It has come to my attention that many crafty bloggers are also very creative in the kitchen.  They can cook, and they can cook well.  They enjoy cooking.  They do a lot of cooking.  They write blog posts about their cooking, and share recipes that they have often devised themselves.

I don’t really cook much.  Hubby is in charge of the main meals (we made that deal when we first bought our house; I do everything associated with the laundry) and although I am able to cook a decent meal, I don’t particularly enjoy doing so.  But one thing that I am very good at cooking is meringues.  Many of my friends call me the meringue queen.  I baked around 120 meringues for my cousin’s birthday party last year.  So surely it shouldn’t have been difficult for me to whip up a quick batch for Clare’s party? 

Clearly not.  Clare referred to these as biscuits, rather than meringues.  Even Stella, the tiny devourer of almost anything sweet, wouldn’t eat them.  I had made the fatal error of getting some yolk into the whites before they were whipped up.  Although everything still looked fine when I was beating the whites, once the sugar was added everything dissolved into a runny mess.  And the above “meringues” were the result.

Back to the drawing board.  The next batch were up to my usual standard.  Thank goodness.

Light and fluffy, with air and soft marshmallow in the middle.  All eaten up very quickly (many by me).  But I still think that I’d better stick to sewing and crochet.

Edited to add:

Someone actually wants the recipe!  In case anyone else does, here is the simple recipe I use for meringues.  It’s an adaptation of different ones I’ve read over the years, and works well with my electric oven.  Super quick and easy!

• eggs (I generally use four large eggs – you are only using the whites)
• 1/4 cup caster sugar per eggwhite (so if using four eggwhites, it’s one cup caster sugar)
• vanilla essence

1. Pre-heat the oven to 110 degrees Celsius (around 230 degrees Farenheit)
2. Separate the whites from the yolks (hopefully you’ll have another great recipe to use the yolks in, because you don’t need them for this one).
3. Beat the whites until they are nice and thick and hold stiff peaks.
4. Add the caster sugar to the whites one quarter of a cup at a time, beating well between each addition.
5. Beat in a couple of drops of vanilla essence.  You can also add a couple of drops of food colouring if you like.  The mixture should be nice and thick and glossy.
6. Spoon onto trays lined with baking paper.  Four eggs make around 24 meringues, depending on size.  Decorate with sprinkles or cachous if desired.
7. Bake for approx one hour and ten minutes.  Turn off the oven and let them cool.