Cook the halved apricot in a thick-bottomed saucepan with 125 ml of water for about 10 minutes, until soft.

Add the sugar, stir and let it cool down.

When the fruit is cold, blend the apricots with an immersion blender, add milk, yogurt, a few drops of lemon juice and a few drops of bitter almond essence.

Transfer the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the instructions.

When the ice cream is ready, line with plastic wrap 20 mini muffin moulds and fill them up with the ice cream.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in freezer.

In the meantime make the biscuit base and preheats the oven to 250°C (yes, 250°C, but the baking will be extremely fast).

Whip the egg whites with 50 g of sugar until they are glossy and firm.

In another bowl beat the yolks with the remaining 35 g of sugar, then combine them folding gently the egg whites into the egg yolks.

Sift together the flour and the potato starch, then fold them into the batter with a spatula.

Take a shallow baking tin and secure a sheet of baking paper on the tin with a few drops of batter.

Pour the batter into the pan and level it gently with a spatula, about 5 mm thick.

Bake for 5 minutes, checking it constantly because it tends to burn quickly.

When golden, remove it from the oven, turn it onto a moistened kitchen towel and peel off the baking paper. This may also be the basis for a sweet roll, just be quick to stuff it and roll it up!

In our case, cut out the base of the ice cream with a cookie cutter of the same size as the mini muffin moulds we used, then put them aside.

Beat egg whites with 50 g of sugar in a stand mixer bowl at low speed.

While the whites are being beaten, pour the water and 200 g of sugar in a smal thick-bottomed pot and let the sugar melt. It will start slowly to make bubbles.

The syrup should reach 121°C, but as soon as it gets to 118°C, remove it from the heat, because it will still increase in temperature before you pour it into the egg whites.

Slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites in a thin stream, taking care not to let it run onto the whisk, but letting it slide along the bowl sides, as to be conveyed into the centre by the mixer movements.

Beat at high speed until it is cold, glossy white and airy, you’ll need about 10 minutes: don’t overbeat. Put in the fridge covered with cling film.

You need to be quick, so prepare all the ingredients on the table before you: the round biscuits, the apricot jam and the ice cream. Spread each base with jam, cover them with the ice cream, flat side down, then wrap them in cling film and put them back in the freezer for about ten minutes to allow them time to set.

Now prepare the Italian meringue in a sac-a-poche with a star nozzle and decorate each ice cream, covering them completely.

If you want to eat them now, quickly burn the meringue with a torch and serve within 5 to 10 minutes, so that the ice cream soften a bit.

If instead you want to prepare them in advance, arrange the ice cream in a tray and put them back into the freezer. Shortly before eating remove them from the freezer, burn the meringue here and there with the cooking torch and serve at table.