Pavlova

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
2 tsps Corn Flour
400 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp Icing Sugar
1 large can of Fruit Cocktail
Your choice of fresh fruits to decorate

Method:

Meringue
Draw two 8" circles on Grease proof paper
Pre-heat oven to 140C
Whisk egg whites till stiff
Add sugar a little at a time while continuing to beat
quickly add in Corn flour
Pipe or spread egg white on to the two circles
Bake for about an hour or till crisp.
Remove greaseproof paper and let cook

* I prefer a crispy meringue all through rather than the traditional crisp outside and marshmallowy inside. To make it crisp all throuhg, bake a little longer and then let cool in the oven so it dries out.

Filling
Whip cream till stiff
Drain liquid from fruit cocktail and then add into cream mixture
Spread one meringue with the cream and fruit
cover with second meringue and spread remaining cream and fruit on top
Decorate with fresh fruit

Chocolate Cookies or Homemade Oreos without the cream

The recipe

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons castor sugar
6 ounces butter (salted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder


Method
Cream sugar and butter.
Add the salt, egg, water, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Beat in sifted flour and cocoa until well combined (the dough will be stiff)
Roll the dough into small balls. Place the balls on baking paper/greasproff paper/lightly greased cookie sheets and flatten each ball until nice and round. To get a nice round, use the bottom of a glass dipped in cocoa powder. (Note that too much cocoa left over on the biscuit gives a moist, bitter cookie as the cocoa tends to melt a bit in the oven)
You may also use a cookie stamp and cut out shapes.
To get a nice crisp cookie, it’s important to press them thin. For a chewier cookie, let them be a little thicker. Too thin and the cookies will burn. Too thick and they will be chewy. Try out a few first to see what you like.
Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the baking pans and cool them completely on a wire rack.

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