Meringue Treasure Chest Food

MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer); beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high; beat in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, then add the extract or zest. Continue beating until the meringue is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.
• For colored cookies, swirl a few drops of food coloring into the meringue or use a small paintbrush to paint 3 long stripes of food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag. For chocolate chip versions, gently fold the mini chocolate chips into the mixture.
• Drop or pipe the meringue as desired, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the meringues stand in the oven until dry, about 2 hours. Top with or dip in melted chocolate and sprinkle with nonpareils.

GOOD MERINGUE

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture forms stiff peaks.

VANILLA MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar. Beat until the mixture is frothy and soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting about 15 seconds between each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, beat for an additional 5 minutes. The egg whites should be glossy and stiff but not dry.
• Spoon the mixture into a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe 2-inch cookies onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 45 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

LIGHTEST EVER MERINGUES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and set up a piping bag with a medium-size star nozzle.
• In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until very stiff - the whites should stand in stiff, not floppy, peaks when the beaters are lifted out. Once you have reached this point, pour in roughly half the sugar and the vanilla extract and whisk again until the mixture becomes very thick, firm and shiny. Add the remaining sugar and whisk again until thick, firm and shiny. If you like meringues with soft, mallowy centres, just add 1 tsp cornflour and 1 tsp white wine vinegar to the mix along with the sugar.
• Carefully spoon the meringue into the piping bag. Push any air out of the top and tightly twist the end of the piping bag to seal. Gently squeeze until meringue is visible at the end of the nozzle, then begin piping onto your lined baking sheets. Pipe spiralling circles, about 6cm wide and 3 layers high - like you would ice a cupcake to make roughly 18. The meringues will spread slightly as they cook, so leave enough space between each one. Bake in the oven for 1 hr, turning the heat down to 120C/100C fan/gas ½ after 30 mins.
• Remove from the oven - they should peel easily away from the parchment - and cool on a wire rack. Can be made up to a week ahead and kept in an airtight container, or frozen for up to 3 months, between layers of parchment, in an airtight container.
• To make Cream & chocolate meringues for dessert, put 100g dark chocolate in a glass bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water. Carefully dip the base of each meringue in to coat, then place on their sides on a plate or tray to set. While the chocolate sets, whip 300ml double cream. Assemble the meringues in pairs and sandwich their chocolate bases together with a good spoonful of cream. Delicious served with ice cream, raspberry coulis or fresh berries.

ULTIMATE MERINGUE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 110C/ 100C fan/gas ¼.
• Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick liner or parchment paper (meringue can stick on greaseproof paper and foil).
• Tip 4 large egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them on medium speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture resembles a fluffy cloud and stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted.
• Now turn the speed up and start to add 115g caster sugar, a dessertspoonful at a time. Continue beating for 3-4 seconds between each addition. It's important to add the sugar slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy.
• Sift one third of the 115g icing sugar over the mixture, then gently fold it in with a big metal spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in the remaining icing sugar a third at a time. Again, don't over-mix. The mixture should now look smooth and billowy.
• Scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape. Or just drop them in rough rounds, if you prefer.
• Bake for 1 ½-1 ¾ hours in a fan oven, 1 ¼ hours in a conventional or gas oven, until the meringues sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a pale coffee colour.
• Leave to cool on the trays or a cooling rack. (The meringues will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.) Serve two meringues sandwiched together with a generous dollop of softly whipped double cream.

TREASURE CHEST CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour. Make and bake cake mix as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan--except use 1 cup water, the oil and eggs. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• From center of cake, cut one 3-inch crosswise strip (see diagram). Cut the strip diagonally in half to make two 9-inch triangular wedges. (Discard 1 cake wedge or reserve for another use.)
• On tray, place a 9x5-inch cake piece. Stir food colors into frosting to make golden yellow. Spread 1 tablespoon of frosting on 1 edge of triangular wedge of cake. Attach wedge, frosting side down, to 9x5-inch cake piece on tray, placing wedge along top edge of larger cake piece. Freeze all cake pieces 1 hour.
• Spread 1 tablespoon of frosting on top edge of triangular wedge of cake. Attach remaining 9x5-inch cake piece to cake wedge to look like partially opened treasure chest. To seal crumbs, frost cake with a thin layer of frosting. Refrigerate or freeze 30 to 60 minutes to set frosting. Spread remaining frosting evenly over entire cake. Pull fork through frosting to look like wood grain.
• Use pull-and-peel licorice to make handles and straps. Fill chest with chocolate coins, candy necklaces, and other hard candies. Add gummy ring half for clasp. Store loosely covered.

MERINGUE TREASURE CHEST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Trace a 9-inch circle on parchment paper and turn over; set aside.
• Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until foamy. Add salt, vanilla powder, and lemon juice; beat to combine. With the mixer running, gradually add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form and sugar has dissolved. Using a rubber spatula, transfer egg whites to circle traced on parchment, mounding in the center.
• Transfer to oven and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Turn off oven heat and let meringue cool completely in oven.
• Place chocolate and 2 tablespoons water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until melted. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat together heavy cream and confectioners' sugar until soft peaks form. Whisk in vanilla. Gently fold chocolate mixture into whipped cream.
• Remove meringue from oven and, using a serrated knife, cut in half horizontally and remove top portion; set aside. Mound whipped cream in the bottom half and top with remaining half. Serve immediately.

TREASURE CHEST CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix all marinade ingredients in a large zip lock or large container with lid.
• Make 3 or 4 deep slashes in each chicken breast.
• Add all the remaining ingredients (the veggies, fruit and chicken) to the container with marinade and toss to coat evenly. Put contents into large baking pan reserving as much of the marinade as possible and arrange the chicken so that is on top. Rub the remaining marinade all over the chicken and into the slashes.
• Place in oven on an upper rack. After 40 minutes for bone-in chicken and 30 minutes for boneless chicken check to see if the chicken is no longer pink. If your vegetables are cut into larger chunks make sure they do not need additional cooking time at this point. If so, remove chicken and keep warm and return veggies to the oven.
• For a crisp skin turn broiler on for 5 minutes before removing from oven.