I was lucky enough to get a advanced copy of meringue girls new book ‘everything sweet’. It’s amazing there are so many beautiful recipes I want to try but I decided to do this one first. I have the meringue girls first book and always use the meringue girls mixture when ever I make meringues as it always turns out perfect
The book will be released here in the UK on July 30th but you can pre order it now on here.
also I noticed their first book is £3 at the moment on amazon so i would snap it up at that amazing price.
I was excited to try this recipe first as i thought the combination of sweet cherries with balsamic vinegar and sweet labneh sounded so intriguing.
The introduction to the recipe said “the outcome is a deep crunchy meringue shell with a deliciously sweet, sour, salty,umami filling”.
So I could not resist trying it.
First make the labneh
1.2 kg greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp runny honey
This needs to be made 24 hours in advance
Line a large colander with cheesecloth or muslin.
Stir the salt in to the yoghurt and pour through the cheese cloth. set the colander over a bowl to catch the liquid that drains off.
Leave to drain for 24 hours in the fridge then transfer the yogurt left in the cheese cloth into a bowl and fold in the honey.
1 batch of meringue girls mixture
300g caster sugar
150g egg whites from about 5 eggs
( what I do is measure out 5 egg whites then measure out double that amount in sugar)
Preheat the oven to 200c
Line a baking tray and spread the sugar onto it heat the sugar for about 7 minutes until it starts to turn golden. During this time start beating the egg whites, beat them slowly allowing small stabilising bubbles to form then increase the speed until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
(Make sure you time egg whites so that they are stiff at the same time as the sugar is hot)
Take the sugar out of the oven and turn it down to 100c ( I usually leave the door open for a minute or two to help cool it down). Turn the mixer to full speed and pour in the hot sugar and whip for about 5 minutes until it is thick and glossy.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and spoon the meringue mixture into the centre and mould into a spiky circle with your spoon then using the back of the spoon make a well in the centre.
Bake in the oven for 3 hours.
Once cooked it should have a firm base and come away from the baking paper.
For the macerated cherries
300g fresh cherries stones removed
60ml balsamic vinegar
110g caster sugar
To make the macerated cherries, heat the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a medium pan until the sugar has dissolved then turn the heat down and add the cherries. Take off the heat and remove the cherries with a slotted spoon and reduce the balsamic syrup and little further until it has a nice drizzly consistency.
Place the meringue in the centre of your serving plate spoon in the labneh then add the cherries and drizzle over some of the syrup. Finish with some pistachios and some more cherries with the stalks on.
linking up at
pAVLOVA IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE DESSERTS AND THIS ONE IS A BEAUTY! lABNEH AND BALSAMIC CHERRIES…WOW! gORGEOUS PHOTOS TOO.
Thankyou so much I’m so glad you like it cxx
So in love with this beautiful pavlova <3
Thankyou so much x
Looks so pretty! But i don’t understand how you get the meringue to go up and around the filling? Did you make two layers? Please explain!!
I piped it onto the baking paper then used the back of a spoon to make the ridges
So lovely, that cherry balsamic topping is gorgeous!
Thankyou laura xx