Every time i've tried to make meringue it never turns out right. Instead of being crispy and white it turns into a brown sticky goo.

I've beaten the egg whites on fast speed, added the sugar slowly turned down to a medium speed until I get those lovely stiff white peaks. So far so good. Then after that it's all a disaster.

I've tried baking it on a low heat and it never seems to cook or harden up. When I turn up the heat it goes brown. Either way it's a rubbery sticky mess and if left out it just deflates like a tyre into this rubbery goo. I've even tried leaving it in the oven as it cools down to dry them out but all that happens is, when I come back to it, it's all dissolved into a watery mess.

I want to get meringue nests like you buy in the bakery. Crispy and white and dry inside all the way through.

I'm following the cooking instructions to the letter and tried various online recipes. I'm pulling my hair out on this. Where am I going wrong?

Do you add corn flour and a dash of vinegar too ?

I've tried it both ways with and without. Same results. Isn't corn flour meant if you want chewy meringue? I don't want that kind of meringue. I want the dry crispy ones you get in cake shops not the type you use in pavlova.

I just noticed that you want them dry inside. You don't need to add the above then, but they need an awful long time in a very low oven. I'll get back to you with time and temperature.

ETA
8 egg whites
500 grs icing sugar.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Then put the bowl over a hot water bad and add the icing sugar bit by bit, while beating.

Take off the heat and spread onto an oven tray with baking paper. Smaller dollops or the bigger meringue like for pavlova.

Bake at 100 °C for about 60 minutes. I would check regularly to see they are doing what they need to be doing. Increase cooking time if necesary but NOT the temperature.

Apologies read the edit. Yes i've also got a fan assisted electric oven. Not sure what temperature and time. If you got a fool proof recipe that would be great. Ta!

Fan assisted electric oven : 75 to 85 ° C max.

Thanks. I was using caster sugar before. I guess icing sugar is what makes it go hard. I'll give it a try and let you know if it's worked. Thanks.

I seem to recall that soft and sticky meringues are caused by the sugar not dissolving properly - so the change to icing sugar might be all that's needed

Glass bowls only - no matter how much you clean a plastic one the oily residue remains and ruins the meringue

I alway rub my bowls with half a lemon before starting with meringue (and use my stainless steel kenwood bowl)

It looks like your Meringues are like my yorkshire puddings. Our nemesis. My mother inlaw cant make them fail if she tries, yet i do everything identical to her and they fail.

She's not going to give all her secrets away to you!
Your'e only an in-law

Make them last thing at night and leave them in overnight (oven off obviously) with the door open slightly, this will help dry them out.
Marks and spencers merigue nests are very good btw

I'm glad you posted this OP, I have always had the same problem as you but have never tried icing sugar as was suggested so will be giving it a go!

Funny you should say that as i've too been struggling with yorkshires until recently. Couldn't get the mix quite right. I was frightened to use too much egg. Firstly only use lard. Apparently other types or oil don't get hot enough. Next mix equal amounts of flour egg and milk.

Got a pirex mixing jug yeah? Well try 200ml of plain flour then add 3 large eggs or enough to bring it up to the 400ml mark then top up with milk to the 600ml mark so it's all a ratio of 1,1,1.

Thing I was doing wrong was not getting the mix right and not using lard. Also get your oven as hot as possible. Mine will go up to 230 so set it as such and put your pan in and let it get really hot so the lard is almost smoking. I've tried olive oil or other types of oil or butter and it just doesn't work.

Rub the pan with lard and drop a bit in the middle of the pan to melt over the bottom. Let it get hot enough to smoke. Then take your 600ml (1/3rd flour, 1/3rd egg and 1/3rd milk mix) and tip it in and close the oven door. Don't open the oven door after this. After about 20 mins it should rise really high and be crispy. It's hit and miss but this has been the best results for me.

Hope it helps. Let me know if it works. It's just a pity people can't just print out a fool proof recipe instead of being so vague.

I must say i've tried this recipe a few times and it doesn't always work perfect but one thing to remember is don't use chilled milk from the fridge or if you do let it stand to get up to room temperature before adding to the pan and also after whisking let it settle. i.e no bubbles. Hopefully this might help.

Share the knowledge.

I'm not sure what you mean by oven off. So you mean no heat at all just air drying in the oven or what? If oven is off then why not just leave out to dry? My experience of this is they just collapse into a wet goo. I tried leaving the oven off to cool before but when I came to it the following morning it was just a pool of liquid in the pan. Do you mean leave in a hot but cooling oven that's cooling down? Please explain.

Also can you please explain the glass bowl thing.

I make the mix in a really clean dry steel mixing bowl then transfer to a grease proof sheet on a baking tray. I portion them out into scoops with nice neat white peaks but if I put it on 100 to 150 they turn brown and go sticky goo like warm marsh mellow. If I do it on a low heat and leave it in the oven overnight I wake up to a condensed tray of sloppy wet mess. All the meringues have just melted into one another and look like a tray of raw egg slopping around. It's usually a bin job.

No matter which way I cook them they always turn out like melted marsh mellow.

Thanks for those tips 'The Wizard', i shall make a toad in the hole again soon, they seem more resilient to my techniques. You mention some interesting points. The bubbles being one thing. The cool milk is one of those things my in-law said doesn't matter, just like letting it rest. I tell you she couldn't ruin yorkshires if she tried.


I watched her make them and took notes!

Trust me cold milk does make a difference. Otherwise why bother getting the pan smoking hot if all you're gonna do it cool it right down with ice cold milk? It might still work but not as good as using warmed up milk. I've had mine rising as much as 4 inches high using my technique. Let me know how you get on.

Grrrrrr i'm getting really annoyed now.

Tried is again and still no good.

Here's what I did. Got a glass bowl and separated 5 medium eggs to 115g of caster sugar and 115g of icing sugar. Followed the BBC recipe to the letter bearing in mind what people have said on here. I spooned it out the mixture into piles on a grease proof baking tray and put it in my oven which was pre heated to 90 degrees. I had them on for 1hour 45 minutes and after that time they showed no signs of even cooking at all so I upped the temp to 100 and gave them 2 more hours. Bearing in mind the recipe said they should only take 1 hour 45 max, mine had been in 3 and a half hours. When I took them out, all the sugar had oozed out and gone into a sticky caramel mess on the baking tray. Meanwhile my meringues were slightly pale coffee coloured and crispy on the outside but when I tried to get them off the grease paper they were stuck like glue. The insides were sticky like warm gooey marshmallow. If I leave them in the oven overnight they'll just turn brown, burn or go funny. I've already tried it. I've even tried leaving them in the oven with the heat off and they just end up dissolving into a watery mess.

What am I not doing right?

Are you whipping your egg whites so that they're stiff before you add the sugar? You then add the sugar 1tbsp at a time whilst whisking until the mixture has a shine to it. Be careful not to overwhisk as well as this can cause it to separate.

Maybe you should have used the recipe I so kindly wrote down for you.

When I make meringues I always cook them at about 90 deg C for 4 hours but open the oven door ever half hour or so to let out the steam. It is surprising the amount of moisture that comes out during the drying.
Rather than greaseproof paper use baking parchment much less likely to stick.

The only way I've ever managed to get meringues like the shop bought ones all nice n white and dry right through was when I worked as a chef.
I used to make my meringue the day before I needed it, pipe it out into the various shapes and leave the trays overnight in the hot cupboards we used to keep the food hot in before it went onto the servery at mealtimes.

At home I've always followed Delia's method, and they've always turned out perfect, just not able to store as they're still a bit chewy on the inside and perfect for pavlova

And did you use caster or icing sugar because I read the ingredients on the dry shop ones yesterday and it just says sugar and powdered egg. Doesn't specify what kind of sugar.

Does anyone have any idea why the sugar keeps oozing out when I cook it slowly? I put them on a baking tray and the sugar came out the bottom to make a sticky gluey mess and it stuck the meringues to the tray and a couldn't get them off. I haven't got any parchment paper. I've tried the icing sugar recipe and that was just the same. When I mixed the sugar I did so a tiny bit at a time and I even felt it between my fingers to make sure it had dissolved and it wasn't still gritty. I've done everything everyone's suggested. I just can't understand why i can't get them like the dry shop bought ones unless they use special cooking techniques like a special oven that's on all day or something.

I did but I halved it so only used 250g icing sugar and I used 5 egg whites as I only had medium eggs not large. Same result. I don't think it's the mix that's the issue I think it's the cooking.

After an hour they looked the right colour but only the outside was crispy. As soon as I touched one it was sticky inside. Left them a further hour and by now I realised it wasn't working again. This is when I have up and tried the half and half recipe. I don't think I can before to have my oven on overnight. I may as well buy the shop bought ones.