Making French Meringue

Most of us know how to whip sugar and egg whites together, but since this multi-purpose meringue requires an extra folding step, I thought it would be worth a few photos. First, you’ll need to sift the powdered sugar and flour together:

Easy. Now set that bowl aside.

Place your egg whites in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whip and whip on high speed to soft peaks.

With the machine running, add the granulated sugar in a steady stream…

…then whip to stiff peaks, like so:

Now then, add the powdered sugar and flour mixture all at once…

…and fold it in with a large spatula.

It should look about like so:

This is half a batch. It’ll be a little grainy to the touch, but don’t worry, those sugar granules will vanish once the meringue is baked. As for what you do with this, it depends. Meringue mushrooms are a great application, but it can also be piped into layers for a multi-tiered pastry. Baking instructions for either of those applications are below.