Dessert eggs and soldiers

For the meringue
soldiers, pre heat the oven to 160°C and line 2 large baking trays with baking
paper.

Whisk the egg
whites until soft peaks form.

Add the sugar in
batches and whisk until stiff.

Whisk in the
vanilla essence.

Place the cereal
and flour in a food processor and blend until fine.

Fold the cereal
mixture in with the meringue and transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted
with a round 1.5cm nozzle.

Pipe 30 x 8cm
long meringue fingers onto the lined trays and bake, 20 mins.

Allow to cool on
the trays before storing in an airtight container.

For the chocolate
mousse, heat the cream and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat until
warm.

Pour it over the
chocolate and stir until melted.

Once the mixture
has melted and is smooth in texture; refrigerate for 1 hour.

Whip the
chocolate mixture for a few seconds until softly whipped.

Spoon the mixture
into a piping bag fitted with a round 1.5cm nozzle.

To serve, gently
cut off the tops off each of the Easter eggs with a serrated knife and place
upright in eggcups.

Pipe the
chocolate mousse into the hollow eggs and garnish the center of each with a
yellow smartie to resemble the yolk of a regular egg.

Serve each
chocolate egg with a few meringue soldiers for dipping.

TIP: To save time, the meringue
soldiers can easily be replaced with store-bought biscotti biscuits.