Individual Meringues with Mandarins

Ingredients

4 egg whites
220g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar
300ml cream
200g mascarpone
2 tsp icing sugar
Cinderella Mandarin Segments

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
2. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. As a guide for the meringue size draw four 10cm circles on the underside of the baking paper.
3. Using an electric or stand mixer beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, around two minutes.
4. With the mixer running gradually add the sugar one tablespoon at a time making sure it is well incorporated before adding the next.
5. Add the vanilla, mix for a further two minutes.
6. Add the white vinegar and mix for a further minute. NOTE: at this point you should have a very glossy mixture and you shouldn’t be able to feel any grains of sugar when you rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers.
7. Divide the mixture between the 8 circles and use a spoon to smooth out. Don’t worry about making them look perfect, as you’ll want some swoops and swirls.
8. Reduce the oven temp to 120°C and bake the meringues for an hour or until crisp to the touch. Don’t open the oven door until they are ready to be checked.
9. Turn the oven off and let them cool down with the door closed for around 30 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
10. Whip the cream with the sugar until just whipped then add in the mascarpone and whisk until thickened.
11. Once meringues are fully cooled, spoon generous dollops of the cream onto each one and top with the mandarin segments.

Tips

Use any other toppings or decorations eg freeze dried raspberries and pistachios for their festive colours.

For guaranteed success, give every bowl and utensil a wipe with some white vinegar on a paper hand towel. You might have been creaming butter and sugar in your stand mixer and you don’t want any trace of fats to touch the egg whites.

Adding mascarpone to the whipped cream makes it a lot more stable and will allow it to last longer sitting out but this can be omitted.

Use little bits of the meringue mixture to stick down the corners of your baking paper so it doesn’t slide around when you are spooning the mixture on.

You may see the odd crack on top of your meringues but don’t worry as this will get covered up with the cream!

Recipe by @burntbuttertable

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