Recipe: Chocolate Swirl Meringues

This week I have had a life-changing experience. I discovered frozen berries. I had previously thought berries were generally off the menu because they are pretty darn pricey when out of season and berries from Aldi seem to grow fur the very day you buy them. So you can imagine my excitement at discovering, in the oven chip freezer of course, big boxes of frozen berries for a mere £1.49. However on their own they are so sour I tend to react like this, so I decided to have them with Meringues. Meringues might just win the best student dessert award because they are so easy and so so cheap.

Ingredients:

100g Caster Sugar

2 Egg Whites

Your favourite chocolate bar (Yorkie every time for me)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 120°c and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper

Step 2: Whisk the egg whites for a few minutes until it forms stiff peaks.This does take a while so definitely use an electric whisk.  You should be able to turn the mixing bowl upside down without anything coming out.

Step 3: Keep the whisk going, and add the sugar a bit at a time. Now the mix should be shiny.

Step 4: Melt the chocolate bar. I did this on the hob but it needs to be on a really low heat and you have to keep stirring otherwise it will burn. You could do it in the microwave but again only on a medium setting and for 20 seconds at a time to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Step 5: Fold in the melted chocolate with a spoon. You don’t want to overdo this bit or you won’t get the swirling effect.

Step 6: Dollop (or pipe, if you’re feeling fancy) the mix onto the baking tray. This recipe makes around 8 biggish dollops.

Step 7: I like meringues all chewy in the middle so I put mine in the oven for around 75 minutes. If you prefer crispy meringues just leave them in a bit longer. Afterwards leave them on a cooling rack to cool.

Meringues really are foolproof so even if you’re not much of a baker you can’t go far wrong. I’m warning you now though, they are a real crowd pleaser so if you are expecting to have many left over for yourself you might want to double the recipe!