Since it is made with sugar syrup that has been taken to the soft ball stage, Italian meringue won’t weep and deflate upon sitting like other meringues, which makes it Perfect for topping a pie.NOTE: All proportions are based on weight and not volume.
¼part corn syrup(the corn syrup helps to keep your sugar syrup from crystallizing)
Water
heavy pinchfine salt
flavoring(vanilla, liqueur, etc)
Instructions
Put the whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment.
Put the sugar, corn syrup and enough water to make things wet in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stove.
Stir to get things going, then bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid or a piece of plastic wrap and let boil for 2-3 minutes to clean the sides of the pan of any errant sugar crystals. Take off lid/carefully remove plastic wrap.
Plop in your candy thermometer. No more stirring. You’re shooting for 244 degrees, F. (You can go to 240, but I’m partial to 244).
When the sugar syrup reaches about 230 degrees, start whipping your whites at medium speed and then increase to high speed once they get a little foamy. Ideally, they’ll be at medium peaks when your sugar reaches 240-244. You might need to play around with this a little bit.
When the sugar mixture is about 2 degrees cooler than you want it, carefully remove from the stove, turn the burner off, and turn the mixer speed down to medium.
Steadily pour a thin stream of the sugar syrup down the inside of the bowl. Pour slowly enough that you don’t splash syrup on the whisk, thereby shooting molten sugar all over the inside of the bowl and not into your meringue.
When all the syrup is in, turn the mixer back up to high speed and whip until cool. Add flavorings, and there you have it. Italian Meringue. Yay!
Notes
USES
frost a cake (use a torch to brown the meringue)
top a pie (again, a torch comes in handy here)
whip in extracts to flavor it
whip in sifted cocoa powder or some chocolate syrup, to taste, for a chocolate meringue
whip cool butter into the meringue, a bit at a time, to make Italian buttercream