Hazelnut Meringues with Mocha Filling

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 4 egg whites, from 7-10 day old eggs, cold
• 1¼ cups castor sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Filling: 

• 300ml cream 
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 tsp instant coffee, mixed with 1 tsp hot water
• 2 tbsp Frangelico liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Place hazelnuts on a baking tray and cook until lightly golden and aromatic, 12-15 minutes. Place in a clean towel and rub hard to remove most of skins. Allow to cool fully before roughly grinding - pulse a few times in food processor - don’t let them get too fine.

To prepare meringues, beat egg whites with an electric beater until they form soft peaks. Add sugar gradually, beating for about 10 minutes until thick and glossy. Whisk in vanilla and lemon zest. Use a metal spoon to gently fold in ground nuts.  Do not overmix at this point or the oils in the nuts will deflate the mixture.

Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
As soon as you put the meringues in the oven turn the temperature down to 100 C. Bake until crisp, about 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool fully before filling with mousse.

To make mousse, melt chocolate in microwave for 1-1½ minutes stopping every 30 seconds to stir.  In a separate bowl, stir together ½ cup of the cream, coffee, liqueur and vanilla. Pour the melted chocolate into the cream & coffee mixture stirring until smooth. Whip rest of the cream to peaks, then fold in the chocolate mixture stirring to form a smooth frosting. When cool, sandwich with filling mixture. Serve chilled or frozen.