Anatomy of a Chocolate & Strawberry Vacherin

Sometimes gifts come wrapped, but my favorites are the ones on 3 x 5s, printer paper or through emails titled “re:recipes (almost) worth dying for”. These are the recipes our friends and families talk about at holiday get-togethers, comment on at potlucks and reminisce about....”remember that crab chowder you made that was 90% cream? Yeah, we practically had to cut it, probably 4,000 calories per tablespoon”... Speaking of calories I was amazed to find that TWO-count them, Girl Scout Samoas are a serving and not only that, but 2 quarter size cookies have a whopping 150 calories. No, that's not all that much, until you figure that you have to eat 2 rows to even start satisfying your inner coconut cravings. That would be 12 cookies.....
Back to the story at hand, my cousin in law Rebecca made this amazing dessert for Christmas 2 years ago. The excitement built up as we waited for her to arrive at our aunt/uncle's place with the creation and she didn't disappoint! One of my favorite fruits, rasberries-mixed with whipped cream, chocolate and meringue. So, I begged the recipe from her and started experimenting with it in my signature haphazard way. Now, the original recipe is quite straight-laced and requires things that I never have in my kitchen....such as parchment paper and pastry bags....wouldn't Julia Child be horrified, not to mention Irma Rombauer. Oh well, I just improvised and used strawberries instead of the rasberries because
#1 I had them
#2 They might have gone bad unless used this weekend
#3 They are 1/4 the price of rasberries
#4 The above reasons are good enough for me but I don't like to end lists in odd numbers.....

So, here is the recipe for Chocolate & Strawberry Vacherin- Kim style. And thank you Rebecca for giving me a recipe that Lou likes! That makes 3 desserts now! And that's pretty good, when for a while there I thought we'd be eating pure chocolate ice cream for the rest of our lives. :)

 Chocolate and Strawberry Vacherin (Vach-RAN Thanks, Mrs. Boylan for the heads up! :) I had to look it up too on "listen and pronounce.com" :)

3 egg whites
3/4 cup superfine sugar (I thought it was something special too, until I read the regular sugar container which said superfine.)
1 tsp cornstarch
1 ounce dark chocolate, grated (more or less-grate on a cheese grater)

Filling:
6 ounces dark chocolate
2 cups heavy cream whipped
2 cups fresh strawberries
a little melted chocolate to decorate

Draw three rectangles, 4 x 10 inches, on sheets of wax paper and place on 2 cookie sheets. I used a pencil to draw around the top of my bread pan, which isn't quite those dimensions but its close enough.

Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until standing in soft peaks, then gradually beat in half the sugar, and continue beating until the mixture is very stiff and glossy
Carefully fold in the rest of the sugar, then cornstarch, and grated chocolate with a metal spoon or spatula.
Spoon the meringue mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip, and pipe lines across the rectangles. If you don't have one, just use a ziplock bag, fill and cut a hole in the corner and pipe across the rectangles, then smooth with a butter knife to the edges and make level.

 Bake in a preheated oven at 275 for 1 1/2 hours, changing the positions of the cookie sheets halfway through. Without opening the oven door, turn off the oven and leave the meringues until they are completely cold, then peel away paper.

To make the filling melt the chocolate and spread it over 2 of the meringue layers. Leave the filling to harden.

 Place 1 chocolate coated meringue on a plate and top with about one third of the cream and berries. Gently place the second chocolate coated meringue on top and spread with half the remaining cream and berries. ("pay no attention to the seed trays in the background....")

Place the last meringue on the top and decorate it with the remaining cream and berries. Drizzle a little melted chocolate over the top and serve. Voila!