Blackberry-Lavender Dacquiose and Strawberry Meringues

 If you have read any amount of my prior posts, you know I get stuck on things and have to get them out of my system. For a while it was rhubarb. Then elderflower. Then I went on a meringue spree. I adore a beautiful Pavlova and so I was interested in using meringue in other unique ways. Enter Strawberry Meringues and Blackberry-Lavender Dacquoise.  The Strawberry Meringues were from a Better Homes and Garden magazine that I browsed while my husband was having cancer treatments. The idea fermented and became, shall we say, ripe, when strawberries became very cheap. At that point, when the berries are so prolific, I stock up and chop and freeze and munch and cook like there is no strawberry tomorrow. The very fact that this was essentially a regular meringue, layered with an unsweetened strawberry puree, to become something like a cookie was intriguing. Here is the meringue recipe:
 

Heat oven to 250 degrees.

In a blender, puree 1 and 1/2 cup of hulled strawberries. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, separate out 6 egg whites (absolutely NO yolk, not even a speck!), add 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Beat until the mixture goes past foamy and becomes soft peaks. These will wilt when you raise the beater.

Now add in 1 and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, one tablespoon at a time. This is important, don't be impatient. I have been and the meringue will collapse. Beat on high until stiff and glossy peaks form. A stiff peak will hold its shape and not fall.

Put parchment paper on baking sheets and spoon layers of meringue in roughly 3 inch circles. Spoon some strawberry puree on the mound. It does help to make the edges a little higher to hold it in. Now top with another small dollop of meringue and swirl over the berry layer. 

Here's where I left off the recipe. I had plenty of these to feed my family so that we could try them, and I still had half the meringue batter left. Instead of making the full amount of cookies, I turned the rest into a Blackberry-Lavender Dasquoise. You do what you want. Make your amount of cookies and then bake them for 75 minutes. That is not a typo. You cook low and slow to essentially dry out the meringue to a sandy texture. Turn off the oven and prop open the door, leaving the sheets inside for another hour. Then transfer to racks to cool. 

If you decide to go on and do the Dacquoise, you should look and see where I got the idea.
http://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/2016/04/dacquoise-with-blackberries-and-cream.html .Of course, after looking at her pictures you will never come back. I've got my fingers crossed that you're loyal! Now you see why I wanted to make it...

If you are following my twisty course, you will have half your meringue batter left and so you don't need the recipe from the site. The main thing is that they stirred in chopped hazelnuts. So many recipes include hazelnuts and my area of the world does not have these in stores! I have only just been able to find hazelnut flour and I consider that an enormous boon. So, I used a southern staple instead, the pecan. They used 10 oz. of hazelnuts. I used one cup of pecans, toasted and chopped fine. Fold these gently into your meringue mixture. Or hazelnuts if you can find them, but don't brag about it!

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Line a half-sheet baking pan (with sides) with parchment paper. Smooth the mixture out to cover the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and crusty feeling. Put the parchment paper and all on a rack to cool. When it is almost cool, you will cut it in three pieces. If you wait till it is completely cool it will shatter when you cut. It will still break a bit, so don't panic. Use a big, sharp knife and plunge in!

Now that's over, take a breath. You're doing great. Beat one cup of heavy cream with a splash of vanilla and a tbsp spoon or two of powered sugar. Taste it and decide if you want more. Keep in mind that blackberries are mouth puckering, but meringue is very sweet. Here is where I went out on a limb again. I had Lavender Sugar and used it instead.  I tell how to make this in a post called Rose and Lavender Sugar. Whip your cream until it will hold its shape. You are going to be layering it on the meringue and don't want it to creep out like the blob.

Now it's beauty time! Put one meringue layer on a platter and put on half of the cream. Top with berries. Add next meringue layer and repeat. HINT- I save the prettiest looking section for the top since you see it most. You can save a berry or two for decor on top, if you want. Slice with a sharp knife and expect some shattering. It's what meringue does, but it still looks beautiful!

My verdict? What I loved most about the Strawberry Meringues was the ease of making and how the unsweetened berries added a perfect and much needed tart layer to the very sweet base. The fruit actually roasted in the long bake. The cookies were splintery sweet but also had a pleasant marshmallow-y chew. Yum!

The Dacquoise was so lovely I could have just sat and looked at it. But I am glad I tasted instead!

Again, the tart of the berry was welcome against the sweet meringue. The nuts were a perfect compliment that I would not have thought of. And the pillow-y cream was a great contrast to the crack of meringue bases and the firm bite of berries. As for the lavender? I loved the subtle undertone with the blackberries, but it would have been just as luscious alone.

All in all, this was immensely satisfying because I started thinking I was only making one dessert and instead was able to take both to family dinner, each beautiful and satisfying in their own way. 

I would think that this had gotten me past meringue and ready for a new obsession, but it only makes me want a Pavlova...:)