Easy Dessert Recipes: The Ultimate Coffee MeringuesBy Lara Messer

Meringues really are the hidden, star dessert. They are naturally gluten-free, low in fat and delicious enough to satisfy our ‘need for the sweet’ after dinner. Here’s how to make these light and airy delights:

Ingredients:

3 Egg Whites from Happy Free Range Hens
175g Caster Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Freshly Ground Coffee
I’m using a single origin, El Salvador coffee from Charlie Mills Coffee

To Serve: Strawberries, double cream, creme fraiche, 100s & 1000s or ice cream!

Tools:

Electric Mixer
Piping Bag and Nozzle

Method:

1. Using an electric mixer, unless you have super strong muscles, whisk your egg whites together to form soft peaks – this is when the eggs form to make fluffy little clouds.

2. Add in your sugar: slowly and bit by bit. As you add your sugar, you will see the meringues start to become glossy and shiny.

3. Using a metal spoon, carefully fold in your ground coffee.  You don’t want to be rough at this stage because you want to keep the air in the meringue mixture.

4. Take a tall jug or, like me, a blender jug (you could even use a cocktail shaker). Place your piping bag in your jug, with the nozzle at the bottom of the bag. Do not cut your piping bag yet – use a spatula and spoon in your meringue mix. It’s best to work quickly at this stage.

5. Give your piping bag a little shake to make sure the mixture is filling the bag. Hold the top with your hand and use your other hand to push the mixture down. Then, twist the top of the bag and continue to push down the mixture. Now you can snip a small hole.

6. Take a lined baking tray and start piping out your mixture.  Don’t worry about the first meringue – this one’s always going to be imperfect. Position your piping bag, squeeze and flick.  Make a small mound before the flick.

7. Bake in a 120 degree oven for about 1 hour. You are essentially drying out the meringues; when they are easily removed from the baking parchment, they are ready!

8. Once cooled, you can sandwich your meringues together with whipped cream or you can even take a tub of creme fraiche and add a little icing sugar for sweetness to taste. Decorate with drizzled chocolate, 100s and 1000s, strawberries and more.  We ate a lot of them before we could sandwich them. This is advisable too.

For more easy dessert recipes, see here.