Chocolate and Chestnut Meringue

I made this instead of traditional Christmas desserts this year. I know it can be considered blasphemous but I don't really care. I'm not a massive fan of raisins so Christmas cake and pudding really do nothing for me. I'd never tried chestnuts before and Waitrose had tins of chestnut puree on offer so I decided to get one and try something with it. I think they're an acquired taste despite not being too flavourful and overpowering but with the addition of chocolate went down very well indeed!

This is the finished result. Not bad for a bit of experimentation eh?! It's a simple meringue base with a chocolate and chestnut cream, topped with toasted almonds and drizzled with chocolate. I can't remember exact quantities as to be honest, I didn't measure anything! It was all just a bit of judgement and chucking a few things together and seeing what happened.

 

Ingredients

6 egg whites

350g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

 

1/2 tin chestnut puree

Large tub of double cream

Icing sugar to taste (a few tbsp)

200g good quality dark chocolate

100g good quality milk chocolate

Small handful toasted flaked almonds

 

Method

1. Start by whisking the egg whites in an electric mixer with a pinch of salt. When they form soft peaks, add in the sugar a tablespoon at a time with the mixer running. When you have a firm, glossy meringue, stop mixing.

2. Spread the meringue out in a large circle on some baking paper. I did this freehand and just got it as circular as I could but if you're not too good at it draw around a plate on the reverse of the baking paper to give you a guide.

3. Bake at 140 degrees Celsius for 45 mins to an hour until firm and then turn the oven down to about 80 and leave it in there for about another hour to cook through. I didn't make it so it was hard all the way through as I like a really soft meringue. It's really up to you how long you cook it for if you want it firm or gooey and fluffy.

 

Leave the meringue to cool completely in the oven with the door shut. I made mine the day before and just left it in the oven overnight.

 

For the chocolate and chestnut cream, whip the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks are formed. You don't want it too firm as you'll find it difficult to mix everything together and it won't be as soft. The chocolate will firm up the mix when it sets anyway so don't worry about it being soft. You want the cream to hold its shape but without being stiff.

When the cream is softly whipped, fold in the chestnut puree. I did this in two batches to fold it in without knocking too much air out.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. You want to leave it to cool slightly before mixing it through the cream.

When slightly cooled, fold in most of the chocolate, leaving some in the bowl to drizzle on top later.

Taste the cream and add sifted cing sugar to taste if it needs it. Remember the meringue will be sweet so don't overdo the sugar!

Spread the cream over the cooled meringue, top with the almonds and drizzle with the remaining chocolate.

 

Tips

I served it with a salted butterscotch sauce which went really well considering I didn't add icing sugar to the cream. It really offset the bitterness of the chocolate. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the 'darkness' of the chocolate but I found it a bit too overpowering so added some milk chocolate to the recipe too.

Make the meringue a day ahead and leave airtight to save time. It makes it a really quick, simple dessert to assemble if all you have to do is make the chestnut cream!

Dust the meringue with cocoa powder if you want to decorate it a bit before you add the chocolate cream. If you couldn't tell before I tend to overdo the chocolate content...

Toast the almonds in a dry pan over a low heat. It's really easy to burn them so keep an eye on them!

Stick the baking paper to the tray with blobs of the meringue.. it stops the paper flying up and sticking to the meringue if you have a powerful fan!