Pavlovas are such an easy dessert to offer guests … and with summer and the festive season fast approaching, this is the perfect time to play with pavlova recipes.
For a long time I have wanted to convert my Pavlova recipe (see here) to one using rosewater, but have never quite felt confident about the amount to use … until I did Anneka Manning’s fabulous “Science of Baking Course” (see here) earlier this year. I learned so much on the course about all things baking that it has made me revisit so many of my recipes wishing to make slight tweaks here and there.
But one thing at a time … I will slowly make slight adjustments where appropriate, but for now here is the mini pavlova recipe which I know you will love.
The mix makes 8 individual pavlovas … for that you only need 4 egg whites, and not the usual 6 in the standard pavlova recipe which makes this a very economical dessert. The yolks can be used to make rich dessert custards, ice creams, mayonnaise, etc. The most important thing is not to throw them out so think about how to use them before making the recipe.
Separate eggs a day before you start the recipe … leave whites covered in a container at room temperature on your bench … this will help to “age” the whites before you start beating (you get more volume from “aged” and room temperature whites). You can then go ahead and use the yolks in recipes if time permits, and following that do the vinegar clean of your bowl ready to make the meringue the next day if that works for you.
Before making any meringue in the Thermomix, it is important to do a vinegar clean of the bowl and butterfly to ensure there is no fatty residue which will affect your meringue … to do this follow this simple process: add 1 litre water and 30g white vinegar to ™ bowl / heat 10 minutes / Veroma / speed 2. Rinse out bowl in cold water and ensure it is dry before commencing recipe.
For this recipe you can use up to 150g of egg whites … I have made it with 130g up to 150g and you will get 8 decent sized meringues (not too big or small) from this amount. By using 4 whites, the difference in volume will come from whether you use small or large eggs so hence the weight range I have given you.
The pavlovas can be made ahead and stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to five days … they will soften ever so slightly in that time, but still beautiful and crisp which is what you want.
SUGGESTION FOR SERVING
You can serve these meringues with any combination of toppings you like, but on the picture you will see that I have used cream; either vanilla creamed yoghurt (recipe given) or plain whipped cream.
Top the cream with berries of choice (I use chopped strawberries and whole blueberries) which have been mixed with a little icing sugar to create a light “syrup” and left to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours to marinate.
Top the berries with a little drizzle of raspberry curd (see here), and a sprinkle of toasted pistachio nuts.
So easy … and delicious!
- 2 to 3 tbls cornflour (to dust tray with)
- 130 to 150g egg whites, room temperature (from 4 eggs)
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 220g raw caster sugar, or plain caster sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons cornflour
- 2 ½ teaspoons rosewater
- 200g thick Greek yoghurt
- 2 tbls icing sugar mixture
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g whipping cream
- Ensure bowl and butterfly are clean (see note) and insert butterfly into your TM machine
- Heat oven to 110 degrees fan forced, and arrange rack into the middle of the oven
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper (use a dab of oil under paper to keep it in place) and sift over generously with the extra cornflour … this will help to create a crust on the base of your mini pavlovas, and also allow them to release easily from the tray
- Place eggs whites and cream of tartar into bowl and whip 5 minutes / 37 / speed 3.5 (no MC)
- Set blades to 3 minutes / 37 / speed 3 (no MC) and with blades rotating slowly rain in the sugar one tablespoon at a time through the hole in lid … this should take you 3 minutes, leaving 3 minutes for the mix to continue beating in the next step
- Lightly stir the mix around the sides to ensure you are catching all the egg white, then replace the lid and continue mixing 3 minutes / 37 / speed 3 (no MC)
- Open lid and create a little space around the butterfly, sift in the cornflour, add the rosewater and combine 10 seconds / speed 3
- Remove the meringue to a separate bowl to work from so that it is easier to portion the meringue properly
- Decide where you are going to place your meringues on your tray (I do 3 at the back, 2 in the middle, then 3 at the front) and place an initial large spoonful into each spot
- Once you have done that, go over each spoonful on the tray with a second spoonful, ensuring that you are fairly evenly distributing the meringue onto each mini pavlova
- Once all the meringue has been used, use the back of a spoon to neatly shape the meringue so that you don’t have any large jagged edges, and very lightly create a small dip in the top of each meringue
- Place tray into oven and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes until the meringue is crisp and is firm to the touch
- Switch off oven and leave to cool for at least three hours, but preferably overnight which is what I always do
- Next morning remove the meringues from the tray and place into a sealed container until ready to serve
- Serve as desired
- Place yoghurt into a medium sized bowl, add the icing sugar and vanilla and mix well together until nice and creamy (it should be quite thick)
- Beat the cream until firm peaks (I use a hand-held electric beater for this so that I can ensure I don’t overmix the cream)
- Add half the cream to the yoghurt mix and fold in with a large spoon, add the last half of the cream and fold in well
- Place into the fridge for a couple of hours until ready to serve
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