CLASSIC MERINGUE RECIPES

Ingredients
For the meringue

75 g pecan halves
175 g golden caster sugar
100 g light muscovado sugar
5 large egg whites
For the toffee sauce

85 g light muscovado sugar
25 g butter, cubed
100 ml double cream
1 teaspoon black treacle
For the filling

400 ml double cream
250 g Greek yogurt

Method
1. For the meringue base: preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Scatter the pecans on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 6-8 minutes. Remove, then lower the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Set aside a small handful of the pecan halves and chop the rest. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking parchment.

2. Mix both sugars for the meringue together, breaking up any lumps in the muscovado with your fingers. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with an electric hand mixer. Add half the sugar and beat to stiff peaks again, until the meringue is thick and glossy. Using a large metal spoon, carefully and lightly fold in the rest of the sugar, one spoonful at a time. Finally, fold in three quarters of the chopped pecans.

3. Spread the meringue on the lined baking sheet, making a circle about 20cm diameter. Scatter over the rest of the chopped pecans and bake for 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and bake for another 35-40 minutes until crisp on the outside.

4. For the toffee sauce: put the sugar, butter and half the cream in a small saucepan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the treacle then simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is a rich toffee colour, stirring occasionally and being careful that it doesn't burn.

5. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the rest of the cream. Pour into a bowl and leave until cold.

6. When the meringue is done, remove it from the oven and leave to cool. Use a wide spatula to transfer it to a large flat serving plate, carefully removing the lining paper.

7. For the filling: whip the cream to soft peaks, then stir in the yogurt. Swirl a few spoonfuls of the cold toffee sauce through the filling mixture.

8. Pile the cream filling into the meringue. Scatter over the reserved nuts, breaking some up if you like. Serve with the rest of the toffee sauce.

Ingredients
FOR THE MULLED PEARS
600ml mulled wine , ready made from a bottle
6 small, ripe, shapely pears , peeled , quartered and cored
50g golden caster sugar

FOR THE PECAN AND MERINGUE FILLING
225g golden caster sugar
1½ teaspoon cornflour
4 large egg whites
1½ teaspoon wine vinegar
50g pecans , roughly chopped
500g tub Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons dulce de leche
extra toasted pecans

Method
Put the wine, pears and sugar in a pan and simmer for 10 mins.

Heat oven to 160C/140C/gas 3. Draw a 25cm circle on a sheet of baking parchment, then put on a baking sheet. Stir 225g sugar and cornflour together in a jug. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the sugar mixture, a tbsp at a time, until thick and glossy.
3.Fold in vinegar and half the nuts, then pile mixture onto the circle, building up the edges to make a 'nest'. Scatter with rest of pecans then put in oven, turning the temperature down to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Bake for 1 hr, then turn oven off and cool inside for 1 hr.

To serve
Take the pears from the juice, then simmer the juice until it's syrupy and glossy. Return the pears and cool. Stir the yogurt with the Dulche de leche. To serve, pile the filling in the meringue and arrange pears on top. Scatter with nuts, if using. Hand round the syrup for guests to spoon a little over.
To freeze
Cool, then carefully pack into a large, rigid container. Pack the pears in a container or food bag. Freeze for 6 weeks.

Ingredients
FOR THE MERINGUE

* 175g whole almonds , toasted
* 225g golden caster sugar
* 225g light muscovado sugar
* 6 egg whites
* 1 tbsp cornflour
* 2 tsp white wine vinegar

TO ASSEMBLE

* 1kg strawberry , hulled and halved, or quartered if large
* 586ml icing sugar , plus extra for decorating
* 586g pot double cream

Method

1. Heat oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1, and line two flat baking sheets with baking parchment. Whizz about two-thirds of the toasted almonds in a food processor until chopped. Don't let them start to look greasy or clump together - they should still be in pieces rather than ground. Roughly chop the remaining third with a knife.
2. Stir the sugars together. Using an electric hand whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff, then add the sugar in three batches, beating the mixture back to stiff after each addition. Add the cornflour and vinegar, and keep going until the meringue mixture is glossy and so stiff that the beaters begin to feel heavy when stirring - this can take up to 5 mins.
3. Quickly fold in all of the finely chopped nuts and most of the roughly chopped with a spatula, then divide the mixture between the two baking sheets. Spread both into 20cm circles, then scatter the remaining chopped nuts over. Bake for 1 hr, then turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside to cool for at least 1 hr. Leave the oven door closed (this will help to prevent them cracking). Will keep overnight in an airtight container, or freeze, wrapped in cling film, for up to 1 month.
4. For the strawberry sauce, purée 600g of the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Press through a sieve to remove the seeds, then sweeten with 2 tbsp of the icing sugar. Can be made up to 1 day ahead. Sieve the remaining icing sugar into the double cream, whip until it just holds its shape, then carefully swirl through two-thirds of the sauce.
5. To serve, slide one of the meringues off its baking parchment onto a serving plate, then spread over half the cream. Place the second meringue on top, pile over the rest of the cream and top with the remaining strawberries. Dust with a little more icing sugar if you like, and serve the leftover strawberry sauce alongside.

Modern lemon meringue tarts are made with the addition of lime or orange juice, and I am all for changing and tweaking recipes, - but when it comes down to lemon meringue pie then I am a purist, I just want the taste of lemons. Although this is in fact a tarlet because it is a baby tart, there is a difference between lemon meringue pie and lemon meringue tart.

So what exactly is the difference between a Lemon Meringue Tart and a Lemon Meringue Pie? A Lemon Meringue Pie has a lemon filling which contains a small amount of butter and it is stabalised or thickened by cornstarch or cornflour. A Lemon Meringue Tart, is filled with homemade lemon curd and because it is not thickened by cornstarch the flavour of lemon is sharper because the starch has not taken the edge off the lemon filling. As lemon curd is made with masses of butter it is creamier than the lemon meringue pie filling.

So this recipe is a traditional lemon meringue tart. The pastry is a traditional British shortcrust pastry because it is made with lard and for me the pastry has to be made with lard. Purists use a ratio of fifty fifty, but I love the texture and taste of lard pastry and I use 70% lard to 30% butter.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

4 oz (110 g) plain flour
pinch salt
1 oz (25 g) butter, at room temperature
1 oz (25 g) lard, at room temperature

For the filling:
grated zest and juice 2 large unwaxed lemons
3 level tablespoons of cornflour or cornstarch
2 oz (50 g) sugar
3 large organic egg yolks
1½ oz (40 g) butter

For the meringue:
3 large organic egg whites
6 oz (175 g) caster or fine sugar

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).

Method

Start by making the pastry: first sieve the flour with a pinch of salt into a large bowl, holding the sieve up high, so the flour has to drop into the bowl. Then add the cubed butter and lard, lightly rub the fat into the flour, with your fingertips, raising it high again. When the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs add a tablespoon of iced water. Bring the pastry together handling it as little as possible. Add more water a half a teaspoon at a time because adding too much water to pastry nmakes it go hard. Wrap it in clingfilm and leave it resting in the fridge for an hour.

Next, roll the pastry out to a circle about ½ in (2 cm) larger all round than the rim of the tin, this is less messy if you do it between paper.

Then prick the base all over with a fork, and add some baking beans in baking paper, this weighs down the pastry and stops it from rising.
Bake on a high shelf in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. Lower the heat to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C) to cook the
meringue.If you make individual lemon meringue tartlets there is no difference in the cooking time.

Lemon meringue Pie Filling.
Mix the cornflour in 10 fl oz (275 ml) cold water until there are no lumps. Add the sugar and the rest of the water. Boil this being careful to stir all the time to prevent lumps. Simmer gently for two minutes to cook the cornflour which will taste starchy if you miss this step.
Then remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, lemon juice, zest and the butter. Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry shell and tap the case on the work surface to level it off

For the meringue, use a large bowl and whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Now whisk in a quarter of the sugar at a time until it is all shiny then spread the meringue to the very edge of the pastry rim with a palette knife, so that it seals the edge completely. Cook in the oven on the centre shelf for 45 minutes, by which time the meringue will have turned pale beige, and be crisp on the outside and squashy under the crust. Serve warm or cold, but if warm, leave it to settle for about 20 minutes.

It does make a difference if you peel the nectarines, and as long as you dunk them briefly in boiling water, the skins come off relatively easily.

Ingredients
For the meringue base:
8 egg whites
Pinch salt
2½ cups icing sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

For the topping
6 passionfruit
3 white peaches or nectarines
Juice of ½ lime
2½ cups heavy cream
1 cup shaved dried coconut
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and draw a rough 10 inch circle, using a springform of that size as a guide if you have one.
Whisk the egg whites and salt until satiny peaks form. Then beat in the sugar, tablespoonfuls at a time, until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cornstarch, vinegar and fold in lightly. Mound on to the baking sheet within the circle, flatten the top and smooth the sides. Put in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 300°F and cook for 1¼-1½ hours. It will have risen and cracked on the top and a little around the sides. If it is not dry and crispy on the outside give it a little longer. Then turn off the oven, open the door and leave to cool completely.
When you are ready to assemble the pavlova, blanch the peaches or nectarines in boiling water and slip off their skins. Cut the fruit in half and take out the pits, lay them in a shallow dish and squeeze over the lime juice to keep their color or "bleach" them. Invert the pavlova on to a plate and peel off the parchment paper - at least, that's what I normally do, though I see from the picture I didn't bother this time. But if the meringue base hasn't crumbled too much, it is the best thing to do, as it means you swathe the marshmallowy top (ie the inverted bottom) with the cream, and the two seem to meld together. If all is too crumbly, don't bother.
Whip the cream until thickened but still soft, and pile on top of the meringue, spreading it to the edges in a rough, swirly fashion. Cut the passionfruit in half, and scoop everything out into a sieve placed over a glass measuring cup and press through, so only the seeds remain in the sieve. Pour most of the juice over the swirly cream. Or just halve the passionfruits and scoop pulp, seeds and all, over the cream. Slice the blanched halved fruit into thin segments and arrange them on top of the cream and passionfruit juice. Then do a final pouring over of the remaining juice. Or, if you haven't sieved the fruits, just give a little squeezing over of the empty shells.
Sprinkle the shaved coconut over the top of the pavlova, like wedding confetti.

THis recipe Can be found In Nigella Lawson's book below

Ingredients
sunflower oil , for greasing
150g toasted hazelnuts
5 egg whites
280g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
300ml pot double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar , plus extra for
dusting
3 tbsp Baileys cream liqueur
(optional)
200g pack fresh raspberries

Method
Prepare ahead
This cake can be made up to the end of Step 3, then
kept in a tin for up to 3 days. Follow Step 4 to serve.
Hazelnut & Baileys meringue
cake
Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line 2 x 20cm sandwich
tins with foil, then lightly oil the foil. Whizz the nuts in a
processor until finely ground.
1.
Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they form stiff peaks.
Whisk in most of the sugar, a spoonful at a time, until the
mixture is stiff and glossy. Stir the rest of the sugar into the
nuts, then fold into the meringue with the vinegar. Divide
between the tins and level the tops.
2.
Bake for 40-45 mins until firm, then cool in the oven. When
the meringues are cold, carefully peel off the foil.
3.
To serve, whisk the cream, icing sugar and Baileys together
until softly stiff. Put one of the meringues, top-side down, on a
plate, then spread with the cream and scatter over the
raspberries. Put the other meringue layer on top and dust
generously with icing sugar.

Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE

* 200g butter , softened
* 200g golden caster sugar
* 200g self-raising flour
* 50g ground almonds
* 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks, beaten
* 2-4 tbsp milk
* 150g punnet blackberries

FOR THE MERINGUE

* 2 egg whites
* 100g golden caster sugar , plus a sprinkle
* 2 tbsp flaked almonds

FOR THE FILLING

* 200ml double cream , lightly whipped
* 4 tbsp bramble jelly