Lavender Meringues

Perfect as a summer dessert or for afternoon tea with loved ones.

Lavender Meringues

Ingredients

  • 115g Caster Sugar
  • 115g Icing Sugar
  • 4 Large Eggs, yolks removed
  • 1 TSP of Purple food colouring
  • Half a handful of Lavender buds/flowers
  • Double cream (for the filling)

Pre-heat the oven to – fan 100C, conventional 110C and gas mark 1⁄4. Tip all of the egg whites into a clean cool bowl. Whisk the eggs on a medium setting until they are soft and fluffy. They should form a soft peak. Continue to whisk at a faster setting, whilst slowly adding the caster sugar a tbsp at a time and all of the food dye. Be careful to not over whisk as it can lose volume. Once all of the sugar and food dye has been added the eggs should look soft, thick and sticky like marshmallow..yum! Sift in the icing sugar a 1/3 at a time and tip in half of the lavender. Stir gently with a large metal/rubber spoon. Once all of the icing sugar as been mixed in it should look like shiny velvety goodness! Either pipe or dollop onto a lined baking tray. For desserts make the meringues bigger. For afternoon tea bite size meringues make them as large as a £2 coin. Don’t forget that they expand in the oven!! To finish, sprinkle a few lavender buds onto the meringues. Bake in the oven for around an hour and a half until crisp. Leave to cool then sandwich together with softly whipped double cream.

Of course with any recipe, if you are using any fresh produce from your garden avoid consuming if you have used any chemicals i.e. insect repellent.

Lavender Meringues

 

Strawberries & Cream

I must admit i am not the greatest lover of strawberries. Yes thats right, i said it! I am more of a raspberry fan. But saying that i will eat my fair share of the sweet and juicy strawberries every year. This recipe is to spruce up those delicious fruits and reinvent the classic strawberries and cream.

Strawberries & Cream

These are the ingredients that i used. You can use different variations of ingredients to suit your personal taste.

Ingredients

For the Strawberries

1 Large Punnet of fresh Strawberries

2 Heaped tbsp of icing sugar

A few sprigs of fresh mint

100ml of Rose wine

(you can pick any alcohol you like, spirits like amaretto, kirsch and spiced rum go well)

For the Crumb

50g of Caster Sugar

50g of Butter

60g of Plain Flour

Dash of Vanilla essence (optional)

To serve

Your choice of cream. We used clotted of course!

Juicy!

Juicy!

Pre heat the oven to 180c/Gas mark 4. De head the stalks and half the strawberries, add them to a large bowl. Tip in all the icing sugar and give it a shake. With a metal spoon gently stir the strawberries so that they are all evenly coated. Try not to stir to vigoroursly as the fruit will bruise. Add the wine and mint, cover with cling film. Leave to marinade until ready to serve. For the biscuit crumb beat the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour and mix until you get a crumble consistancy (its easier with your hands). Tip on to a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20mins until golden brown.  Allow the crumble to cool. when its all ready, assemble then scoff!

Tip: Feeling lazy in the heat? Sprinkle with bashed up biscuits.

Our puny Homepicks

Our puny Homepicks