Coconut & blueberry mini pavlovas

This is my attempt at a low fat dessert for all those folk who harass me with requests for low fat puddings of one sort or another. I’m afraid I’m usually deeply unhelpful and suggest they either eat a very small amount of a delicious, regular pudding or that they simple have some fruit instead. I know for most people this is not helpful at all but I really don’t go in for low far puds. The lowest fat I get is a diet coke after a rare night out that induces a hangover.

So… here is a low fat pudding that does it quite by accident. Mini pavs full of sugar (yes… but you didn’t ask for low sugar, well okay some of you did) and coconut and then topped with blueberry yoghurt (fat content at your discretion) and some delicious fresh blueberries and coconut shavings.

One year ago: Dough balls and Leek, potato and ham soup and Roasted celeriac, carrot and parsnip soup and My lightest Yorkshire puddings

Two years ago: Diet friendly roast pork and Jelly and ice-cream meringue roulade and Good flapjack andBanana, butterscotch and fig traybake

Three years ago: Treasure hunt ice-cream and Rhubarb and ginger chutney and Carrot cake

Coconut & blueberry mini pavlovas

Makes 13

Ingredients:

• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 170g icing sugar
• 70g dessicated coconut
• 200g blueberry yoghurt
• 200g fresh blueberries
• 50g shaved fresh coconut (can be bought in little pots in supermarkets or just use more dessicated if you don’t want to buy a whole fresh coconut)

Whisk your egg whites and cream of tartar until beginning to hold their peaks. Then whisk in 1 teaspoon of the icing sugar at a time. I know this is laborious but if you rush it and throw the lot in you’re less likely to make sure it all dissolves into the egg and you might end up with weeping meringue. Might.

Once the sugar’s all in, the mixture should look really white and glossy, then fold in the dessicated coconut very gently with a metal spoon. Don’t stir vigourously or use your mixer as if you do the meringue collapses.

Pop some foil or baking parchment on a baking tray, fixing it down with a little sticky meringue. Then spoon about 2 heaped tablespoons of the meringue onto the foil/parchment to make each nest. You can leave in a big snowy heap or use your fingers and the back of a teaspoon to slightly hollow out the middle for holding yoghurt later. Up to you. (You can squash the meringues after baking instead to make a pocket for the cream if you prefer, but they will crack as you do this.)

Bake at the bottom and on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at 120C for 30 minutes. (For these are the coolest areas of most ovens and we’re trying to dry these meringues out, not bake them so that they brown.) Then turn down to 100C and bake for a further 70 minutes.

Check the meringue nests are easy to remove from the foil/paper (if not leave in for longer and check again) then turn the oven off and then leave the little snowy meringues to slowly come to room temperature for a few hours in the oven – that’s right, just leave them in the oven. Easier to just make these last thing at night and leave them until the morning in your oven.

Once completely cold I fill with blueberry yoghurt and top with fresh blueberries and shaved coconut then serve immediately.

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