At this time of the year, I always seem to have a glut of oranges lurking in the fruit bowl along with the satsumas, clementines, mandarins and tangerines. Luckily though, orange is my favourite colour so I often look over at them just to perk me up with their bright cheeriness. But, they often don’t get eaten, until now – served with these chocolate ripple meringues.
I cannot bear waste at all so am always trying to find novel ways of using up the fruit and veg that is on it’s last legs. I have discovered a very clever use of orange zest that I had never seen before. If you’re thinking what about the juice? Well that either gets squeezed and drunk by the children straight form the squeezer or it gets frozen in ice cube trays and eaten by the children as a mini lollys!
The idea came from Dan Lepard’s “Short & Sweet”, which arrived on my doorstep last week. I noticed a recipe for Lemon sherbet and thought , hey, I used to love those Lemon sherbet fizz sweets when I was little, I need to make that NOW! Just like every other recipe in this stupendously good book.
But, I only had oranges. Hmmm, surely they would work just as well?? They did and the smell is something else. You have to leave the sherbet to dry in the fridge overnight. The smell the next day is really zingy. I think it would make a superb ice cream flavour if I had an ice cream maker to try it in!
I served the chocolate ripple meringues with some thinly sliced oranges and whipped cream and it was a most pleasing taste combination. One which I will be making again.
Chocolate ripple meringues with orange sherbet
A light crisp meringue flavoured with meringue serve with a zingy orange sherbet.
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites
- 125 g caster sugar
- 50 g icing sugar
- 100 g dark chocolate melted
For the orange sherbet:)
- 50 g caster sugar
Instructions
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Pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees or 100 degrees for a fan oven
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Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks
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Add the caster sugar 1tbsp at a time until the mixture is thick and glossy
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Sift and fold in the icing sugar
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Add the dark chocolate and fold in gently so that the mixture keeps the ripple effect
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Spoon meringues on to a baking tray or two lined with baking parchment
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Sprinkle generously with the orange sherbet
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Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours
For the orange sherbet:)
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Grate the zest of 1 orange and mix it with the sugar
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Leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight on a tray/plate
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Break the sherbet up with your fingertips before using
interesting ! and delicious recipe. Wondering if the sherbet is a bit like the clementine dust I made just sounds less onerous than what I went through! x
Well I don’t know what process it goes through whilst sitting in the fridge overnight, but it sure is effortless and effective!
oh my god these look divine… I adore chocolate orange and these are so up my street… heavenly!
Thanks Dom, I read your post and am in agreement with you over Terry’s chocolate oranges….Love them too!
Chocolate orange is the ultimate taste of christmas for me…I always get chocolate coins and a satsuma at the bottom of my stocking! This looks lovely and I can’t wait to try making the orange sherbet recipe. Yum.
Well you have to thank Dan Lepard for the sherbet, but it is such an easy yet impressive technique to know about!
What a GREAT entry for We Should Cocoa and I LOVE the look of these for the Christmas Buffet table!
Karen
Yes, they keep really well too and would be good in mini versions. I do like a ripple effect :-} xx
Oh wonderful Laura, I don’t know how I missed this sherbet recipe, but I’m glad you’ve alerted me to it. Isn’t Dan wonderful? Love meringues and your ripple ones look very impressive. Photo looks really good too with the oranges. Last weekend I made a load of candied orange peel, but didn’t know what to do with the oranges – it was a bit difficult to juice them after peeling! Anyway, thanks for your fab entry into We Should Cocoa.
Well it is under he meringue section, but it’s for lemon sherbet in the book. I will try lemon next time!
Love the idea of sprinkling the sherbet over shortbread. Brilliant- thank you!
oh i love those colours! this looks like a great sentry for the challenge! everyone’s in love with dan lepard recently haha.
Genius idea – a perfect combination!