Gluten Free Treat: Blueberry and Almond Pavlova

Sometimes it gets frustrating to just not be able to eat what everyone else is having. The whole gluten and lactose free diet thing is so limiting. Add in that food for me needs to be low-fat, and of good nutritional value for the calories (because I'm supposed to try to lose weight while taking steroids) life just gets complicated.

This recipe isn't one of my freezeable ones, so you do have to only cook as much as you need or can use within a day or two. It is, however, a wonderful dessert, that can finish off a dinner nicely, without being over-the-top in calories, and very low fat, with no gluten or lactose.

Only try this if you have an electric mixer. It's great with my fantastic Kenwood Chef, but if I were still using a hand whisk (which I did before arthritic hands) it would be impossible.

So here it is:

Blueberry and Almond Pavlova


Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 punnets fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons flaked almonds

50g dark (dairy-free) chocolate.


Method:

Preheat oven to 120 degrees celsius.

Cut two sheets of baking paper to the size of biscuit trays.  On the back of each sheet draw six circles, each of about 9 centimetres diameter. Turn them over (so the drawn-on side is underneath - but the size and shape can be seen - and use them to line biscuit trays.)

In your electric mixer (use a whisk attachment if you have one for best results) beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.  Add in sugar a teaspoonful at a time while beating.

On one of your prepared baking trays: spoon meringue mix equally into each of the circles and shape to thick discs.

Bake in oven 30 minutes. Then turn oven off, open door, and leave meringues to sit for 60 minutes to cool. (Once cold, meringues can be stored in an air-tight container for a couple of days.)

While meringues are cooking, toast the almonds - spread them on a foil-covered tray and toast under the grill. They brown quickly, so watch closely.

Then the chocolate! Melt the chocolate by placing in a bowl over a dish of hot water. Pour melted chocolate into a plastic bag, and push down into one corner. Snip the end off the corner of the bag, and use like a piping bag, to drizzle lines , swirls or zig-zags of chocolate in each of the circles on your second of your oven trays.  Once you have used up all o f the chocolate, pop it into the fridge to set.

To serve your amazing desserts: on each plate place a meringue, top with blueberries and toasted almond flakes, then top with a chocolate circle.

It looks amazing, is very low in anything unhealthy, and is gluten and lactose free. (It also takes very little physical effort or time to make.)

Serves: 6