Rosemary Swiss Meringue

Make that- Award Winning Rosemary Swiss Meringue

Jump to Recipe

Picture it: you, in an absurd burst of confidence, after moving twice, getting married, moving again, and (minus the frankly unbelievable task of baking all of the desserts [yes, plural] for your own wedding) not having baked to any serious extent in all that time, have decided to enter yourself into a local baking competition. And then got accepted into said competition. It’s the week of the competition, and you’ve just learned that the gas in your oven clearly wants you to fail, because it has refused to work properly. You can’t pick something else to bake, because you had to lock in your entry when you applied. Do you:

A. Cry

B. Panic, then cry

C. Panic, then cry, then think of the best way to drop out

D. Panic, then cry, then think of the best way to drop out, then decide to make everything in the toaster oven because you need more stress in your life

E. Panic, then cry, then think of the best way to drop out, then decide to make everything in the toaster oven because you need more stress in your life, then sit at the table, hollow-eyed and silent and literally up to your elbows in meringue, trying desperately to come up with a backup plan that still aligns with your original bake while your third attempt sits in the toaster oven, deciding your fate

Well, I don’t know what you would do. It may already be clear to you that I went with option E. It was quite a week. But it worked! My Blood Orange Bars won Best Bars, babyyyy! Don’t tell anyone, but one of the judges told me that if there’d been an overall winner, I would’ve won that, too.

behold: lavender shortbread, blood orange curd, rosemary meringue

I would absolutely love to go through each part of that recipe with you here. I am not going to do that for a few reasons. It would take forever, I want to keep this post simple and to the point (too late), and I took no pictures of the process because I was freaking the hell out the entire time. Also, the world is crashing down around us, neighbors are being abducted, the person in the White House has started turning his reign of terror onto the rest of the world, and more and more anti-trans laws and being written up every day. I don’t really have the spoons to think through the haze of All the Things and remember how I ended up getting the curd to work.

So we’re going to focus on just the meringue today. We’re not going to get deep into the science, because, well…see above. If you do want to learn some cool stuff (do it! I’m peer pressuring you into learning!), this is a really good place to start.

There are three main types of meringue: French, Swiss, and Italian. To make French meringue, whisk together equal parts standard white sugar and egg whites at room temperature. This has to be baked in order to keep its shape and to be safe for consumption (if you’re starting with most eggs found in US grocery stores, which are unpasteurized). Italian meringue involves heating sugar and water together in a saucepan to approximately 240°F while beginning to whip the egg whites separately. Once the temperature has been reached and the eggs are the correct amount of foamy (this has to be timed so it happens more or less simultaneously), the sugar syrup is poured into the whisking egg whites. As one might imagine, this can get treacherous with a tremor and fingers that dislocate, so I tend to stay away. Swiss meringue is made by slowly heating sugar and eggs together over a double boiler until they reach at least 160°F, which is needed to pasteurize the eggs, then whipping on high until very stiff peaks are formed. This type of meringue does not have to be baked, but can be torched with a handy little kitchen blowtorch, which gives it major points in my book.

The recipe I used here is a Swiss meringue. I have no photos of the process due to, as I said, The Panic. But I’m going to take you through it as best I can. I make meringue in a stand mixer. because I don’t have the strength or stamina to whip it up by hand. It’s definitely possible to use a hand mixer or even just a regular whisk, but keep in mind you’re going to need to whisk at high speed for several minutes, and it’s going to get dense. This is a two spoon recipe if you have a stand mixer, and a definite three spooner without. There’s minimal chopping, lots of whisking, measuring temperatures, and hanging out with a hot pan at the stove for a while.

For Swiss meringue, you’ll need egg whites, sugar, a pinch of salt, and a small amount of cream of tartar (it’s technically optional, but I’m going to explain why I used it for this recipe in particular in a little bit). It’s one of those recipes that’s infinitely scaleable, because science is the best; a blessedly simple 2:1 ratio. You just want to make sure you have roughly twice as much sugar as egg white. That’s it. If you have half a cup of egg whites, use a cup of sugar. If you have a cup of egg whites, use two cups of sugar. You can be precise and weigh everything out, but I’ve done it without a scale as many times as not (because, say it with me now, some days we have more spoons than other days), and it works great either way.

We will now be switching from standard Swiss meringue to Rosemary Swiss Meringue. It is worth making, I promise. One of the judges, after reminding all of the other judges that they collectively needed to have their poker faces on, tried it and went, “oh my god, that’s amazing.” He and his judging partner came to my table last, so that was the last thing he tried all morning. His judging partner called him on his distinct lack of poker face, and he responded “I know, I know, but listen- I’m not a meringue guy. I’m really not. But when it’s done right, when it’s done this right, you just have to say something.” Truly, I could not have dreamt a better response.

Instead of using plain white sugar, I used rosemary sugar. All that means is, I put a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in a jar, filled that jar up with plain white sugar, and then let that sugar infuse for a week, shaking it twice a day.* Ideally, I’d’ve wanted it to be two weeks, but as we know, that was the least of my concerns. This is most of the logic behind the cream of tartar. Rosemary has a ton of oil, and some of that oil is going to go from the sugar, into the egg whites. Fats, including oils, are the enemy of meringue. Cream of tartar is an acid, which supplies stability. Ordinarily, Swiss meringue should be stable enough on its own, but in this case, I like the cream of tartar as a little stability boost. Especially since that’s not the last of the rosemary we’ll be seeing at this party.

To actually make the meringue (get to the point, Kathleen, ugh), start by putting an inch or two of water in a saucepan on the stove. We’re making a double boiler. You might already have a nice fancy one that comes in a set of nice fancy pots and pans. Or you might be like me, and just try to engineer whatever is best for the recipe in the moment. When I’m making a double boiler for chocolate, I usually chose a saucepan that might be a little bit deeper with a smaller diameter, so I can rest my bowl right on it. But for eggs, I like to use one that’s a little shallower and wider, and make a sort of pedestal out of foil to set in the middle, so the bowl can sit on that and not touch the sides of the hot pan. It’s just personal preference, I honestly don’t think it makes a difference. The main thing is that the water CANNOT touch the bottom of the bowl. Only steam. Or you’re going to end up with some very strange scrambles eggs.

The point is, build your double boiler however you want, I’m not your boss.

While the water is coming to a gentle simmer, put rosemary sugar, egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar into the bowl that you’re going to be whipping them in. For my purposes, that’s the bowl of my stand mixer. Stir them together until they’re combined, but don’t start whipping them up yet. Now is also a great time to pull up a chair to your workspace if you haven’t done that already.

Either by hand or in a food processor or blender, finely chop some fresh rosemary. The amount is going to depend on preference. I add leaves (are rosemary bits leaves?) from 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, the size you can get in those little containers at the grocery store. Make sure they’re chopped, not powdered. If they’re completely obliterated, the balance will be off, the rosemary flavor will be overwhelming, and the overall effect will be underwhelming.

Add the bowl to the double boiler situation. Gently stir everything together with a flexible spatula. Occasionally press some of the goo (gross, sorry) to the side of the bowl to see of you can feel the sugar granules. The goal is to fully dissolve and homogenize everything. Slowly heat everything until it reaches 170°F. But wait, you might be saying, didn’t you say 160°F before? Yes! I did say 160°F before! Gold star for paying attention in class! 160°F is the safety threshold. 170°F is for extra stable, extra springy deliciousness. Just make sure it doesn’t get past 180°F, because that’s the land of curdling, we don’t like it there.

Once you hit your temperature, carefully and quickly take your bowl to your mixer and immediately start to whisk on high speed. You’re looking for very stiff peaks. You’ll notice it’ll start to come away from the sides of the bowl and gather closer to the whisk. Now is the time to add the chopped rosemary. Just chuck it all in at once and whisk it through for another few seconds. This is adding more oils in, so we’re extra thankful for the existence of cream of tartar.

And that’s it! It’s ready to pipe, or spread, or eat with a spoon. Torch it or don't torch it, either way is incredible. It’s great on anything in the citrus or berry family, or in the pumpkin/squash family. Maybe propose a baking competition in your community just so you can make this and win.

trying desperately to figure out what designs to pipe

*If you don’t have the spoons to make rosemary sugar, please don’t worry too much about it. Still include the cream of tartar. It’ll taste great with the just the rosemary added at the end!

---

Rosemary Swiss Meringue:

🥄🥄 (🥄🥄🥄 if hand whisking)

• 1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 eggs)

• 1 cup rosemary sugar (white sugar infused with fresh rosemary sprigs over the course of at least two weeks)

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. A hand mixer or regular whisk can be used, but it will add an extreme amount of effort. Mix the ingredients together, but do not whisk them yet.

2. Place the bowl over a lightly simmering saucepan to create a double boiler. Gently mix with a spatula or spoon while slowly bringing the temperature of the mixture up to 170-175°F.

3. Once it reaches the proper temperature, take it back to the stand mixer and begin whisking on high immediately.

4. Once stiff peaks have formed, add the chopped fresh rosemary and continue to whisk for another 30 seconds to a minute.