Meringues with Scented Geranium
Makes 24 to 30 meringues
Preparation time - about 30 minutes
Baking time - 2 hours in total
Ingredients
4 egg whites
3ml cream of tartar
1ml salt
250ml geranium-scented castor sugar
250ml cream to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 120°C.
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
3. Beat in cream of tartar and salt.
4. Follow by beating in all but 30ml of the geranium-scented castor sugar, in 15ml amounts.
5. It is important to beat the castor sugar in very thoroughly to dissolve it. /if it is not dissolved, the meringues will 'weep' during baking. They will end up being nice and chewy, but this is not correct.
6. When only 30ml of the castor sugar remains, stop beating and fold the rest into the mixture.
7. Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag.
8. Pipe the meringues into rounds or éclair shapes, onto a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper, greased and sprinkled with a little cornflower.
9. Place the meringues in the preheated oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 100°C - bake for 1 hour.
10. Turn off the heat and leave the meringues to dry out for another hour.
To serve
Beat cream, flavour to taste with geranium-scented castor sugar, and use this to sandwich the meringue halves together.
To intensify the flowery taste - add 10ml rose essence to the mixture when folding in the final 30ml castor sugar.
To make the geranium-scented castor sugar
Place castor sugar in a sealed container and fold in geranium leaves that have been slightly crushed to release the flavour. Leave it for a while to infuse.
