Delia Smith Hazelnut Meringue Recipes

HAZELNUT MERINGUES WITH HAZELNUT PRALINE & CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/100C fan/gas 1. For the meringues, whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar and continue whisking until stiff, add the icing sugar and ground nuts, then gently fold through until evenly combined. Line a baking tray with baking paper and pipe or spoon out rounds of meringue into 7cm discs. Bake for 1½-2 hrs until crisp outside but still soft in the centre. Leave to cool. You need 3 rounds per person. Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container for about 1 week.
• To make the hazelnut praline, warm a small heavy-based pan over a medium heat and cook the caster sugar until it melts and turns a rich caramel colour. Carefully swirl the hazelnuts around the pan (be careful, the sugar is very hot) and allow them to caramelise and brown - about 2 mins. Pour the mixture out onto a tray lined with baking paper. Leave to cool.
• Make the chocolate sauce by heating together 75ml water, the caster sugar and cocoa powder until boiling. Pour over the chocolate and whisk well until smooth.
• To serve, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Finely chop the cooled praline by hand or in a food processor. Stir most of it through the whipped cream, setting a little aside. Place a meringue disc on each plate and top with a little of the cream. Add another disc, more cream, followed by the final disc. Top with icing sugar, cocoa powder and some of the reserved chopped praline, then spoon around some chocolate sauce

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY PAVLOVA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/gas mark 4/350ºF and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar, and the chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm / 9 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C/130°C Fan/gas mark 2/300ºF and cook for about one to one and a quarter hours. When it's ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely. When you're ready to serve, invert on to a big, flat-bottomed plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the raspberries. Coarsely grate the chocolate so that you get curls rather than rubble, as you don't want the raspberries' luscious colour and form to be obscured, and sprinkle haphazardly over the top, letting some fall, as it will, on the plate's rim.

HAZELNUT MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Line the back of a 12" x 18" rimmed sheet pan or a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 225F with the rack centered.
• Prepare meringue according to the recipe.
• Meanwhile, roughly chop 1 cup of hazelnuts. If you're planning to pipe your meringue with a piping tip, you will need to chop the hazelnuts very fine so they do not clog up the tip.
• Add chopped hazelnut pieces to the whipped meringue.
• Carefully, with folding motion (going under, and over) incorporate the hazelnuts into the meringue with minimal amount of strokes.
• Fit a pastry bag with a large french open star tip and fill the bag with hazelnut meringue.
• Pipe the stars onto parchment paper in 25-30 mounts spacing them about 1- 1.5 inches apart OR use two spoons to spoon the meringues. Sprinkle meringues with chopped hazelnuts if you wish. You can make the mounts as even or rough as you want.
• Bake in preheated to 225F oven for 2 hours. To check if the hazelnut meringues are done drying, remove one meringue and break it in half. Let cool and check the center. If the center is dry, the meringues are done.Turn off the oven, leave the oven door ajar by putting a wooden spoon in the crack. Allow to completely cool.