Spring Violets

Hello my Lovelies- I'm back!

I missed you, I really, truly did, but I'm back now Nearly-Good-As-New and ready to get into the blogging groove.
It was a bit hectic there for a while with medical bits and pieces, with the worse part being that while I was in the Operating Room having surgery, BigJ was down in the Emergency Room with a ruptured disc in his back. The hospital certainly got a double whammy from our family that day! It's just as well that we've got such wonderful girls as MiddleC and littlej did a great job helping us, and littlej didn't even mind staying home from school to play Nurse for a while :)
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and well wishes, especially Lorraine, Celia, Charlie, and Tania who cheered me up so much and made my day with their emails and phone calls xox



Anyway, today's recipe is Violet Meringue

It's still Spring, and despite the bizarre Mid-Summer temperatures hitting so early, I have had some gorgeous little violets shyly peeping through the greenery in my kitchen garden. I've mentioned before that I just love floral flavours and violet is one that is so soft and subtle that it matches well with the light, billowy clouds of meringue that remind me of Spring skies and warm weather

Basic Meringue

My basic rule of thumb recipe for meringues, is for every 1 Egg White to use 1/4 cup of Castor Sugar
I also add a tiny splash of white vinegar for acid to strengthen the protein and a good pinch of gf cornflour to prevent any weeping- just in case there are a few stray sugar crystals

You can also add a small amount of liquid flavouring- for this 2 egg white quantity I used 1 tablespoon, and some colour as well. Just make sure that they aren't oil based or the mixture won't whip. (The oil based essence you can see here, I added carefully after beating and quickly marbled through just before baking)
I also used some gorgeous candied violets to add extra yumminess and a bit of texture on top

Make sure your egg whites are nice and clean without any specks of yolk, or they won't whisk. Your bowl and beaters need to be spotless too

Whisk the whites until they froth, then add in the sugar, vinegar and cornflour

Then beat until thick, white and glossy

Add in your violet flavouring syrup and mix through

I mixed the paste colour and violet oil together in a little bowl so it would distribute well

Placed some on the mixture

Then folded it through for a marbled effect

Dollop nice, generous piles of the mixture on baking sheets

Sprinkle with candied violets

Then bake in a 120*C oven for half an hour until the outside is nice and crispy, then turn the oven off and let them cool down inside it to dry out without humidity

I know the photos are a bit different, but I started this post pre-op and have finished it post-op, so a new batch of yummies were required. I should have been clever enough to check my first photos to make them match...but I wasn't :( oops!

Nice and crispy on the outside, with a softer, fluffy middle tasting so beautifully of violets and Spring time- Yummo

So Dear Readers, what's your favourite taste of Spring and who looks after you when you're sick?