Passionfruit Meringues

A couple of weeks back I caught an episode of ‘Cooks to Market’ on Food TV, only to see one of my little sister’s school friends – Stacey – competing as one half of the team ‘The Meringue Girls’. They did very well on the show and it seems the momentum has continued since as they have a book on the way! Watching them make beautiful meringues of all colours and flavours inspired me to give it a go.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
¾ cup of caster sugar (I used half regular and half Billington’s Golden Caster Sugar)
1 tablespoon Nutrafresh sparkling passionfruit powder
a few drops of yellow food colouring
*whipped cream or ice cream to serve

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, add half the sugar and beat well, add remaining sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, add passionfruit powder with your last tablespoon of sugar.
Drop oven temp to 120˚C and pipe or spoon small amounts (slightly smaller than bite size as mixture will expand) of the mixture onto an oven tray lined with baking paper.
If you wish to colour them just place a small drop of yellow food colouring to the top of each meringue and swirl with a skewer or toothpick.
Bake for 35 minutes or until meringues are dry but not brown.
*Tip – do not open oven door while cooking!

I think these are divine and so, so easy. Ice cream or cream takes the tang off the passionfruit perfectly, I also served mine with a small drizzle of Prenzel Passionfruit Tipsy Topping! If you want to know more about the Meringue Girls you can check out Stacey’s Interrview with Food TV here.

Halloween Meringue Bones

These are super easy to whip up for a Halloween treat, although only half my batch really resembled bones as I piped some too thick and they puffed up a bit too much. Next time I might print out some type of template and lay it under wax paper to help keep them uniform.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites (size 6)
¾ cup of caster sugar

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, add half the sugar and beat well, add remaining sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
Drop oven temp to 120˚C and pipe in the shape of bones (or ghosts) onto an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 20 minutes or until meringues are dry but not brown. Leave in the oven until it is cool before removing.
*Tip – do not open oven door while cooking!

Meringues like Pavlova can be different in texture each time you make them due to things like the weather and the humidity so can take a little bit of practice. If you love meringues but can’t make them or enough of them you could always get in touch with our newest sponsor Fab Meringues!

This will be my last post for the next week(ish), we are moving back to Auckland this Friday which means an end to the last nine weeks of solo parenting while Shane has been away working (yay!). I am so excited to be living as a family again and to be living close to Mel and my new house has a far bigger and newer kitchen than the one I have had here in New Plymouth!

Vanilla and Raspberry Treats

Last weekend my little sister Georgina turned 21 so we had a family afternoon tea to celebrate and also to say farewell and good luck as she is leaving us to start a new career that requires her to be based in Dubai. I was charged with making some sweet treats, originally I had planned on making cake pops but they were a major fail! So I resorted to a quick fix and made some tried and true meringues but fancied them up by piping them and adding a ½ teaspoon of raspberry essence and a ½ teaspoon of pink food colouring to half the mixture.

 
The mini cupcakes were made using the Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix, once they were cool I put some raspberry jam in a piping bag and filled the centre of each cupcake with jam and topped them with a pink butter cream frosting (to which I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry essence) and sprinkles.

 
The lovely looking cake was delicious and was purchased by my Mum from the City Cake Company in Mt Eden.

Meringues

 
The perfect summer treat and great for Christmas!  Best served with whipped cream or for something a little different, whipped cream infused with berry coulis.

To make you will need:
3 egg whites (size 6)
¾ cup of caster sugar
*whipped cream to serve

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, add half the sugar and beat well, add remaining sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Drop oven temp to 120˚C and pipe or spoon small amounts (slightly smaller than bite size as mixture will expand) of the mixture onto an oven tray lined with baking paper.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until meringues are dry but not brown.
*Tip – do not open oven door while cooking!

Meringues like Pavlova can be different in texture each time you make them due to things like the weather and the humidity.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!