Brown sugar meringues with red wine plums

The plums and meringue can be prepared ahead, making this a fuss-free dessert.

Makes 6 Prep 25 mins plus 1 hr cooling Cook 1 hr 30 mins meringues only

QQQ1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg whites

100g caster sugar

50g light muscovado sugar

FOR THE PLUMS

200ml red wine

85g light muscovado sugar 1 cinnamon stick

9 large ripe plums, halved and stoned 400g crème fraîche

1 Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Combine the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla to make a paste. Whisk the egg whites with a clean electric whisk until stiff and glossy, then whisk in the sugar in three increments, adding a little of the paste and whisking back to firm peaks each time. Keep whisking until the meringue is thick.

2 Spoon six meringue heaps onto the baking sheet, spaced apart, then shape into nests by making dips in the centres with the back of a spoon. Bake for 1 hr, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool in the oven for 1 hr.

3 Next, make the plums. Put the wine, sugar and cinnamon in a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the plums, then poach for 4-5 mins until just tender. Remove the plums with a slotted spoon, peel, then set aside.

4 Turn up the heat and boil the sauce until reduced to a thick syrup, about 5 mins. Pour into a jug and leave to cool. 5 To serve, put the meringues on serving plates and spoon the crème fraîche into the centres. Put three plum halves on each and drizzle over the sauce.

PER SERVING 467 kcals, fat 27g, saturates 17g,

carbs 53g, sugar 52g, fibre 2g, protein 4g, salt 0.2g