MONT BLANC MERINGUES

MAKES 16-24 DEPENDING ON SIZE

MERINGUES 3 medium egg whites 150g light muscovado sugar FILLING AND FINISHING 50g dark chocolate (about 70 per cent cocoa) broken into pieces 200g unsweetened chestnut purée (for example Merchant Gourmet brand) 30g golden caster sugar 100g extra thick double cream ½ tsp vanilla extract icing sugar and cocoa for dusting

Preheat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk to a froth the consistency of shaving foam. Sprinkle over a heaped tablespoon of sugar at a time, whisking well with each addition until you have a smooth, glossy meringue.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper, securing the corners with dabs of meringue. Drop generous heaped teaspoons of the meringue mixture on to the paper (or pipe small decorative rosettes as pictured), leaving plenty of space between them. You should get about 32 mini meringues, maybe several more.

Bake for 1¼ hours. Switch the trays around halfway through. The meringues should be crisp on the outside and sound hollow if tapped on the base. Remove and leave to cool.

To make the filling, gently melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan containing a little simmering water. Whiz the chestnut purée, sugar, cream and vanilla in a food processor until creamy, then add the chocolate and whiz again until smooth and combined. Select matching pairs of meringues and sandwich them with a generous heaped teaspoon of the chestnut cream. Loosely cover with clingfilm, chill and dust with icing sugar or cocoa, or a little of both, before serving. Eat on the day of making.