FODMAP friendly rhubarb meringue nests! Meringue is a great intolerance-friendly recipe to have up your sleeve year-round and today I’m sharing my recipe for cloud-like vanilla meringue nests with a crisp outside and a soft, marshmallow-y centre. Topped with creamy rhubarb curd AND tender roast rhubarb, for a deliciously seasonal gluten free and FODMAP friendly dessert. Happy Monday!
With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, this simple but delicious recipe to is ideal to make for those you love, or just to treat yourself. Using simple ingredients, you can make something that tastes pretty spectacular and that looks beautiful on the dinner table too.
The first step is to make and bake your white glossy meringue. Step two is to roast your rhubarb until tender and juicy. Then all that’s left to do is assemble everything together: make a pool of tart buttery curd in the centre of each meringue and top with a tumbling tower of roasted rhubarb. Sounds good, right?
Before you get to it – my top tips for great meringue:
- Make sure that all of your equipment is wonderfully clean. Grease is the enemy and if you’re unsure you can always rub your bowl and whisk with some lemon or kitchen paper dabbed with vinegar
- This recipe uses caster sugar, which is the normal meringue go to (the small grains dissolve easily), but you could also use brown sugar. The meringues won’t be quite as ‘stiff’, but they’ll be more mellow in flavour with delicious caramel vibes
- A low oven is key – you almost want to dry your meringues out, rather than cook them
Recipe notes
- I’ve used the buttery rhubarb curd recipe from my last post. Find it here!
- This recipe makes 8 good size meringue nests – simply halve the ingredients to make four instead
- After a single centrepiece dessert for a crowd? Make one big nest instead of individual nests – just increase the cooking time to suit
- Chopped roasted pistachios (higher FODMAP) would be delicious on top if you can tolerate them too
Ingredients
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
300g rhubarb
60g caster sugar
8 or so tablespoons rhubarb curd
Method
For the meringue nests:
Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas mark 1. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment.
Put the egg whites in a large bowl and using an electric whisk, whisk to stiff peaks. Start slow, creating small bubbles, before turning the power up to high – this encourages a more stable meringue. Whisk in the caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, making sure the mixture re-stiffens again after each addition. This step does take a bit of time, but adding the sugar slowly allows it to be fully incorporated, so don’t rush! Add the cornflour, vanilla and lemon juice and whisk a final time until just incorporated.
Pile the meringue into eight mounds onto the prepared baking sheets and spread out into small circles. Make a shallow dip with the back of a metal spoon in the centre of each meringue mixture. Bake for about 1 hour 30, or until the shells are firm to the touch and can be peeled off the parchment easily. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
For the rhubarb:
Turn the oven up to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends and cut the rhubarb into small pieces. Put the rhubarb in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle over the sugar. Shuffle the rhubarb around so it’s in a single layer.
Cover with foil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the foil. Give everything another shuffle and roast for another 5 minutes or so, or until the rhubarb is tender and the juices syrupy.
To serve, spoon a dollop of the rhubarb curd on top of each of the meringue nests and tumble over the roast rhubarb, along with some of their juices.
