Mini Pavlova with Seasonal Fruits
My mom’s go-to entertaining dessert has always been a big, fluffy and light pavlova. It’s not too sweet and full off fresh, fruity goodness. All that delicious seasonal fruit will sit on top a cloud of delicious whipped cream. The combination of flavors and textures is just the perfect mixture of goodness in your mouth.
To keep things a little more Covid-friendly we created small, individual-sized versions so that all of our guests could have their very own pillows of goodness. This recipe is simple and easy to put together with very few ingredients! Try these on to follow up a great summer meal.
MAKING YOUR MINI PAVLOVAS
Makes: 10 pavlovas
INGREDIENTS
8 large egg whites
1 pinch of salt
500 grams granulated sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
750 ml whipping cream
1 package blackberries
2-3 nectaries
Other seasonal fruits you want to include
Icing sugar for dusting
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Whisk the 8 egg whites with a hand mixer or in your standing mixer until they’re holding firm peaks (but not stiff). Gently add in the sugar slowly, one spoonful at a time, until you have a full bowl of fluffy meringue.
3. Sift in the cornstarch, a teaspoon of vanilla and the white wine vinegar on top and fold it in to the meringue to combine it all together.
4. Add spoonfuls of meringue onto the baking parchment into circles that approximately 4 inches in diameter, and spread and smooth to fill. You want to make the meringue slightly higher at the rims, or just use the back of the spoon to make an indentation in the centre to hold the cream and fruit later.
5. Put the trays into the oven and turn down the temperature to 300ºF and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes is up, turn off the oven and leave the trays in for another 30 minutes. Take out of the oven to cool afterwards. Transfer them to wire racks to fully cool.
5. Assemble your pavlovas by dolloping whipped cream into the middle, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon and place a few berries and other seasonal fruit on top. Dust with icing sugar to finish.
