These very delectable little things are a special! bonus! dessert I made for Christmas day, that were received with general despair and cries of "but we couldn't POSSIBLY eat another thing!". However, those who were bold enough, or could suppress their stomach churnings really enjoyed the experience!
What I was trying to acheive were the beautiful mini meringues Nigella shows in Domestic Goddess, but I failed completely. I've never before had a problem with egg whites not beating and getting fluffy before, but the day I did these there was nothing happening! They stubbornly refused to gain anything apart from a sickly, anaemic looking froth. It looked really unappetising. It may have had something to do with the fact it was 38 degrees and sticky that day..... But I persevered and although what came out of the oven were almost completely flat, they were nicely dry and crispy, and I thought they'd still be nice with whipped cream and some tart cranberries. In fact, the crispiness of the meringue was perfectly complemented by the soft whipped cream, and their sugariness perfectly offset by the tangy cranberries.
I made the cranberry preserve by using Nigella's hands free jam method I disovered recently , but as I didn't want the preserve to be nearly as runny or as sweet as before I increased the amount of berries, and halved the amount of sugar. It came out perfectly, and after it cooled I added about a handful of uncooked cranberries I had reserved earlier, to make it a thicker, more sour jam - so I could use it for an accompaniment to the roast turkey as well as dessert. Thrift is my friend!
All up, a very easy and yet very impressive looking dessert to create.
SO pretty!
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