This recipe isn’t really a recipe – it’s just meringue!
But it is just so cute yet so simple and perfect for Easter.
Now, first of all, to those in the UK, you are probably wondering where the cookie part comes in? Well, in America, the recipe books I have anyway, cookies are not just the beige coloured, chocolate chipped circles that we know. They class allsorts as cookies from said meringues to palmiers, brandy snaps even lemon bars.
Hence, I have called these meringue cookies, but just call them meringues if you wish. The best part, I think is the design – they look identical to a fried egg! Just by piping them into a squidgy splat shape and colouring some extra meringue yellow and piping on a yolk, these are great fun.
They are delicate, as they are piped quite thin. You can if you wish, dip the bottoms into some melted chocolate for extra flavour, but I liked them just as they are.
If you can whisk egg whites, then you can make these.
My oven must be a bit skewwhiff as my top tray of meringues browned ever so slightly, whereas the bottom row stayed perfectly white.
The secret is to keep your oven as low as possible. I’ve even heard of people keeping the door ajar by jamming it open with a wooden spoon. I didn’t try that myself – perhaps I should’ve? Hey-ho – they are still edible and so cute for Easter!
Here's how I made them...(I've just realised as I'm typing they also look a bit like daisies!!)
Fried Egg Meringue Cookies
Meringues that look just like a fried egg! Cuisine: Dessert Category: Cookies Yields: 18 cookies
Prep Time: 30 Mins Cook Time: 1 Hr 20 Mins Total Time: 1 Hr 50 Mins
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon, salt
- 260 grams, granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon, cornflour
- 1 teaspoon, white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract
- Yellow food colouring
- Pre-heat the oven to 100C.
- Line two large baking sheets with greaseproof paper. With a pencil, draw fried egg splat shaped on the sheet, slightly apart. I got 9 shapes on each of my sheets of paper. Flip the paper over and set the trays aside.
- In the bowl of a food mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg white and salt, until white and peaks form. Keep whisking as you add the sugar, tablespoon at a time. Lastly add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla.
- Take a couple of large dessert spoonfuls of the meringue mix and place into a smaller bowl. Add yellow food colouring and mix until you get an egg yolk type color.
- Transfer the white meringue mix to a piping bag and pipe into the shapes you had drawn on the baking paper (ensuring you have turned the paper over!). Smooth each ‘egg white’ with an off-set spatula.
- Place the yellow meringue mix into a piping bag and pipe a yolk sized circle in the center of each white. Smooth any raised tip with a wet finger.
- Place both baking trays in the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes. Swap and rotate each tray halfway through baking.
- Remove when the cookies are firm to the touch and are no longer wet.
- Allow to cool slightly before carefully peeling from the paper.
- (Dip the bases into melted chocolate at this stage, if you so wish.)
- There you have fried egg meringue cookies.
Happy Easter everyone!
