Almond Meringue Cupcakes

I had quite a lot of egg whites left in the fridge from my lapis cake some time ago. So I thought of baking this Almond Meringue Cupcakes, extracted from Cupcakes Galore.

Recipe
Ingredients:
100g ground almonds
150g sugar (I use 140g)
5 egg whites (I put 200g egg whites)
pinch of salt
85g whole almonds, toasted & coarsely chopped
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Mix ground almonds and 50g of the sugar together. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites with salt until they turn opaque. Gradually add remaining sugar and continue to beat whites until they are stiff and form glossy peaks.
4. Gently fold in ground nut mixture, using a whisk. Take care not to overmix.
5. Fill the cupcake moulds with the mixture. You can use a piping bag to do this if you wish, if not, just heap the mixture into the moulds.
6. Sprinkle the toasted nuts over the meringues, pressing them in gently. Lightly dust with icing sugar.
7. Let the meringues rest for 10 minutes and then dust them again with icing sugar and let them rest another 10 minutes.
8. Bake for 25-30mins or until they are golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool before unmoulding.

Notes:
(1) This mixture makes 36 regular cupcakes.
(2) You can replace gound almonds with ground hazelnuts or have a mixture of both.
(3) First tray of meringue cupcakes, I didn't wait for the 10mins & 10mins before baking. I put it into the oven once the oven is ready.
Subsequent trays, it was delayed for more than 20mins though. The stiff meringues will slowly be more liquid.
(4) These meringue cupcakes can be eaten as is, served with fruit salad or ice cream or used with other desserts.