With these raspberry roses I’m taking part this year in the breast cancer awareness campaign, marked today, 19 October. The aim of the campaign is to make people aware of the importance of early detection, as well as to raise funds for research.
I made the raspberry roses on a lard shortcrust pastry with no sugar. It goes beautifully with the meringue, which is very sweet: the base stays crisp and the topping soft and fragrant.
Ingredients for 20 raspberry roses
Lard shortcrust pastry
- 250 g plain flour
- 100 g lard
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 small glass of cold water
- ½ tsp salt
Put the flour in a large bowl, mix in the salt and add the lard in small pieces. Rub together until it looks like sawdust; it’s best not to use your hands so the dough doesn’t warm up. Add the egg yolks and the water in three additions, form a ball, cover and leave somewhere cool. Place the dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll it out to 4 mm thick. Cut out 6 cm circles.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 12–15 minutes, until lightly golden, then cool on a wire rack.
Italian meringue
- 50 g raspberries
- 120 g sugar
- 2 egg whites
- A squeeze of lemon juice
First make the raspberry syrup: cook the raspberries with 50 ml water, the lemon juice and half the sugar. Strain to get 40 ml of syrup and heat it with the rest of the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan. Meanwhile, start whisking the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. When the syrup reaches 117°C, take it off the heat, turn the mixer down and pour the syrup in a thin stream onto the whisked whites, avoiding the beaters. Keep whisking until the meringue is stiff and glossy and the bowl is no longer warm. For a deeper colour, add a few drops of red food colouring.
Fit a piping bag with an open star nozzle, fill it with the meringue and pipe roses onto the biscuits, as in the photo.
