What a great long weekend - just perfect weather to batten down the hatches and get on with some serious eating and drinking!!

Here's a little concoction that's magic with a Coonawarra shiraz:

Spiced chocolate cherry baskets with pink peppercorn

To make the baskets:
beat 4 egg whites until stiff then slowly fold in -
1 cup of caster sugar
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of cardamon
1 tblsp sifted cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla

form basket shapes on lined tray and bake at 150 for approx. 45 mins.

To prepare the cherries:
Into a pan put
350g Morello pitted cherries and their juice.
Add 1 tsp shredded orange zest (I used zest from brandied cumquat)
approx. 1/4 cup of either brandy, contrioux or grande marnier

Simmer then thicken with a bit of cornflour and water. Sweeten if needed.

Prepare the mascarpone:
250g mascarpone
brandy
scraped vanilla bean
Just keep tasting until you love it!

When everything has cooled you can put it together: baskets with mascarpone then cherries. To finish sprinkle with a little freshly ground pink peppercorns (yes really, this really finishes the recipe) and a drizzle of cherry juice.

Enjoy!
Rosbj