Peanut Brittle Meringue Roulade

Some of the best food comes when you least expect it! I was happily making some dough for my panettoni when I realised I had 4 egg whites left over. As ever I have a need not to waste anything so wondered what would become of the egg whites! 

My thought turned to meringue as its nice and easy and I could find some other ingredients in the cupboard and fridge to make something interesting. So I decided to make a Meringue Roulade as I have double cream in the fridge and decided to pimp this up with some peanut brittle. I could have gone for roasted hazelnuts however I have a customer (my son) that doesn't like hazelnuts so went for peanuts! I used salted peanuts as the salt adds an extra flavour into the mix. 

To make this roulade I used the following. 

As ever experiment however keep the measures the same for the egg whites and sugar. Ie for every egg white have 55g of sugar. 

For the meringue

4 Egg Whites

220g Sugar

For the filling

1/2 Pint Double Cream

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the Peanut Brittle

200g Sugar

75g Salted Peanuts

To make the meringue preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Now slowly add the sugar a spoon at a time allowing the sugar to be incorporated into the egg white, take your time, there is no rush! Once the sugar is incorporated pour the mixture into a swiss roll tin that has been prepared with a sheet of baking paper. Using a baking paper as this will help later when then meringue is cooked. Spread the mixture equally across the tin and put it in the oven. Cook for 10 minutes before turning the oven down to 140C for further 20 minutes. The idea is to dry out the meringue so its super crispy and melt in the mouth! Once the meringue is cooked take it out and place another sheet of baking paper over the top, turn the meringue over and place on a flat surface, remove the tin and remove the baking paper used for the cooking process. Allow to cool.

To prepare the cream, add the cream and the vanilla extract into a mixing bowl or food mixer and mix until you have soft peaks. Don't over whisk or you will have butter, make sure you get to soft peaks otherwise the cream will run everywhere! 

To prepare the peanut brittle, put the sugar in a thick based saucepan and gently heat. Wait for the sugar to melt - this is going to be really hot so do not touch it and be careful! Once the sugar has melted and you have a golden liquid throw the peanuts in. You could use any sort of nut to be fair they all taste good! Now pour the hot sugar and nuts onto a baking tray that has been greased - this will stop the sugar sticking to the base. Once it is cold break it up and pop it into a food processor and crumble the nut brittle. 

Now for the building of the roulade! 

With the meringue cold cover it with the whipped cream and scatter the nut brittle over the cream. Put a tea towel under the meringue and use this to help roll the meringue. Make the first bit of the roll as tight as possible and keep rolling. Once it has been rolled up leave in the tea towel and put in the fridge for half an hour. Sprinkle some nut brittle over the top and serve!