Simple in preparation dessert for Easter holidays, crunchy Meringue with delicious lemon curd and berries. Both can be prepared a couple of days before needed and assembled on the day. Just remember to eat them as soon as prepared, ideally on the same day as lemon curd slowly melts fragile meringue.
Ingredients for Meringue:
4 egg whites (room temperature)
160g of icing sugar (to prepare your own superfine sugar use a small electric grinder like this one)
a handful of blueberries and raspberries
Instructions for Meringue Nests (makes around 20 small):
1. Preheat the oven to 93C (200F) and prepare 2 trays with baking paper.
2. Put 4 egg whites into a metal bowl of a stand mixer and beat them on medium speed until soft peaks form.
3. Continue on medium speed, add icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time to incorporate. When all sugar dissolves you will have stiff peaks with a nice gloss.
4. Transfer mixture to a piping bag, use a nozzle for a different finish.
5. Pipe onto the prepared trays by making a flat circle then around the edges to make nests, (if paper moves use a tiny bit of meringue mix as glue).
6. Bake meringues for 2-3 hours, you can leave an oven door slightly open during that time to help the moisture escape.
7. Once baked, Meringue Nests should be crispy outside and slightly wet inside. Remove from the oven to cool down, store in an airtight container until needed.
Ingredients for Lemon Curd:
2 lemons, juice and zest
5 egg yolks
70g caster sugar
50g of cold butter diced into cubes
Instructions for Lemon Curd:
1. Prepare Bain-marie, in a medium pot add a glass of water and bring to boil, place a metal or glass bowl on the top. The steam created under the bowl will be our heat source for gentle cooking.
2. In the bowl over Bain-marie add lemon juice, zest, egg yolks and sugar. Keep whisking until it thickens then remove from the heat and whisk in the cold butter.
3. Once incorporated strain the mixture through a sieve and transfer to the fridge to cool down around 1-2 hours.
4. Place the lemon curd in the piping bag and fill the meringue nests, garnish with berries and sprinkle with a pinch of icing sugar.
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