Pittsburgh Hot Plate

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

3 C baker’s sugar

2 tsp vinegar

8 tbsp boiling water

2 tsp cornstarch

Vanilla (about a cap full/or less I never know, I just guess)

Directions:

Oven at 350

I use malt vinegar (because that is what is the norm in NZ – never used white/red vinegar until I arrived in the USA)
Mix all ingredients until stiff.

Dump it on to a baking sheet lined with wax/baking paper. Don’t spread! – plonk it down and see what happens, it should form a nice circle.
.
OVEN AT 350 for 60 MINUTES – THEN TURN THE OVEN OFF! Don’t open the oven! I usually make it the night before and just leave it in there to finish cooking. It needs to cool down slowly. It should be crunchy on the outside and have the consistency of really light and fluffy marshmallow on the inside.

Top with lots of whipped cream and fruit. I like Kiwifruit, strawberries and/or a mixture of berries. Passion fruit pulp is especially good if you can get it. The sweet/tart mixture of fruit is best.

A note:

a Kiwi – is a small, flightless bird from NZ

a Kiwi – is a term for a NZer

a Kiwifruit – is one of those delicious “hairy-berries!”