Pistachio and Chocolate Meringues

Serves: Makes 6 large meringues

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 80g pistachio nuts, slivers or roughly chopped
• 150g chocolate, broken into small pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Put the egg whites and sugar into a glass or metal bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (don’t boil the water, as this will cook the egg whites).

Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm to the touch.

Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer and, using the whisk attachment, whisk until thick and cool. This should take approximately 15 minutes and the meringue should form stiff peaks.

Fold the chocolate pieces and about three-quarters of the pistachios into the mixture using a large metal serving spoon.

Reserve the rest of the pistachios for decoration. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Using your largest serving spoon, drop 6 big dollops onto the baking tray.

Sprinkle each meringue with the reserved pistachios and put the trays into the oven. Turn the oven off, leaving the meringues to dry out overnight.