Wednesday 6 February 2013

1 point chocolate meringues

Josh and I love meringues. They only occurred to me to have when I was trying to think of a low-point dessert for a barbecue last summer, but they do taste so nice, like a proper dessert, and only 1 point for a meringue nest! You  can buy packs of meringue nests everywhere, but if you love baking like me you will have a craving to make your own.

I love baking but it is the ultimate trigger for me. I have never binged so much and with so much free abandon as post-baking session. Some of the darkest moments of my life have involved icing sugar, and I am not just saying that for addeed hilarity. Anyhow, on a positive note, I have cheerfully banned myself from baking cupcakes, cakes, cookies etc for the near future - but why not meringues? They're super tasty, don't involve icing and you can't even eat the raw mix! Yay!


Chocolate Meringues - Serves 8 at one point each

Laziness rating: About 10 minutes work but then dead easy especially for the pay off!
Time: 10 minutes of 'doing things' + one hour extra for baking.

Ingredients
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
One teaspoon of cocoa powder

You will need
One perfectly clean big bowl
A baking tray & greaseproof baking paper
One little-ish bowl
An electric whisk


Method

1. Line your baking tray with greaseproof baking paper and preheat the oven to 150 degrees.

2. Separate your eggs and put your egg whites in a bowl. It took me ages to learn how to separate eggs properly, I think it's a little bit of a knack and also just blind confidence - smash your egg right down sharply to get a nice crack so you can slide your yolk from eggshell half to eggshell half until all your white is in the bowl. (If that makes any sense??)


3. Start whisking with your electric whisk. Have a go with a hand whisk if you're feeling brave but BE WARNED this will take you bloody forever. I attempted meringues 4 times with a hand whisk and only once they worked properly and I pretty much nearly lost my arm in the process. Whisk slowly then gradually get faster. You know what you're looking for - STIFF PEAKS.


4. In a separate bowl measure out your caster sugar and mix with the teaspoon of cocoa powder. 


YES IT'S NOT MIXED VERY THOROUGHLY BUT DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE.

5. Whisk it in one tablespoon at a time on medium speed.


6. Spoon onto your baking tray into 8 nest things. Make them pretty if you want or if you are like me just take them as they come...



Yes yes get your immature comments out of the way now. Done?

7. Bake for 40 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for a further 20 minutes.


8. Serve! Serving Suggestion:

Meringue (1)
20g of Light Anchor UHT Cream (1)
Fruit salad (0)


Yum yum!!!


These meringues are great for low point treats for yourself during the week that really feel like you've had a nice dessert. Also you would be surprised but they actually can impress others from time to time as a lot of people forget how nice meringue actually is!

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