Swiss Meringue

A Swiss Meringue is a fantastic technique for any pie calling for a meringue. It’s made by heating egg whites and sugar together, slowly over a double boiler, and then whipping it up in an electric mixer until it’s fluffy. It’s a stable meringue and perfect for piping.

Swiss Meringue Recipe

This Swiss Meringue recipe is not only a superb topping for a pie, but can be used for making meringue cookies. Eat it straight from the spoon, too, for a quick treat! Really, it’s that good! Plus, making this will have you feeling very accomplished because you not only made a meringue, but you made a Swiss Meringue, which sounds oh so fancy!

What is a Meringue?

A meringue is a mixture of egg whites and sugar that is beaten until light and fluffy. A meringue has many uses. It can be used to make cookies, or a pavlova, by baking up the meringue for a long period of time. It can be turned into buttercream by adding chunks of butter to the warm meringue while it is beating. Or, it can be used to top a pie. You can also take the meringue one step further by torching it, or placing it under the broiler. This turns the meringue a beautiful dark color and gives it a toasted flavor.

Methods of Making a Meringue

There are three common ways to make a meringue.

1. The French method is likely the one most people think of. Raw egg whites are whipped up with an electric mixer and the sugar is slowly added to it until it is light and fluffy. This is the easiest method, but the least stable, and it leaves the egg whites raw.
2. The Italian method is by far the most difficult. A sugar syrup is cooked up until it reaches a “soft ball stage” of 235ºF. It is then slowly added to beaten egg whites, until it is light and fluffy. This is a very stable mixture, and the egg whites have been cooked.
3. The Swiss method is somewhere in between the above two. The Swiss method is made by cooking egg whites and sugar together over a double boiler until it reaches 160ºF, or until it is thickened and all the sugar has dissolved. Next, the mixture is beaten with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. The egg whites are cooked through and safe to consume as is, and it is wonderfully stable and has a great texture.

Ingredients

• Egg Whites
• Salt
• Sugar
• Cream of Tartar
• Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Beans

Special Tools Needed:

• Electric Mixer (Stand Mixer preferred)
• Thermometer (not totally essential, but useful)

How To Make a Swiss Meringue

First, you are going to set up a double boiler: This means to fill a pot with some water at the bottom to create a steam bath to slowly cook whatever is in the bowl on top.  I use the bowl for my electric mixer and set it on top of a small pot. A small pot works best because it only heats the bottom of the bowl and not the sides, which I find useful for preventing any crystalized sugar.

Next, whisk together all of the ingredients of the meringue in the bowl of your mixer. Whisk them until they are a little frothy and then set them over the pot of simmering water.

You’re going to cook the egg whites with the sugar until they reach a temperature of 160ºF. This cooks the eggs enough so they are safe to eat and helps make a stable meringue. To do this, set the bowl over the steaming water. Alternate between whisking the mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. You want to be whisking the egg whites to ensure they evenly cook, and don’t scramble. Just be sure none of the sugar has climbed up too high on the side of the bowl before it has a chance to dissolve. This runs the risk of cooking the sugar to the side of the bowl which could result in a grainy meringue. This is why you alternate between whisking and scraping down the side of the bowl to make sure all the sugar dissolves. Whisk and scrape, whisk and scrape.

Cook until egg whites reach a temperature at 160°F, which takes roughly between 8 and 10 minutes, depending on the size of your pot below the bowl. I find it useful to use an instant read thermometer because it reads the temperature quickly. If you are really stuck and don’t have a thermometer, cook the egg whites until the sugar has fully dissolved and the mixture is thickened and started to get glossy.

Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and add the optional scraped vanilla bean. Whip the cooked egg whites on medium high speed, until the meringue becomes glossy and begins to pull away from the sides. You’ll also notice the bowl has cooled down significantly and this helps you know the meringue is ready. This takes roughly 8 minutes.

At this point, the meringue is done! You can pipe it to make cookies or a pavlova! Top your pie and torch it! Use it on ice cream. Or eat it right up.  There are so many options!

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