Cookbook challenge, week 12: Mini meringues

The theme for this week is eggs, and I decided to do meringues from a compilation of my nanna's recipes, called 'Irene's Favourites'. This was put together in her memory by a craft group at her church, and cooking from it is a nice way to remember her.

I've never made meringues (or anything similar) before. It was easier than I thought - apart from beating the egg whites by hand! I tried using my old-school Tupperware piping set to make interesting patterns but to no avail - either my egg whites or mix were too sloppy, or the piping tips too small (does anyone know?). So I ended up just experimenting with shapes instead.

I made a half batch of the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 eggs whites
8 oz sugar (I used caster)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in sugar, vanilla and vinegar.
Place spoonfuls onto an oven paper-lined tray and cook in slow oven (I used 130ºC) for 45 minutes. Note that the original recipe specified 1 1/4 hours, but for the size of meringues I made 30 minutes would have been sufficient!
Decorate with cream and sprinkles if desired.

They are super-sweet and tasty!

Beaten egg whites:



My awesome old-school piping set:



Eclectic shapes pre-cooking:



Cooked:



Trees on a plate!