Heart Meringues

We're not really 'big' on Valentine's Day but we do like to mark the occasion in a small way. In 2011 I made us all a big box of chocolate & vanilla Valentine's cupcakes, topped with vanilla buttercream & chocolate ganache finished off with rice paper & handmade fondant toppers.
Last year we made some Sweetheart Shortbread, and this year the Mister bought me a rose and made us dinner, and I gave him a card and made these heart-shaped meringues for dessert.

I used this meringue recipe from BBC Good Food as it was quick & simple, and it produced some delicious results. The meringues were crispy on the outside with a perfect chewy inside and we all thoroughly enjoyed them. I piped ours into heart shapes for Valentine's Day, but you can drop them into circles and serve two sandwiched together with some whipped cream, or pipe them into any shape you like.

INGREDIENTS

4 large egg whites at room temperature
115g caster sugar
115g icing sugar

METHOD

• Preheat your oven to 110c/fan 100c/GM 1/4 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
• Add your egg whites to your (large, clean and NOT plastic) mixing bowl and beat them on a medium speed until the mixture is cloud-like & stands in soft peaks when lifted.
• Increase the speed on your mixer and add the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time with a 3-4 second gap between each spoonful. Don't over beat the mixture, when it is done it should be thick & glossy.
• Sift a third of the icing sugar over the mixture and then carefully fold it in with a metal or rubber spoon or spatula. Repeat this with the remaining two thirds of icing sugar until thoroughly combined, do not over mix. It will be soft and billowy at this stage.
• Scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the mixture and drop them on to your baking trays, or pipe them into your desired shapes.
• Bake your meringues for 1 1⁄2-1 3⁄4 hours (fan) or 1 1⁄4 hours (conventional/gas), until they sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a light coffee colour. Leave them to cool on the trays, they will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.