Meringues are something I’ve been wanting to make for a while, but have been putting off as I don’t own an electric mixer! However, whisking them by hand didn’t take as long as I expected so don’t let that put you off. They take a while in the oven but the result is crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside loveliness. This recipe makes about 12 meringues.

Ingredients

3 egg whites

200g caster sugar

A few drops of vanilla extract

Lemon curd

Chocolate of your choice

Method

Preheat the oven to about 110˚C

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then add the vanilla essence.

Continue whisking until the mixture becomes a bit thicker and glossy.

Add the sugar a little bit at a time, whisking in between, until the mixture becomes thick.

At this point, you should be able to hold the bowl upside down and the mixture won’t move – I tested this over Ruby’s head, it was tense, I wouldn’t recommend doing this!

Once the mixture is thick and glossy, drop blobs onto a lined baking tray. I found it a bit hit and miss as to whether they looked good or not, but making small spiral movements with the spoon helped the mixture to fall off onto the tray more neatly.

Bake in the oven for about an hour. They may take a little longer depending on their size.

For the topping, I gently heated a couple of tablespoons of lemon curd in a saucepan until it was runny, and drizzled over the top of the meringues once they’d cooled. It helped to gently break the top of the meringue first, as this way the lemon curd falls inside the meringue too.

After leaving the lemon curd to set slightly, carefully melt the chocolate and using a spoon drizzle over the meringues.

Leave to set and enjoy!