I remember seeing Nigella make these years ago on TV and filed them away for a rainy day. That day finally arrived on a rainy day in lockdown. I have a LOT of egg white in the back of the fridge and freezer because of our endless crème brûlée making so this seemed perfect to try.

I looked at Nigella’s original recipe and realised I didn’t have some of the ingredients so I freestyled and added a combination of ginger, dark chocolate and flaked almonds and it worked out pretty well. Her slightly modified recipe is below. Makes around 8-10 big splodge meringue cookies.

I’ll definitely be making them again with new combinations…perhaps white chocolate, cardamom and hazlenuts would work…

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. With an electric whisk whip up the egg whites with a pinch of salt until you have soft peaks, little by little add the sugar until shiny. By hand fold in the cornflour, vinegar and ginger. Then lightly fold in the flaked almonds and chocolate.

Blob tablespoons of the mixture onto a baking tray and place in the oven, VERY IMPORTANT- turn off the oven immediately and just leave for a few hours in the cooling oven. In around 5 hours or even leave overnight they become crispy, squidgy treats.