Blackberry Meringues with Whipped Chantilly Cream

 Don’t panic!

I say this only because I’ve been told the very thought of making meringues can send heart rates soaring.

 Not these blackberry meringues with the added deliciousness of the Chantilly cream.

 Once you realise how simple they are to make, you’ll be able change up the flavours, add nuts if you want or have them plain with a drop or two of food colouring to match your party theme.

 One of my sisters is a big fan of pavlova, a larger version of these pretty blackberry flavoured mounds.

 Those rare times we get to eat out, if there’s a sneaky pavlova on the menu, she normally doesn’t need a lot of encouragement to place her order.

 Do you have a sweet tooth?

 Go on, give them a go.

Meringue

•   2 Egg Whites

•   200g (1 Cup) Castor Sugar

• 1 Punnet of Fresh Blackberries– cleaned

•   4 Tablespoon Icing Sugar

• Pinch of salt

 Filling

•   1 x 300ml Double Cream

•    4 Tbsp. Icing Sugar

Collect the juice from the blackberries

How It’s Done

•   Heat the oven to 100c

•   Line two oven trays with non-stick parchment.

•   Place the blackberries into a bowl along with the icing sugar.

•    Mix all the icing sugar in and using a fork, squash and squish until the blackberries are all mushed up.

• Keep mushing them until they release all of their juice.

•    Let the mixture sit until needed later.

• ·       When ready to use, push the blackberry mush through a fine sieve until all the juice is saved into a separate bowl ready to add to the meringue mixture. – See Tip Box

•     Put the egg whites and the salt into a clean bowl and whip until they are full of air, at least triple the size -See Tip Box

•    Once egg whites are ready, continue to beat and start to add the castor sugar one tablespoon at a time- See Tip Box

•   Once all the sugar is combined with the egg whites you should be left with a glossy meringue.

•   Add all the blackberry juice to the meringue mixture and continue whipping until everything is incorporated and the meringue thickens up again. – See Tip Box

•    Spoon apricot size mounds of the meringue onto the prepared baking trays.

• Leave two-inch gaps between each mound. – See Tip Box

•    Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour so the outside is nice and crispy and the inside is slightly chewy.

•   After an hour, turn the oven off, open the door and leave the cooked meringues in the oven until completely cooled – with the oven door ajar.

•     Once they are completely cold, sandwich them together with the whipped Chantilly cream
  Chantilly Cream

•    Place the double cream and the icing sugar into a clean mixing bowl and beat them together until the cream is thick and spreadable.

  ·       Use straight away or set aside until needed.

Fold the juice into the meringue

Tip Box

•   Blackberries – 1) Squishing the blackberries together with the icing sugar, helps the juice to be released.

  2) Don’t throw away the berries once the juice has been removed, use them to make a quick blackberry jam

•    Beat the eggs – 1) When beating the egg whites, be sure that the bowl is very clean and grease free otherwise the egg white won’t whip up.

  2) When separating the egg whites from the egg yolks, be very careful that not even a drop of the egg yolk gets into the egg whites, or they won’t beat very well.

• Castor Sugar – Add the castor sugar very slowly to the egg whites – 1 tablespoon at a time - before the next tablespoon is added. Make sure the last tablespoon is fully incorporated.

•   Meringue -1) When the blackberry juice is first added to the meringue, it will get a little bit runny. When you start to beat the meringue again the meringue will go back to the right consistency.

  2) When spooning the meringue onto the prepared oven tray, try to keep them in mounds rather than spread out.

Collect all the juice for the meringue

Bonus Recipe

•  Don’t waste those leftover berries once all of the juice has been removed, use them to make a super speedy blackberry jam.

• Place the left-over blackberries into a bowl along with 4 tablespoons of castor sugar and 4 tablespoons of water.

•   Give it a good stir and let it heat up on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved completely.

•   Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil.

•   Let it boil until the some of the liquid evaporates and it becomes thicker.

  (Don’t take your eye off it so that it doesn’t burn)

•      Once the jam is ready, transfer it to a sterilised jar, close the lid and let it cool completely.

  ·       Store the cool jam in the fridge and once opened, use within a week. 

Make a quick jam with the leftovers