There are many “rules” on how to make a good meringue, but for me the most important ones are:

1. Your bowl must be clean and free of fat residue – whether you use a Kenwood, Mixmaster, Kitchen Aid or Thermomix. So when using a Thermomix I always start with cleaning the bowl and my butterfly first (to ensure there is no fat residue under the blades or on the butterfly). To do this place your butterfly in TM bowl, fill with water to the 1 litre mark, add 30g white vinegar, and heat 10 minutes / Veroma / speed 2. When finished remove the butterfly, flick off the water and put aside, empty the bowl, wipe clean with kitchen paper and allow to cool (residual heat in the bowl will ensure it is dry which is also important).

2. Egg whites must be completely pure with no egg yolk in them … egg yolks = fat, which will give you the same result as fat smears in your bowl, meaning your egg whites will not whip to their full extent and will flop.

3. It is best to use either a castor sugar (fine ground sugar) or icing sugar (powdered sugar) as it dissolves more evenly in the meringue mix (I prefer to use caster sugar).

There are also two camps on whether you should use new or old (known as “aged”) egg whites … I am on the side of using “aged” whites. I came to this decision after extensive research, reading what chefs in general practice (Adriano Zumbo … the egg white king in my view, never uses fresh egg whites as he gets more volume with “aged” whites), and decided I would follow that practice too. So I save my egg whites in the freezer, and take them out a couple of days before I need them, leaving them in a covered container on the bench. If you don’t have frozen egg whites simply separate your eggs the day before you need them (make a custard, lemon curd, mayo, ice-cream, or an omelette in an Asian rice dish out of your yolks) and leave the whites in a covered container on the bench (not in the fridge).

I usually make my Pavlova or meringues late in the day (around 5pm) so that once cooked they can remain in the oven overnight, removing them the next morning. If you don’t have time to do this you will need to leave them in the oven for at least 3 hours to dry out, but they are definitely better left overnight if possible.

For this recipe you will need two large baking trays giving you 32 mini meringues. They will stay crisp in a sealed container for 3 to 4 days (possibly longer but we have eaten them in that time). They are perfect served with a cuppa and are a great alternative to offering chocolate at the end of a dinner meal.