I love cooking. Especially on a Sunday when there’s no rushing around to do and the family sits around relaxing and enjoying the smell of a Sunday roast cooking in the oven. The part I really love though is the pudding. I only make puddings on a Sunday, so it always feels extra special, and one of my favourites are a great (and slightly kitch) dessert: French meringues.

My meringue recipe is straight from the pages of my mum’s first recipe book, the 1960s version of the Good Housekeeping cookbook. I’ve tried lots of meringue recipes, but this is the only one which works every time for me. They’re super easy to make, taste great, are fat free and look very impressive – what’s not to love?

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 150g caster sugar

*Sorry I don’t know the measurements in oz or cups, if you know the conversions please comment and let me know! Ditto with the oven temperature!)

These meringues couldn’t be simpler to make. Whisk your egg whites until they’re stiff and stand up in stiff peaks when you pull your whisk out, then whisk in half the sugar. Once this is done gently fold in  the rest of the sugar and use a spoon to place blobs of meringue mixture on a baking sheet covered in baking paper (you can pipe them if you’re feeling fancy).

Put into an oven at 110 degrees centigrade* for 3 hours for large meringues (and 2.5 hours for little miniature ones), then turn your oven off and leave the meringues in there until they’re cold. I generally make them in the evening and leave them to cool in the oven over night.

*that’s for my fan oven

Serve with lashings of whipped cream.

If you fancy making chocolate meringues (pictured) just add a tablespoon of cocoa powder after all the sugar is mixed in. You can also make coffee meringues by adding a tablespoon espresso powder at this stage instead. IMHO though, nothing beats a regular plain French meringue (and my tummy’s currently full of them). Happy Sunday everyone!