CHRISTMAS WISHES AND A DESSERT RECIPE FROM
This will be my final post on Mystery Lovers Kitchen and I wanted to leave you with something special. I have loved being part of this wonderful blog with these talented and generous mystery writers and look forward to guesting in future when a new book comes out. I have enjoyed the interactions with our loyal readers, bakers and tasters. What a crew! I'll still be popping in to see what everyone is up to. I hope you all have the best of holidays, full of food, friends, fun and fabulous cozy reading.
A few years ago I saw the brilliant Mary Berry demonstrating Christmas recipes on TV and she showed a meringue wreath. I have dreamed of it ever
since! It was so beautiful and yet it
looked like fun to make.. This is an adaptation of that recipe, using North
American measurements and my mother’s meringue recipe times 1 ½. I also decided to add a bit of orange
liqueur and flavorings to the whipping
cream. The nice thing about whipped
cream is that you can jazz it up any way you want. It’s more an approach than a recipe. I might have saved dessert this for Christmas Day
except that this post is on December 23rd. So I'll have to make another one!
Meringue is easy as long as your egg whites are at room
temperature and there is not a speck of grease on your bowl or beaters.
Berry Christmas Meringue Wreath
INGREDIENTS
6 egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar minus 1 ½ tablespoons
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
¼ tsp cream if tartar
2 cups whipping cream (35 percent)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
½ cup fresh blueberries
fresh mint leaves
1 tsp vanilla
Optional: 3 tablespoons Cointreau or other liqueur or flavoring to taste
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
Meringue cooked at this temperature tends to be chewy rather than crumbly. You don't want this wreath shattering into a zillion pieces!
To make the wreath: You will need a sheet of parchment paper
with a 12-inch diameter circle drawn on it. Inside that draw another circle 6
inches in diameter. This will make a
ring to use to shape your wreath.
Our cookies sheets were not wide enough to
accommodate the twelve in circle so we used a large pizza pan. I am glad we did because the meringue spread a bit while cooking! Be prepared.
Separate eggs.
Add egg whites, vanilla, almond extract and cream of tartar to a large bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. It should be nice and glossy.
Spoon the meringue into the ring on the parchment paper. Swirl it around to suit yourself. Should be pretty.
Using a tablespoon, make a trench for the whipping cream in the middle of the wreath.
Bake for two hours. Cool completely.
Whip cream with sugar, Cointreau and vanilla (or whatever flavorings you choose) until stiff peaks form.
Transfer meringue to a serving plate. Spoon whipped cream into ‘trench’ in meringue, swirling to make it pretty.
Decorate with berries and
mint sprigs. Of course you could use any fruit or candy to decorate this!
Dig in!
I would be surprised if this is not a hit for you! It got raves around here. I will make it next Christmas, because I know I can make the meringue ahead of time and the whipping cream is … well, a piece of cake.
MAY YOUR DESSERT BE BERRY AND BRIGHT!
MARY JANE MAFFINI is the award-winning author of three and a half mystery series: the Camilla Maffini mysteries, the Fiona Silk capers and the Charlotte Adams organizer mysteries – number six coming soon! With her daughter Victoria Maffini, MJ collaborated on The Book Collector Mysteries as Victoria Abbott. Victoria Abbott spent several happy years on Mystery Lovers Kitchen. MJ is very glad to be back and Victoria is waving at you all!
The first five Charlotte Adams are being reissued by Beyond the Page Publishing. Recipes have been added and of course, the organizing tips continue! The Charlotte Adams books have recently been optioned for television films. The pooches on the covers look a lot like guest posters Penny and Ivy.
Organize Your Corpses was re-released as an e-book and a trade paper on May 18. There's a great deal for the e-book. You can order it HERE!
The Cluttered Corpse was reissued on June 15th and Death Loves a Messy Desk arrived on July 13th.
Closet Confidential was out in August.
AVAILABLE NOW!
THE BOOK COLLECTOR MYSTERIES BY VICTORIA ABBOTT aka MJ and Victoria Maffini
Jordan Bingham has a tough time: she's the first person in her large family to go straight. She has learned some useful skills from her crooked relatives but she's trying to hang on to a legit job working for a curmudgeonly book collector. But of course, the bodies keep piling up. There's lots of fun in the book collector series from Victoria Abbott.
Don't forget to check out MJ's Canadian books: Camilla MacPhee features a fortyish widowed lawyer who runs an advocacy agency for victims of violent crime, in Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Life would be easier if she didn't have the world's worst office assistant, the world's bossiest sisters and, arguably, the world's greatest stubborn streak. If you like your mysteries a bit edgy with a side order of humor, these could be for you.
Keep up on the news! You can sign up for updates about MJ and Victoria plus fun and prizes through our newsletter HERE
