Let's Make Christmas: Meringue Nibbles

This is the third item I will be bringing to Vanessa Kimbell's Let's Make Christmas event at Fortnum & Mason on the 18th November. I have been following #letsmakechristmas on twitter and Im getting more and more excited about things that are popping up!

Three ingredients, a 100o/c oven and a little time will yield tiny nuggets of melt in the mouth wonder or crunch, dependant on how you want to eat them.

Ive always been fascinated by meringue. Those huge billowy clouds piped with fresh cream and topped with fruit behind the glass counters of bakeries stacked in front of eclairs and scones spilling out fillling. The hefty wedges of lemon meringue pie I fought one of my sisters over as a kid. And the unbridled joy of making meringue mushrooms in my own kitchen. Above the whirr of Rosie, my Kitchenaid, its near on impossible not to look into bowl and watch translucent egg whites turn foamy and then double up in size and turn a brilliant white. Piped into tiny rosettes these are perfect for satisfying a sweet tooth and perfect respite from cloying truffles and dipping your hand into that tin of Roses.

Ingredients

2 medium egg whites
100gr caster sugar
1/4 tsp white wine vinegar

Method

1, Preheat your oven to 100o/c (Gas Mark 1/4) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2, Place the egg whites into your stand mixer and beat the eggs until they start to turn foamy. Splash in the vinegar and crank up the speed.
3, Beat until they reach soft peaks, reduce the speed of the mixer to medium, and slowly spooning in the sugar allowing it to be fully mixed in before adding the next.
4, Beat the meringue until it turns bright white and a tiny bit rubbed between your fingers doesnt feel too grainy.
5, Spoon the meringue into a large piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle and pipe little dollops onto your baking sheet.
6, I also painted some red stripes up the inside of my piping bag with a little red food colouring to give some of them a little candy cane effect.
7, Bake for two hours and then turn the oven off and leave until completely cool. Store in an airtight container