We've been talking about Australia in T-Tot's school work, so we decided to try making one of the famous Australian deserts.
Pavlova is named after Anna Pavlova, a famous ballerina from the turn of the century. This desert is believed to be named after her while she toured in Australia and New Zealand in the 20's.
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of white sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of lemon juice or lemon flavoring
1 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar
- Preheat oven
to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Draw a 9 inch circle on the parchment. An easy way to do this is to
draw around the outside of a 9 inch pan with a pencil.
- In a large
bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup
of the sugar gradually, while continuing to whip. Make sure sugar is
completely dissolved. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the
cornstarch; lightly fold into meringue with lemon juice.
- Spread a
layer of meringue to fit circle on parchment, approximately 1/4 inch
thick. With remainder of mixture, pipe or spoon swirls around the edges
to form a shallow bowl shape.
- Bake at 300
degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour. Turn off oven, but leave meringue
in oven for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, the meringue should be
hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.
- In a large
bowl, combine the cream and half a cup of confectioners sugar, and whip
until thickened. Decorate with fruit of your choice; strawberries are
excellent.
We used dried pineapple, kiwi and strawberries on ours. :~)
