Baked meringue with peaches

Ingredients

4 peaches or nectarines
25g/1oz brown sugar
2 tbsp marsala, sweet sherry or lemon juice
4 free-range egg whites
250g/9oz light brown sugar or caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones. Slice the peaches about 5mm
¼in thick and lay into a 1.25 litre /2¼ pint pie dish. Sprinkle brown sugar
over the peaches and drizzle the marsala, sherry or lemon juice over the top. If the peaches are not very ripe and juicy (although they should be ripe enough to eat), pop them into the
oven for five minutes to cook, while you make the meringue. If they are very ripe and juicy there is no need to do this.
3. For the meringue, place the free-range egg whites into a bowl and whisk with an electric beater until they become stiff. While still beating the egg whites, gradually add the light brown sugar. Continue to beat the mixture until the meringue holds stiff peaks.
4. Spoon the meringue onto the top of the peaches and cook in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the meringue feels slightly firm in the centre and is golden-brown in colour on top.