Month: August 2013

Pavlovas – what a romantic way to name a dessert, isn’t it?

In fact, Pavlova, this beautiful and noble looking dessert is actually nothing else but meringue. Pure meringue, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, a kind of dessert which is super-simple to prepare.

Pavlovas can be made big or small. I went for the smaller, individual version this time and filled my meringue shells with wonderful, jam flavored whipped cream and delicious fresh fruit. Yum!

To make your own individual Pavlovas, just follow these simple step…
 

Here’s what you need.

 
 

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).

3. Whisk the egg whites with the salt until they’re holding firm peaks but are not stiff. Gently add in the sugar, spoonful after spoonful, still beating, until you have a bowl full of gleaming and satiny meringue. Sprinkle the cornflour, a few drops of vanilla and the vinegar on top and fold in to combine.

 
 

4. Spoon the meringue onto the lined baking sheets, creating 6 meringue circles per one sheet, using about 3 tablespoons of meringue mixture per one circle. Spread the circles to make them about 4 inches (10 cm) wide. Use the back of your teaspoon to make an indentation in the center of each circle to hold the cream and fruit later (it helps if the teaspoon has been dipped in water beforehand).

 
 

5. Put into the lower part of the oven, reduce the temperature to 300°F (150°C) and bake for 25 minutes (switch the baking sheets halfway through the baking process so that the meringue shells placed on the top baking sheet don’t get too brown). Turn the oven off and leave them in for about 35 minutes, then take out of the oven to cool.

 
 

6. In the meantime, you can prepare your fruit (cut it if necessary). You can also prepare the cream filling.

To prepare the cream filling, whip the cream until stiff. Then add the sour cream and the jam and mix to combine. Add powdered sugar to taste. Easy! And oh-so-good!

 
 

7. Fill the cooled meringue shells with the cream and and garnish with fruit. Finally dust with powdered sugar.

 
 

Enjoy, dear friends! This is really good!

Love,
Petra

(This recipe was inspired by Nigella Lawson‘s Mini Pavlovas. Makes: 12 Mini Pavlovas.)