Meringues

A couple of weeks ago, some girlfriends and I decided to have our own version of Christmas dinner. We decided that we should try to fit as much fun and food into this time of year as we could. We each decided on a dish to bring and set out for a night of eating.

I was asked, very kindly to make my meringues, so I thought, to make it a bit more special I would make them into mini pavlovas.

INGREDIENTS

4 x egg whites
250g x caster sugar
2 tsp x white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp x corn flour
1 tsp x vanilla extract

METHOD

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and pre heat the oven to 160c

Separate your egg whites from their yolks, I like to separate my eggs in a separate bowl, transferring to my mixing bowl one at a time. The white can have no yolk whatsoever in them, or they won't work. Doing it this way means if you accidentally let some yolk through, you've only lost 1 egg.
Once you have 4 whites in your mixing bowl, beat until soft peaks form. Slowly add the castor sugar 1 spoonful at a time, beating well between additions. Once all the sugar is in the bowl, beat until the sugar is dissolved. You can tell if the sugar is dissolved by rubbing some of the mixture between your fingers, if it feels gritty, keep beating. You might not be able to get rid of all the grittiness, but try to get it as smooth as possible.

Next fold in the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla until combined.

If you are making meringues or mini pavlovas, dollop the mixture into 6 rounds. I like to dollop it all out, then go back and smooth them down with the back of a spoon. If you are making a large pavlova, make one large round dollop and smooth.

Bake for about 50 minutes, once done the meringues will be hard, and may be slightly cracked. Turn the oven off and open the oven door slightly, leave the meringues in the oven until completely cooled.

To make them into pavolovas, whip 300mls cream with 1 tbsp icing sugar. I know people always say not to use an electric whisk to whip cream, but really, it's too much effort to hand whip cream, and as long as you watch the cream and stop it before its over whipped, it's fine. I never hand whip my cream. Make a good sized dollop of cream ontop on each meringue, top with fresh fruit of your choice, and dig in!!

 

We also enjoyed, cob dip loaf, roast pork with crackling and veggies, and banoffie pie (yes, 2 desserts) it was a great night, with great company and great food!

Christmas!

I’m currently sitting at work, panicking about all the things I still have to do before Christmas, and I’m starting to think I have a few long days ahead of me.

I’ve decided this year, for the first time, but hopefully not the last, to make all my Christmas gifts. And while I’m good in the kitchen, I’m not so good with the arts and crafts. So, everyone is getting some sort of food based gift; ranging from homemade mueslis layered in a tall jar, to homemade food/hand sugar scrubs. I felt, up until today, that I had made a good start in putting all the gifts together. I have had the ingredients since the last week in November, but when I think about it, I still have to make the scrubs, lemon squash, and mueslis and make up my tea sampler packs. Once that’s done, I still have to make mince pies, chocolate loaf, brandy butter sauce, vanilla ice-cream, and put my Christmas crackers together. Phew.

On top of all of that, my girlfriends and I have decided to have a Christmas party this Sunday, where we all bring a main and a dessert dish. This is brought on by our mutual love of both Christmas and good food. And while I’ve opted to make relatively easy dishes (a cob dip loaf and a Pavlova) it’s finding the time to make them that is the hard part.

Oh well, I’m heading to my folks house tonight to help them put up the tree and wrap their gifts. That should hopefully take my mind off how much I have to do for a few hours.

I think Saturday is going to be a full day in the kitchen, and on my feet. Wish me luck

(PS I’ll post pictures of my presents, food & the accompanying recipes when I have a chance!)