Cameron’s Mum made the starters and main course for the Christmas dinner – which were delicious. I made chocolate meringues or as the recipe calls them “Chocolate and Raspberry Pavlovas” for dessert. They are a lovely twist on the traditional plain meringues and well worth a try as they are rather yummy! The recipe came from the Good Housekeeping magazine.
Recipe for Chocolate and Raspberry Pavlovas
Ingredients:
Individual Chocolate Pavlovas
- 4 medium egg whites
- 225g (8oz) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 25g (1oz) cocoa powder
- 150g (5oz) low-fat yogurt
- 110ml double cream (Elaine comment: the original recipe stated 4 tablespoons but I prefer the “cream” mixture to be a little thicker)
- 25g (1oz) icing sugar
- 200g (7oz) raspberries (Elaine comment: I also use blueberries but any fruit will do)
Method:
- Preheat oven to 150°C (130°C fan) mark 2. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Put egg whites into a clean grease-free bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk until the whites form firm peaks. Gradually add caster sugar, beating well after each addition (Elaine comment: I find using a wooden spoon best for this). Once you’ve added all the sugar, add the vanilla, then whisk until meringue is thick and glossy- this will take about 4 minutes.
- Using a metal spoon, spoon a third of the meringue into another bowl; sift over all but 1 tablespoon of the cocoa. Fold into meringue. Spoon cocoa meringue into the white meringue then, using the metal spoon fold together once to create a rippled effect.
- Spoon six dollops onto the baking sheets. Bake for 45 minutes until meringue is crisp on the outside and peels away easily from the parchment. Cool on a wire rack.
- Beat (or whisk) the yogurt, cream and icing sugar until mix just holds its shape, then spoon onto meringues. Add fruit, dust with cocoa; serve.
To get ahead:
Make meringues to the end of step 3. Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Then simply complete the remainder of the recipe to serve.
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