Meringue Rocky Roads.

 

Get ready for a chocolate overload if you're about to make these! But let's be honest, is there ever such a thing as too much chocolate? That question doesn't even deserve an answer. We all know that the presence of chocolate in our lives can only ever be a good thing. I even read an article recently that linked frequent chocolate consumption with weight loss. Now I am always very sceptical about studies of this sort, but for the purpose of this recipe (and because I hate to think how many calories are in each bite!), I am going to ignore all instinct and just go with it. So yes, eating one of these treats may just help you to lose weight*. 

Anyway, I digress. I came across a recipe for Le Gâteaux aux Petit Lu (what I like to call Meringue Rocky Roads) in April's issue of French Glamour and couldn't wait to give it a go. Basically, it looked just like Rocky Roads, except the marshmallows were replaced with meringues. Now, I can't really say I'm a massive fan of marshmallows, so this alteration suited me perfectly. When Abbey and I were together last weekend, we had a craving for chocolate and these chocolatey treats satisfied our need for something sweet. Of course, I didn't have my magazine with me, but I found this recipe on the Internet, which was virtually identical. They are soooo easy to make (and don't actually require any cooking!) and were the perfect addition to a night in watching Hairspray with a cuppa. 

We decided to be a little adventurous though and tried to make the meringues ourselves. Unfortunately, they didn't quite go as planned and it was another one of my mini kitchen disasters. After finding a meringue recipe, we realised that the quantities were too big, so we halved them. Except we used half the amount of egg whites and somehow got distracted and forgot to half the amount of sugar! When we were whisking the sugar in we thought something musn't have been right, because the mixture was just not getting stiff enough. Then it dawned on us that we hadn't changed the sugar quantity! Ooops. Thankfully, the meringues tasted fine and cooked all right in the oven...they were just exceptionally sweet and not quite the usual meringue-shape! We still used them in the Rocky Roads. I'll just know next time to be a bit more careful when altering a recipe. 

Meringues that don't really look like meringues!

Definitely give these a go if you're in need of a chocolatey boost. And a word of advice: they're best eaten as fresh as possible so the biscuits are still crunchy, not that I imagine this will be a problem of course...

*Just to set the record straight, I am sure this is defnitely not the case at all! I mean, it's just too good to be true. What it really means is eating a small amount of chocolate often is better than eating a lot all in one go.

Meringue Rocky Roads   makes about 10 slices, depending how big they are!

Ingredients:

40g Meringues

1/2 Packet Plain Biscuits (I used French Petits Beurres)

100g Dark Chocolate

50g Cocoa Powder

200g Butter

60g Sugar

2 Eggs

Method:

1. Break the meringues and biscuits into small pieces of about 1cm with the aid of a knife, but not so small they turn to powder.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of boiling water and allow to cool.
3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs together.
4. Add the eggs, cocoa and sugar to the chocolate/butter mixture and mix well.
5. Add the biscuits and meringues and mix again.
6. Cover a cake tin with cling film and pour the mixture into it.
7. Cover with foil and place in the fridge overnight (we didn't because we couldn't wait, but it didn't matter!).
8. Remove from the fridge and cut into slices.
9. Enjoy! A cup of tea and Hairspray are not necessary but certainly recommended accompaniments!