It’s just not Valentines’s Day without a heart shaped treat! And dashes of reds and pinks never fail to set a the tone. Individual meringues cover all the bases with their sweet and crunchy heart shaped shells, fluffy pink raspberry mousse filling, and bright red raspberries to top it all off. They may look fancy shmancy, but they are actually incredibly easy to make and the perfect sized dessert for little hands.

MERINGUE

• 5 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup superfine sugar

MOUSSE:

• 3 cups raspberries, divided
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon gelatin, granulated
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Using a pencil or pen, trace 12-16 hearts on the underside of 2 separate pieces of parchment paper (I used heart shaped cookie cutters that were about 2″ in diameter). Space each heart about 1 1/2″ apart. Place the parchment papers on two baking sheets, tracing side down. Tracings should be dark enough to see through the paper.

Step 2
Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl with an electric mixer until frothy. Add the cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks develop. With the mixer running, slowly pour the superfine sugar into the bowl. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.Fill a piping bag, fitted with a round tip, with the meringue. Pipe the meringue along the heart tracings on the parchment paper and fill each heart in. Pipe an outline of meringue along the outline of each heart to make a bowl. You can do two layers of this, if you like. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 hours. Turn off the oven and let the meringues cool in the oven for another two hours before removing.

Step 3
Add 2 cups of raspberries and 1/2 cup of sugar to a food processor and puree until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine mesh strainer and discard the seeds. Placed 1/2 of the puree in a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Let soak for 5 minutes.Heat the saucepan of puree just until the gelatin dissolves and then remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk the puree with gelatin into the other 1/2 of reserved puree. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold the puree into the whipped cream until fully combined.

Step 4
Fill a piping bag with the mousse and squeeze it into each meringue heart shell. Top each heart with the remaining fresh raspberries. Keep chilled if not using right away.

Enjoy!