Cookery for every household

To Shape the Meringues. — Two dessert-spoons, a palette knife, and a jug or basin of cold water will be required. Take up a spoonful of the meringue mixture in a wet spoon, and with a palette knife, also wet, smooth it quickly over, piling it high in the centre and pointed at the two ends. With the second spoon scoop the meringue out, and place it on the prepared tin or board. Or, the meringue mixture may be put into a forcing bag, and the shapes forced out on the tin. Leave a space of \ inch between each meringue, and sprinkle them with fine sugar. Place them in a very gentle oven until they are crisp and delicately tinted golden. Turn the paper, on which the meringues have been baked, upside down upon the table; moisten the paper on the back with a brush dipped in cold water ; 5 minutes later the meringues will come off easily. Make each meringue hollow by pressing with the finger on its centre, place them back on the tin, and put them again in the oven for a few minutes to dry. Whip the cream until thick, sweeten and flavour it. Fill the meringues with this, putting two pieces together, and pile them on a glass or silver dish. Notes. — In making meringues the stiff beating of the whites of eggs is essential, but it is equally essential that this beating should cease directly the right consistency is attained, or a broken curdled appearance will be the result, and the mixture will be close and heavy. As soon as the egg froth stands up in solid points on the withdrawal of the whisk, or will allow itself to be divided with a knife into two separate halves, stop beating. The oven will be suitable for cooking meringues when it has cooled down after other use, or when the fire is allowed to get quite low. One of the main factors in making meringues is their prolonged and thorough drying in a cool oven. Instead of baking them on paper, warm an ordinary baking tin, rub the bottom of it all over with white wax, and cook the meringues on that. Meringues may be stored in a tin and kept for use at any time. For the filling, any flavouring or liqueur may be added to the cream, or small pieces of fresh fruit may be mixed in ; or a little jam may be put in the meringue case first and then the cream. The cream may also be coloured pink with a little carmine. 2064. Mushroom Meringues (Champignons Meringues) Make the meringue mixture and prepare two tins as above. Put the meringue mixture into a forcing bag with a pipe J inch in diameter. Force it out on to one of the tins in pieces the size of the top of a mushroom. Then on to the other tin force an equal number of smaller pieces to represent the stalks. Dredge well with icing sugar, and bake in a very slow oven until set and of a fawn colour. When ready, remove the meringues from the oven, and make a small round hole in the bottom of the large ones. Brush the bottom over with white of egg, and dip in grated chocolate. Brush over the stalks also with white of egg, and dip them in chocolate. Fix them into the holes with a little white of egg and icing sugar. Whip some cream, and sweeten and flavour it to taste. Put it into a forcing bag, and force out on a crystal or china dish, arranging the meringues prettily on the top. 2065. Meringued Apples (Pommes Meringues) 6 or 7 apples. f Meringue. Sugar. Water. J 3 whites of eggs. Lemon juice. j £ lb. castor sugar.