photos:  jillian lieboff)