Fig and Chocolate Meringues

Submitted by Lee_tahB

"From Australian Women's Weekly. A prize recipe by Margaret Flood of Brunswick, Victoria. Can be made up to a week ahead. Store in an airtight container to prevent them losing their crispiness. They are very sweet so have them with a cup of coffee!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Yields: 45 cookies

ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 3 drops white vinegar
• 1 1⁄4 cups caster sugar
• 1 cup dried fig, finely chopped
• 200 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3⁄4 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

directions

1. Preheat oven to (150°C/130°C fan-forced) Or 300°F Line 3 oven trays with baking paper.
2. Put egg whites and the few drops of vinegar in a clean bowl. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Gently fold through figs, chocolate and hazelnuts.
3. Drop tablespoons of mixture onto trays, about 3cm apart. Bake for about 40 minutes or until dry to touch. Turn off oven. Leave in the oven with the door slightly ajar for about an hour. This lets the centres dry out a bit more.
4. NOTE1: To toast hazelnuts - Preheat oven to (180C) 350°F In a cookie sheet, toast hazelnuts in one layer in middle of oven 5 to 10 minutes, or until lightly colored and skins start to crack open. Wrap nuts in a clean dish towel and let steam 1 minute. Rub nuts in towel to remove loose skins (don't worry about skins that don't come off) and cool completely.
5. NOTE 2: The meringues are a bit crumbly, so next time I am going to bake them in pretty mini muffin papers, just on a cookie sheet. They taste fantastic, but look a bit bland. So I am going to put a bit of melted chocolate on the top and then top with a toasted hazelnut.