Meringue shrinkage

17 years ago

DH makes a great chocolate meringue pie, which we insist he make for Thanksgiving every year. Well, he's not wanting to this year because he says it doesn't travel well because the meringue shrinks and gets mushy. Now this is a pie he's made for the last several Thanksgivings, all of which we've traveled for, so I don't know why he's saying this now. I've never noticed the problem myself. So, my question is, how do you keep the meringue from shrinking when you make the pie a day ahead? I'm considering this an emergency if it means we can't have chocolate meringue pie for Thanksgiving. ;-)

Sally

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Comments (8)

lindac
17 years ago
Be sure when you apply the merangue that it touches the pie shell on all edges....
As for "gets mushy"...make sure it's cooked enough...and realize that merangue just does that when maed ahead of time.
Could he make the pie and take the egg whites and sugar and a bowl and beaters and make the merangue on site?
Linda C
wanda662
17 years ago
Or maybe put whipped cream on top instead?
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sally2_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
I was thinking whipped cream, too, but he uses the egg yolks in the filling, and doesn't want to waste the egg whites.

Linda, how long do egg whites keep, especially those you want to make into meringue?

Thanks,

Sally
lindac
17 years ago
Refrigerated? Easily a week....and I think longer....but don't know for sure.
gram3167
17 years ago
What kind of a chocolate pie does he make with meringue. Sounds interesting.
colleenoz
17 years ago
So put the egg whites in the freezer and make a pavlova another day!
coconut_nj
17 years ago
Yes, egg whites freeze easily. Put in ice cube trays to freeze then bag so you can take out as many as needed. Or, since it's probably only a few, just put in a baggie and mark how many it is on the bag.

Btw, aside from making sure the meringue touches the crust all around, you should also put the meringue on when the filling is still hot.
sally2_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks, everyone. I'll tell DH. Here's the recipe for the chocolate pie, for those that might be interested. It's from the cookbook, "The State Fair of Texas Prize Winning Recipes" and the recipe is by Judy Sutton.

Judy's Famous Chocolate Pie

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
Dash of salt
3 heaping teaspoons Hershey's Cocoa (DH changes this to 3 heaping TABLESPOONS)
2 cups milk
3 Tablespoons butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix sugar, flour, salt and cocoa in saucepan; add milk and heat until mix begins to thicken. remove from heat, add butter and beaten egg yolks and return to heat and cook until mixture is thick. Remove from heat, add vanilla and pour into cooked pie crust.

Meringue:

3 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla

Beat egg whites until stiff; add sugar and vanilla and contiue to beat until glossy. Spread on top of pie and place in 325 degree oven until brown on top.

Sally

Meringue shrinkage

Comments (8)

lindac

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Meringue shrinkage

Comments (8)

lindac

wanda662

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lindac

gram3167

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