Passionfruit Meringue Kisses

So as it turns out, Christmas, New Years, an interstate trip and moving house in the space of three weeks doesn’t leave much room for blogging – my apologies! But fear not; I’m back (as is Mel with her delicious Venetian Carrot Cake) and baking with a vengeance.

These are some little treats I made to share with good friends Fran and Robbie (recently engaged!) when we were kindly invited to their house for dinner. Being the 28th of December, no one was in the mood for anything rich or filling, just little sweet treats to end a meal.
These were absolutely perfect and, happily, from a book my grandmother gave me for Christmas The Afternoon Tea Collection from The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Ingredients:

Meringues

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• yellow food colouring (optional)
• 1 teaspoon passionfruit juice (strained)
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Passionfruit butter icing

• 60g unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup icing sigar
• 1 tablespoon passionfruit pulp

Preheat oven to 120 and line oven trays with baking paper.

Beat together the egg whites, sugar and a few drops of food colouring in a small bowl with electric mixer about 15 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Fold in the passsionfruit juice and cornflour. Do not, as I did, expect the egg whites to whip up to peaks. Look instead for a thick, glossy consistency with a little bit of elasticity.

Pipe or spoon the mixture onto small rounds and bake for about 1 hour until brown and then remove and cool on trays.

While they cool, make the passionfruit butter by beating together the butter, sugar and passionfruit pulp.

Sandwich together carefully and place on your prettiest plate.

Enjoy with a cool drink and revel in the adoration you will receive. Despite the simple recipe, these were incredibly moorish and, because of their small size, the entire batch was eaten by just four not-very-hungry adults!