Ingredients
- 10 egg whites from large eggs, at room temperature
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups fresh berries – Cut up 1 1⁄2 cups, and puree the remaining 1⁄2 c.
- Prepared Lemon Curd
- 1 cup heavy cream – cold**
- 2 TB powdered sugar
- **alternately you can use 2 cups of whipped topping, and mix with the curd
- 2 sheets parchment paper
- 2 sheet pans
- pencil
- offset spatula
Steps
First, prepare your template. Fold parchment paper in half and trace half a heart. Turn over and draw the remaining half of a heart. Then lay your second parchment over the first and trace the heart. Place on sheet pans with pencil side down.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Meringues: Put the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk, and beat on high until firm – about a minute. Turn mixer down to low and slowly add the sugar, and beat until you see firm shiny peaks – about 2 minutes.
Remove bowl from mixer and sift cornstarch onto the white, add the vinegar and vanilla, and
fold with a rubber spatula.
Mound half the mixture onto the middle of the hearts and with an offset spatula smooth the egg whites out to the edges of the heart and level the top.
Bake for 1.5 hours, turn off the oven and let set until cool – about an hour. The meringues will be crispy on the outside and soft and chewy inside.
Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks. Gently fold in 2-3 TB of lemon curd – if you like tart, add more.
When ready to serve: Mix cut up berries with berry puree. Place one meringue on a platter (flat side down), top with whipped cream/curd mixture spread to edges, top with second heart.
Drizzle with lemon curd and serve with berries on top!
Couple of hints: if it’s raining or very humid, these meringues may “sweat” and deflate a bit.
So choose a dry day to bake. Do NOT refrigerate, as they will leach fluid/sweat. Keep meringues at room temperature in a dry area until ready to serve.
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