1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbs cocoa
1/2 cup (110g) good - quality strawberry jam
250 punnet strawberries, hulled and halved
300 ml thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, split, seperated
Preheat oven to 140c. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Place egg whites and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a sauce pan of barely simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water), stirringuntil the sugar has dissolved. Transfer the mixture to an electric mixer and whisk until firm peaks form. Carefully fold in the cornflour and vinegar with a metal spoon until just combined.Sift the cocoa over the egg white mixture and carefully stir through with the metal spoon until you have lovely chocolate swirls.
Spoon the mixture into 6 large rounds on the prepared tray, making a slight indent in the centre of each with the back of the spoon. Place in oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120 degrees. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until crisp and dry. Allow meringues to cool completely in the oven.
Meanwhile, place the jam and 1/4 cup cold water in a saucepan over low heat and stir gently until the jam is melted and syrupy. Remove from the heat, then stir through the strawberries. Allow to cool. Whisk cream with icing sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Keep chilled until ready to serve.To serve, top the meringues with the whipped cream and spoon over glazed strawberries.
**Firstly, i reduced the sizing and got a lot more than 6! Which is good because as soon as they were ready they were GONE! I didn't even get to try one!!!! So from that I have concluded they were out of this world yummy! :) It was complicated for making meringue but the quality and texture definately showed it was worth the extra bit of fiddlign.
