At one of my jobs they like to decorate
their offices with Christmas decorations. This is mainly because there’s a
decorating competition at ACP Media and prizes to be won. Anyway, my
contribution was these meringue wreaths from Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa
Zecchini Dowling’s book Party Food for
Girls.
She says the recipe contains lots of sugar
as the meringues are designed to be long-lasting Xmas decorations. They will
keep for weeks. I haven’t done much icing in my time, so mine certainly don’t
look as good as the ones in the book, but dressed with ribbon they do look very
Christmassy.
1 tsp cornflour
340g icing sugar
2 egg whites
pinch salt
1 tsp lemon juice
Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Using a glass, trace circles on the paper with a marker, then turn the paper
over.
Sift cornflour and icing sugar and set
aside.
Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric
beater till soft peaks form. Keep beating, add lemon juice and sugar, one
spoonful at a time, until all the sugar is well mixed.
Spoon mixture into a piping bag and pipe
hollow circles onto the baking paper.
Bake for around 4 hours, opening the oven
every half hour for a few minutes to make sure no humidity develops. Let the
meringues cool down overnight in the open oven.
Attach colourful ribbons and hang them
around your house or on your Xmas tree, or in my case, around the office desks!
Makes 18-20 wreaths