Today I take a BIG swing from my usual blogpost mood and present:
How To Make A Pavlova.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!
Mine mine mine mine...
First, beat 4 egg whites until they form soft peaks.
www.onceuponachef.com
The trick to not ruining 9 dozen eggs in search of perfect egg whites is to break each egg in half, and separate them one at a time into a white or clear bowl.
Then add the whites into the mixing bowl only when you've determined that no yolk has contaminated the white.
Some of you are thinking, "Oh come ON!!! *I* am perfect! *I* don't need to do that!"
To which I say , "Is the crown heavy? Huh? Is it?"
I found this nifty visual at www.tinatastytreats.weebly.com
Aim for medium.
Once you've gotten your eggs to medium stiffness, and soft peaks form when you play around and make faces in the fluff, ahem, add the sugar.
Now, some recipes call for icing sugar, some call for granulated sugar. I use granulated because that's the kind that works for me.
Also, I never knew people put icing sugar IN with the egg whites when they whipped them!!
Scandalous!!!
Ahem, so once that's done, add the vinegar, vanilla and corn starch.
I should probably change this font ...
There.
Now comes shaping. The thing with working with whipped and sugared egg whites is that that the stuff is incredibly thick and sticky. Which is a good thing, because you can have some serious creativity going on. I mean, look at this!
www.whatscookingella.com
www.whatscookingella.com
I usually go with round. And lately, I've been venturing into unknown territory.
That's right...height, baby!!
www.foodtolove.com.au
LOOK AT THIS!!
www.bizzylizzysgoodthings.com
I know, right?!?!?!? That's gotta be 6 inches high!!
Enough pavlova fangirling...
And thanks to Jane Wells, I'll include the ACTUAL RECIPE!!
4 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
I usually do that recipe, plus another half of it. So, yes, 6 egg whites. Be extremely accurate in your measurements.
Shape the egg whites however you like, but I prefer a circle. And place them ON parchment paper, on a cookie sheet. Once the shaping is done, bake the meringue for 2 hours at 250F, then turn off the oven and leave the meringue is the oven overnight, or as long as you can.
Carefully remove the meringue from the parchment paper by holding the meringue with one hand, and peeling the paper off the bottom.
Place the meringue on the serving plate, fill/cover with whipped cream and then top with your favourite berries.
Then, take too many photos and post them on Facebook and make all your friends drool.
Ohhhhhh...it was GOOD!!!