MINI MERINGUE AND PANSY PIES

By Urvashi Roe

If you’re growing pansies then these are delightful bite-sized treats for a lazy Sunday.

Ingredients:

24 ready-made mini pastry cases

Lemon or orange curd

50g egg whites

110g caster sugar

2 tbsp water

Pansies to decorate

Method:

Simply dollop a teaspoon or so of curd into each pastry case and set aside. To make the Italian meringue topping, whisk the egg white until you get soft peaks.

Put the caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat gently until you have a syrupy, bubbly texture - this will be 115°C to 118°C on a sugar thermometer. Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites while whisking all the time and keep on whisking until it forms stiff, satiny peaks.

Pipe a swirl of meringue on top of each of the pastry cases with curd.

Finally, lightly blow torch the meringue to crisp up the edges and then add your pansy for decoration.

The perfect dainty, delicious and colourful treat.