Baking goods!

Christmas is just around the corner and to keep myself occupied, I bake goodies. Here's a recipe for 'Magic snow sparkles' :P

• 2 egg whites
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar – available in the baking sections of most supermarkets (with the baking powder etc)
• 2 dtsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup
• 60g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar
• 60g white chocolate roughly chopped into small pieces
• – plus an extra (approx) 90g white chocolate to decorate - optional
• Edible sugar craft decorations or edible silver glitter - available at cake craft stores / online – or now in many supermarkets
• Pre-heat the oven to 140°C / fan 120°C / Gas Mark 1 and put the oven racks in the centre of the oven if possible. Cover two large baking trays with silver foil.
•  Whisk the egg whites and the cream of tartar with a stand / electric whisk for 2 minutes, starting slowly and building up the speed. You’ll see it get white and frothy. Meanwhile heat up the syrup in a small pan, stirring with a metal spoon to help loosen it.

1. The egg whites will start to look less frothy and more like a billow of white snow – the ‘soft peaks’ stage. At this point, put the speed up even faster and slowly pour in the caster sugar.
2. The syrup should be warmed through and bubbling a bit – give it a last quick stir through to loosen it. After the caster sugar is in, slowly pour in the heated syrup, still beating at this fast speed (try to aim it into the meringue – though don’t worry if some hits the side and crystallises). The meringue ‘peaks’ now will be firmer.
3. Stop the whisking and gently fold through the chocolate. Dollop dessertspoons of the mixture onto the trays. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 140°C. Then reduce the heat down to 100°C / fan 90°C / Gas Mark ¼  and continue baking for 1 hour 15 minutes. Finally leave in the (turned-off) oven for a further 30 minutes - 1 hour.
4. Melt the additional chocolate (carefully) in the microwave, taking care not to over-heat it. Carefully peel the cookies away from the foil, drizzle (or pipe) a little melted chocolate over each one and then sprinkle with a little Christmas ‘magic’ (the decorations / glitter).

• Tips!
• Add a couple of handfuls of chopped pecans when you add the chocolate.
• Try crumbling these over vanilla ice cream…