Coconut meringue with pomegrante, mascarpone & mint

Coconut meringues layered with pomegranate arils and mascarpone, drizzled with mint syrup

Not because at one Christmas party I brought over some coconut meringues, I wouldn't realize that our families (from New Jersey and New Hamsphire in the States) hadn't ever tasted home-made meringue, and coconut.

Egg white foam is baked under low heat for hours (depending the size), it turns out to be dry and feather-light meringue. Included spoonfuls of desiccated coconut in egg foam gives the meringue a good crunch, also makes people curious about the unexpected new taste; who would go for one more piece (and then more) in order to trace out its hidden aroma.

At the party all the meringues were practically devoured in minutes. To my delight, the ones who ate the most were kids and weight-watchers, who are usually hard to please in my experience. By the way, I must send a basket of coconut meringues to my landlady from time to time, oh well, she hadn't raised our rent for 5 years :) :)

Pour the candy to pomegranate arils. Some arils will fall after meeting the heat they shrink.

I learn pairing meringue with fruit and mint from a local food magazine, micocina - postres. I also follow its idea and make my meringue as thin as a disk. These "disks" actually melt in your mouth instantly! They keep well in air-tight container for a few days. If prepared ahead, such an elaborated presentation as the photos shown can be done in a minute.

Egg white foam at its soft-peak enable me to spread it thin. Since the following recipe yields many meringue "disks" and the oven couldn't bake them all at once; I whisked them to its hard-peak first. The first batch of "disks" were thick, but the second batch (after sitting for an hour the foam deflated a little bit) came out thin. Either way, they tasted good.

Recipe of coconut meringue with pomegranate, mascarpone & mint

You will need:

1. pomegranate, please check Ann's video for how to take out the arils
2. mascarpone
3. mint syrup, I used store-bought
4. coconut meringue, and its recipe as follows:

To make coconut meringue (yields about 5-cm disks, 50 - 60 pcs)

• 2 egg whites
• 90 g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut, unsweetened

how-to:

• Pre-heat the oven to a low temperature, around 110C/225F (mine is a convection oven). Line two large baking trays with silicon baking paper
• In a big dry, clean and grease-free mixing bowl, beat the egg whites for a minute, add salt and cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until it's close to soft-peak form, start to add sugar, little by little, and beat quickly. When it's almost to hard-peak foam, add coconut, combine well.
• Spoon the meringue with a teaspoon on the baking paper, spread it to about 5 cm-diameter circle. No need to leave much space between circles as they don't spread during baking. Cover and send the left-over egg foam to the fridge.
• Bake the meringue "disks" for about an hour or depending the power of your oven, rotate the trays once in the middle of baking. Take they out before they start turning brown. Repeat the same procedure to the left-over egg-foam.
• To assemble the dessert : Right before you serve, layer the meringue "disks" with mascarpone and pomegranate arils, drizzle mint syrup to finish.

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