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How to Make Meringue Nests
A step-by-step guide to making homemade meringue nests, perfect for making beautiful mini pavlovas. Recipe VIDEO below.
Active Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 8 nests
INGREDIENTS
- 2 large egg whites - I often use the cartons of egg white so I don’t have to find a use for the leftover yolks, in which case you’d need 70g.
- 100 g caster sugar
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the meringue
- Pre-heat your oven to 100ºC/80ºC fan.
- Put your 2 egg whites into a large bowl and whisk on a low speed until foamy. Once foamy, increase the speed to medium until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
- Add the caster sugar (100g) a tablespoon at a time and whisk until combined. You’ll now have a lovely stiff, glossy meringue.
Pipe the meringue nests
- Line your baking tray with greaseproof paper or non-stick baking sheet.
- Put you meringue into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
- Start by piping a dot in the centre of your meringue nest, then in one continuous motion go around the dot twice to make a bigger circle, and then go around again on top of the outer circle to make the sides.
- Repeat until you’ve piped all 8 nests. Don’t worry if they’re not completely perfect – that’s what makes them look homemade, and you can always cover any mishaps with plenty of cream and fruit.
Bake the meringue nests
- Place the meringue nests into the oven and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Once cooked turn off the oven and DON’T open the door. Leave the meringues in the oven until it has cooled completely and then take them out (the slow cooling helps to prevent the nests from cracking). I usually make my meringues in the evening and then leave them to cool overnight.
- Remove them from the oven and serve.
NOTES
Add additional time to cool your meringue nests to the total time stated (I prefer to cool mine slowly overnight). These meringue nests are suitable for freezing and there’s no need to defrost them before using them.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Calories: 53kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 17mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 75IU | Iron: 0.1mg
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.