APRICOT AND CHOCOLATE MERINGUE PUDDINGS

Ingredients.......6 apricots , halved and stoned, juice of 1/2 orange, 1 egg white, 2 tbs of castor sugar, 40 gm of chocolate melts. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Arrange the apricots , cut side down on a baking paper lined oven tray. Drizzle the orange juice over them. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Beat the egg white in the bowl of your beater until you have stiff peaks. Gradually beat in the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time. Once all the sugar has been added, continue beating until the meringue ios thick and glossy. Spoon the meringue into a piping bag , fitted with a star nozzle. Divide the chocolate melts in between the centre of each apricot. If the apricots wobble, stick them on the prepared oven tray with a little meringue . Pipe a dob of the meringue on the top of the chocolate melts. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes or until the meringue is tinged with a little golden brown and just cooked. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a serving plate. These apricot and chocolate meringue puddings are best made with fresh apricots, tinned apricots do not work, you can use plums when in season , but fresh apricots are best.