RECIPE: Cherry & blueberry meringue smash

2 mins to read

With antioxidant-rich berries, this smash is delicious served with whipped coconut cream and crunchy nut praline- recipe by nutritionist Jessica Cox

Everyday health

{Serves: 6 people}
{Preparation time: 30 minutes + 15 minutes serving time}
{Cooking time: 1 hour}

Ingredients

4 large free range, organic eggs
1/2 cup organic sugar (white)
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup pistachios
1/3 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1 heaped teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon rice syrup
100 grams fair trade dark chocolate (70% plus)
1/2 cup 100% prune juice
3 - 4 thin slices fresh ginger
1 punnet blueberries, washed well
2 handfuls cherries, washed well
300 grams (or 1 and 1/3 cups) whipped coconut cream

How to make

Start by preheating the oven to 150oC. In a clean mixing bowl whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Gradually add in the sugar with the salt continuing to whisk as the mixture becomes shiny. Continue whisking for a good 5 minutes. Ideally you want there to be no grains of sugar in the mix when you pinch it between your fingers.

Take a large baking tray and cover it with a piece of baking paper. Spoon out the meringue mix onto the baking paper and gently push the mix out into a rough circle or rectangular shape. I usually aim for the size of an A4 piece of paper as Jamie suggests. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until hard on the outside and slightly browning.

In the interim, start on your chocolate sauce, coconut cream and praline nuts. To make the chocolate sauce, heat the chocolate in a saucepan with the prune juice and ginger. Allow the chocolate to melt and stir gently to combine. Once all is combined, set this aside to cool.

To make the praline nuts, add the pecans and pistachios to a non-stick frying pan on low heat. Allow them to gentle toast, tossing them as you do so. This should take around 4 - 5 minutes. Add in the coconut oil and stir through for another 2 minutes. Add the rice syrup and stir through well for 1 minute, then set nuts aside off the heat.

To make the whipped coconut cream see here (or use ready bought whipped coconut cream if you prefer).

When the meringue is cooked, leave it to cool in the oven with the door open for around an hour. Then remove it from the oven and leave it to cool completely before dressing.

When you are ready to serve, place the meringue on a serving platter with plenty of room around it. Start by topping with spoonful’s of whipped coconut cream, followed by half of the blueberries and cherries. Then scatter on half of the praline nuts followed by a good drizzle of the chocolate sauce.

Repeat each stage again using the remaining ingredients and finishing with the chocolate sauce (you will not use all of the sauce, so put it in a jug and serve it along side the meringue smash).

Serve the meringue smash immediately to your guests in the middle of the table. Give each person a spoon and tell him or her to tuck in!

Please note, this dish is best served immediately after dressing. Otherwise the meringue will go soggy underneath. It will still taste yummy, but you will loose the textural component.To make in advance prep all the toppings with the meringue, then serve when ready.

Nutritional Information

As far as desserts go nutritionally, this one certainly brings some lovely aspects to the table.

Blueberries and cherries are rich sources of flavonoids, anthocyanins and resveratrol, phytochemicals shown to exhibit strong potential for quenching free radical activity.

Cherries in particular have been quite popular of late with researchers in regards to their ability to inhibit inflammation (through down regulation of inflammatory pathways similar to NSAIDS). In particular, studies have shown promising results for reduced inflammation for athletes consuming cherry juice prior to race events (Kerry S Kuehl, etal, 2010).

Of course, these amounts consumed are from concentrated cherry juice, and to transcribe this to every day life we would need to consider the actual consumption amount of cherries as a whole fruit needed to give the same results.

However, adding cherries to our daily intake is certainly advantageous given such therapeutic activity.

This meringue smash is quite low in sugar compared to any meringue you will buy or generally make from a cookbook. The sugar content has been kept to an absolute minimum, just enough to give sweetness and hold to the meringue. Otherwise, the sweetness in this recipe comes from the adorning berries and cherries and the prune juice within the chocolate sauce.

Jessica Cox

Jessica is a passionate foodie and qualified, practicing nutritionist with a Bachelor Health Science (Nutrition), with over eight years of clinical experience. She is the founder and business owner of the successful Jessica Cox Nutritionist Clinic based in Brisbane, Australia. The Jessica Cox Nutritionist Clinic (JCNC) treats all facets of health conditions, though specialises with ongoing digestive issues and food intolerances.

Jess is also the creator of the Jessica Cox website and blog, an expression of everything she loves rolled into one, including her passion for creating recipes that catering for food intolerances. Jess is available for consultations at her clinic based in Brisbane, along with Skype and Phone consultations for national and international clients.

Contact Jess with any queries or questions at jessicacox.com.au or email reception@jessicacox.com.au. Source great food ideas and more by following Jess on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.