lemon meringue

i am experimenting with a lemon meringue chocolate as a new flavour for a cocoa bean bar. we had a lemon chocolate in the past as part of our classic collection, made initially with just lemon zest and later with the addition of a lemon oil from urru. having tasted meringue in chocolate alchemist's eaton mess, i became inspired. only one batch has so far been combined with chocolate; the rest disapearing into the mouths of my family before i could spirit them away!

the white chocolate experiment was too sickly, even with the tartness from the zest. i still stick to my belief that white chocolate needs spices to counteract the cloying flavour. when combined with our chilli, cardamon and ginger or chococo's cardamon and saffron it gains something verging on sublime. otherwise it still tastes to me like the offerings of the milky bar kid.

this meringue recipe has delivered great results every time - crispy outside, soft inside and i hope to soon be reporting on my results with milk and dark chocolate. the only problem is i have a punnet of fresh strawberries and just seem to have whipped up some double cream. hmmm...

ingredients

115g caster sugar
115g icing sugar
4 free range egg whites




method

heat the oven to 100 C
whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks in a metal bowl.
combine the caster sugar a spoonful at a time and whisk for about 5 seconds in between additions until thick and glossy
seive the icing sugar and combine a third at a time
spoon in dollops onto parchment and cook for about 1 1/4 - 1/2 hours
the meringues should sound crisp when tapped