Accidental milo meringue

It is hard to miss spotting the decadent and yummy looking meringues in French bakeries. But my maiden French meringue experience didn't quite turn out well. It was 2003. Me and Gwen finally gave in to temptation and bought one meringue to share when we were backpacking in Southern France. It was verrrrry sweet, dry and hard, and still too sweet. We didn't finish our sugary sin.

So, when Rémi and I were left with 4 egg whites after making Crème Brûlée, meringue didn't come to the top of my mind. I searched through my favourite, fail-proof dessert cookbook by Christelle Le Ru but only her chocolate meringue recipe is willing to take in my four egg whites.

It's a choice between wasting the egg whites altogether or experimenting on a new recipe. To substitute for our lack of cocoa powder, we use our favourite milo. The result is a surprise treat -- soft and chewy, with the distinctive malted chocolate flavour that we so love. It can be enjoyed on its own, or broken into small pieces and indulged with plain yoghurt.

Milo meringues
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
230g white sugar
2 big spoons of milo powder
1 teaspoon cornflour

Preheat oven to 180C.

Beat the egg whites and pinch of salt into soft peaks. Add the sugar slowly until the mixture is shiny and glossy. Fold in the milo and cornflour.

Spoon the mixture onto greased baking trays. Leave sufficient space for the mixture to expand.

Bake for 5 minutes. After which turn off the oven but continue leaving it in the oven for 30 more minutes.

The original recipe indicated a quantity of 25 meringues, it filled up 3 trays when we made it.

* recipe adapted from Christelle Le Ru's Simply Irresistible French Desserts.