Cinnamon Chocolate Meringues
Meringues are universally popular, easy to whip up (let your cakemixer do the donkey work) and look pretty good on your best crystal or silver.
Preheat oven to 120 C
3 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
Whisk egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Still whisking, slowly add caster sugar, ensuring it is dissolved before each addition. When all the sugar is beaten in, and the mixture is firm and glossy, add lemon juice and cinnamon. On baking paper-lined trays, either pipe or spoon mixture into piles and bake for one hour and 20 minutes. Turn oven off and leave meringues to cool in the oven. When completely cool, store them in an airtight container until needed. To serve, sandwich meringues halves together with chocolate filling. Makes 15.
Chocolate Filling
120 g dark chocolate
1/3 cup cream
1 T brandy
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Heat cream in a saucepan but do not boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate that has been broken into chunks. Leave to stand while chocolate melts. Then add brandy and cinnamon and whisk until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until firm enough to pipe, then squeeze the filling onto the bottom of one meringue and sandwich it with another.
