Skip to main content
Dessert

Meringues a LA Creme

Meringue shells filled with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Meringues a LA Creme

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the meringue

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Whip the egg whites to a very stiff froth.

  3. Add a few drops of vanilla and carefully mix in the powdered sugar.

  4. Sprinkle sugar on a baking sheet and place tablespoonfuls of the mixture on it, smoothing the tops.

  5. Sprinkle a little sugar over the tops of the meringues.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake in the oven with the door slightly open for at least 35 minutes without allowing them to color.

  2. Continue baking for about 45 minutes, allowing slight coloring in the last few minutes.

  3. Once baked, scoop out the soft insides while still hot.

  4. Fill the cooled meringues with whipped cream, press two together to form a ball, and refrigerate to set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the airy structure of the meringue.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens and stabilizes the whipped foam, helping it hold its shape while baking.
Heavy cream
Adds moisture and richness to the filling, setting softly once chilled.

The step that matters

Baking with the door slightly open. Baking at low heat with the door ajar lets moisture escape so the meringue dries and crisps rather than browning or collapsing. Browning too early or closing the door traps steam and can make the shells soft and sticky.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes