An Elegant Dessert - Meringue Chantilly

While I love the Chinese New Year baking season, the part that I would look forward to most was the end of the baking period when mum would use all the leftover egg whites from her CNY bakes to whip up lots and lots of meringues for us. My brother and I simply adore meringues, even to this day - I can safely speak for both of us on that! Sweet, and I mean seriously sweet, crispy shells that simply melt in your mouth and just downright addictive! I do have a sweet tooth but so did my guests! I wanted a dessert that's easy to prepare ahead of time yet still elegant and has that "wow" factor. 

Meringue chantilly is really nothing more than a souped-up meringue with whipped cream and fruit toppings, usually berries. It's very similar to Pavlova, sans the cornstarch that makes the insides of the Pavlova marshmallowy. I love it that you can prepare this ahead of time and keep in air-tight container, and if necessary, reheat in low-temperature to crisp it again.  Since it's not exactly berry season yet, I opted to cook, well in this case, roast the berries to enhance its flavors. It's definitely a high glycemic index treat so in order to lessen the impact, I substituted sugar with agave nectar in the roasted berries. My guests, especially the kids simply loved it! It's fairly versatile: make it bite-size for no-fuss coctail-h'or d'oeuvres party or form it to larger rounds for a sit-down dinner. Definitely an elegant crowd-pleaser. Don't you just love those little rosette swirls?

Meringue Chantilly (recipe adapted from Food Network with adjustments by Jencrafted)

Ingredients:

For the meringue:

• 4 extra - large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 2/3 cupa granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp raspberry extract
• Roasted Berries

For the roasted berries:

• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
•  4 Tablespoons agave nectar 
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

To make the meringues:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed until frothy. 

2. Add the sugar slowly and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks.

3. Whisk in the vanilla and raspberry extract. 

4. With a large star - shaped pastry tip, pipe a disk of meringue to form ~2 1/2 " circle. Pipe another layer around the outer edge to form the "wall" of the shells. Caution: this can be quite messy!!

5. Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight. It's important to leave the meringues in the hours for minimum of 4 hours! I left mine overnight.

To serve, plate the meringue, put a dollop of whipped cream in the center that pour a generous amount of roasted berries over it. Enjoy!

To make the roasted berries:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place the berries on a sheet pan and toss with the sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.