Homemade Meringue and An Easy Peasy Dessert

I can't remember ever going to my grandmother's house and there isn't a big green tin on her kitchen shelf that's full of meringues. We would get an after lunch treat of ice cream with meringue crumbled over the top. Or a bowl of fresh ripe raspberries with meringue on top. Or just a meringue to go with your afternoon coffee. My sister absolutely loves them, so much that my grandmother brought over a whole tin for Christmas. 

People are often confused when they see I freeze my egg whites when I only need the yolk for a recipe. But egg whites actually freeze really well and once I have a small container full I usually whip up a batch of meringue. 

Speculoos Tiramisu - It's Starting to Taste A Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday we had L's parents over for a pre-Christmas lunch. L and I will be heading off to Germany soon for a cold Christmas in the Northern hemisphere. I'm so excited!

After prawns for entrée and a turkey that L had prepared, I brought out my dessert.

Lemon Pie Bites

With all this good food that I'm eating I do have to watch my waistline a bit, most people in Australia would have heard of Lola Berry by now. The young, blonde nutritionist that makes healthy food look and taste awesome.

I've had her 20/20 Diet Cookbook for a while, and have tried a few things. To be honest, I'm not very good when it comes to staying away from desserts, so when I found this recipe in her book I had to try it.

These tangy little balls are delicious and yet healthy. Win/win I think!

Lemon Pie Bites

150 g (1 ½ cups) almond meal*

45 g (½ cup) desiccated coconut

3 tablespoons maple syrup

juice of 3 lemons

zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla pod, split and scraped

125 ml (½ cup) coconut oil, melted

pinch pink salt

60 g (1 cup) shredded coconut, for rolling*

Put all the ingredients (except the coconut for rolling) in a food processor and blitz for 30 seconds. 

Place a teaspoonful of the mixture into your palm and shape into a little ball. Roll in the shredded coconut and place on a plate. Repeat until you have used up all of the mixture. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until firm. Store in a plastic container in the fridge or freezer.

*Notes:

I used a Thermomix, so instead of using almond meal I just blitzed 150g of raw almonds, a bit cheaper than almond meal.

Rolling the bites is much easier with slightly damp hands. I actually used of mixture of shredded and desiccated coconut for rolling. 

Recipe taken from Lola Berry's 20/20 Diet Cookbook.