Rhubarb, rosemary and ginger Monte Carlos

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Place rhubarb, rosemary, and a drizzle of olive oil and caster sugar onto a baking sheet. Season lightly with sea salt. Roast for approximately 20 mins or until tender. Let cool to room temperature.
3. Line as many shallow baking trays with baking paper as you have (so that you can leave them to cool for a few minutes on the hot tray and continue with your next batch. It isn’t a problem if you only have one, the process will just take a bit longer). Melt the butter in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until it smells nutty and has frothed up. Take off the heat and let cool to at least lukewarm. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl then make a well in the centre and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon to bring together and combine the ingredients well until you can no longer see pockets of flour.
4. Roll a flat dessert spoon sized scoop (½ tbsp) into a ball and place them on the trays approximately 7 cm apart. Pop the trays in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until they become slightly golden on the tops. With multiple trays (no more than 3) in the oven at the same time, rotate the trays halfway through cooking. Remove the trays from the oven and leave to cool until the trays are cool enough to touch and then move the cookies across to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeating the process until you have finished all the cookie dough.
5. While the cookies are cooling to room temperature, begin the buttercream. Create a bain-marie (use a saucepan small enough to hold a glass bowl above it without the bottom of the bowl touching the bottom of the saucepan). Fill the saucepan with approximately 1 cm of water in the bottom (just less than enough to touch the bottom of the bowl) and bring to a simmer. Whisk together the egg whites and the caster sugar, stirring occasionally for approximately 7 minutes. The mixture will be clear and syrupy after the sugar has dissolved. Pour this into a stand mixer (if you are using handheld beaters, just mix a few minutes longer). Beat on medium speed for approximately 8 minutes, the mixture should be cool to the touch and look like you are on track to your greatest pavlova! Drop in the butter, cube by cube, and don’t be alarmed that you’ve ruined it all, it will appear curdled but push through! Once you have added in all the butter, turn up the speed to medium-high for approximately 2 minutes until glossy.
6. Finely chop the leaves of the rosemary sprigs, using the pinch of caster sugar amongst the leaves to prevent it from sticking to the knife. Add to the buttercream along with a pinch of sea salt and mix at low speed to combine for 20 – 30 seconds.
7. Meanwhile, mash the roasted rhubarb until rough paste forms.
8. Match up the cookies that have spread similarly and sandwich together with approximately ¾ tbsp of buttercream and a dollop of the cooled, pressed rhubarb. Repeat until all your cookies are used up and chill in the fridge for approximately 20 minutes to let them set.

• Cookies can be baked a day in advance

Roasted rhubarb, rosemary and ginger Monte Carlos Source: Undefined / Billie Justice Thomson

Illustration by 

Billie Justice Thomson

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