M for Meringue

B-e-a-utiful

I swear, I thought this Meringue was going to be the death of me. Overall, meringue is stupid and I give props to those poor bakers who have to make it every day. Sure, before this I had seen and heard of a meringue, but had never made or tasted it. When throwing around ideas for each letter around the dinner table, I stupidly suggested to make a meringue, my mom agreed, saying "Oh yeah that would be such a challenge, I've never made one before, but I hear it's hard," and me, being naive and inexperienced, told myself I would do it, and boy did that go smoothly... Here are some tips I learned from this terrible, terrible experience. First, legitimately read over the entire recipe. Before I started, my dad told me that, and I said oh yeah I did already....lies. If I had seriously read it, instead of skimming over it once or twice, I would have realized that the recipe was very vague, misleading, and hard to understand. Secondly, just know that you are going to make a huge mess, so do it way before anyone else needs the kitchen, unlike me who tried to make it 30 minutes before dinner. Next, have someone in the kitchen with you if you get stressed easily, if it weren't for my mom to calm me down, I would have thrown that meringue out the window, because the meringue wasn't coming together right and if the lemon filling wasn't hot when I topped it with meringue, it would be ruined. Which means, if the meringue didn't work, I would have had to make the ENTIRE recipe over again and that would not make me happy. Lastly, the recipe is not law, for mine told me to whip the meringue for 4 minutes and it will get stiff, I whipped mine for 7 minutes straight, and it didn't stiffen, which is why I stormed off. Prepare everything ahead of time, try to measure everything out in seperate bowls, because this recipe is very fast-paced adn stressful. Lastly, just realize that you will make a huge mess in your kitchen when making this. 

Separate the yolks and whites for the filling and meringue

This is just an example of preparing before starting.

Starting the meringue, still happy. That will soon change....

Giving the meringue a death stare.

When I finally finished, it was like a weight lifted of my shoulders. Jeez did I hate that thing. But it's over now and it's in my belly. Overall, everyone liked it. My sister made the good observation of stating it's like key lime pie, but better, because the lemon filling was not as tart. But it was a little runny and overflowed, which is why I baked it on top of a baking sheet.

P.S. Don't touch your hand to the top to see if it is cooled, the meringue will stick to your entire palm. Just trust me on this.

Until next time, be proud of your sweet teeth and never forget to ask "What's for dessert?"