Chocolate Meringue Pie Recipe - Grandma's Meringue Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why does my chocolate meringue pie get runny? ›

Why Meringue Pies Weep. As it turns out, undercooking and overcooking can both cause weeping meringue and unwanted moisture on top of your pie (aka beading). Overcooking meringue causes those little sugary drops of moisture on top of baked meringues.

Any meringue topping for a lemon meringue pie will tend to weep after a day or so as the pie needs to be kept in the fridge and the slightly humid environment of the fridge plus the damp surface of the lemon filling will cause some of the sugar in the meringue to liquefy and seep out.

Heat firms the pie meringue, and one that is baked longer at a lower temperature will hold up better than one baked briefly at a high temperature. As the meringue cools, the air in the bubbles contracts and causes slight shrinkage.

The bottom line: For smooth, stiff beaten egg whites that keep their shape, don't skip the cream of tartar. If you don't have cream of tartar, substituting 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar per egg white works almost as well. To avoid meringues that weep, don't skip the cream of tartar...

There are two things that can cause weeping is there could be slightly undissolved sugar crystals in the egg white. If you suspect this to be the case, try using powdered sugar. The second is a case of the meringue baking 4/10ths of a second too long! Well, maybe not that precise, but even the slightest over-baking.

A secret ingredient: corn starch

Corn starch is composed of long molecules that it is believed insert themselves between egg white proteins to prevent them from clotting too much while meringue is baking.

Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold. This will affect your meringue's crispness, as well as making it more likely to collapse or weep beads of sugar. As my meringue guru Gary Mehigan advises: “If you over whip the egg whites you cannot fix it.

Add 1 tsp. of vanilla and ½ tsp. cream of tartar before you begin beating the egg whites. You can learn how to make meringue without cream of tartar, but adding cream of tartar helps stabilize the meringue and prevent it from weeping, so we recommend using it.

Acid. Whether it be vinegar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, or a combination, an acid will greatly improve the structure of meringue. Acid not only helps meringue whip up and aerate more quickly, it also keeps it stable. Without acid, meringue is more likely to collapse either during or after mixing.

How do you save a runny meringue? ›

Add an extra whipped egg white: If whisking the meringue for a longer time doesn't solve the issue, you can try folding in an extra whipped egg white. This additional egg white can help stabilize the mixture and improve its texture [1].

Fixing runny meringue is usually as simple as whisking more air into the mixture and waiting for it to develop stiff peaks. You can also add another egg white or a teaspoon of cornstarch to get the mix to the consistency you need.