With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I wanted to share a fun idea to serve for dessert: marbled meringue hearts! These are sweet, crisp and airy and can be packaged on their own to give away as gifts or used to garnish an ice cream sundae or chocolate mousse. To make the meringues, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, trace heart shapes onto the parchment (the cookie cutter I used was 2 inches long). Turn the parchment paper over and set aside. To make the meringues, beat together 4 egg whites, 1/8 tsp cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Beat in 1 cup of granulated sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, until stiff glossy peaks form. Using a toothpick dipped in pink paste food colouring, swirl into egg whites. Gently fold until marbled. Using pastry bag fitted with plain tip, pipe meringue into traced heart shapes. You can use a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon to even out the meringue batter. Bake the meringues in the top and bottom thirds of a 200F (100C) oven, rotating and switching the pans halfway through, until the meringues are dry to the touch, about 2 hours. Turn your oven off and let the meringues cool in the oven for 30 minutes. Let cool on a rack and store for up to 1 week. Photography by Jennifer Bartoli