Summer Berry Pavlova
/Jane and Steve had a Summer Dinner Party. The dinner was just wonderful. Choppino. I especially appreciated the fresh steamed cracked crab, one of my favorite foods on earth, which she stirred into the pot at the very end so it would not over cook. Just delicious. I brought the gluten free desert…
Auntie Marcie
Summer Berry Pavlova
For the Pavlova Meringue
Preheat oven to 250
6 egg whites at room temperature
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. cream of tartar
½ t. white wine vinegar (don’t substitute)
Beat the egg whites until fluffy but NOT stiff
ADD ¼ c. powdered sugar, 1 T. at a time until stiff peaks form and the meringue is weightless and does not move off the beater when you lift it out of the bowl.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray it with Pam and use a paper towel to coat the parchment.
Dump meringue onto the parchment and smooth to your desired shape leaving a slight depression in the center…I used rectangular for desert for a party of 10 at Jane’s house!
Auntie Marcie
Place in oven and after 45 minutes turn the oven off. Leave the meringue in the warm oven until serving time. This meringue is hearty. If you have to remove it, it will crisp up again once you replace it in a warm oven with the heat turned off.
For the Cream Cheese Filling
Whip a pint of whipping cream, with 2 T powdered sugar and 2 t. vanilla
Into a Mixer Bowl Place:
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature ( I used Neufatchel cheese )
2 t. Rose Water ( I had a peach/rose water beverage in the fridge and I used that!)
1 c. of the whipped cream from above
Whip together until light and fluffy.
For the Berry Sauce
1 jar berry jam of your choice (I used a jar of my homegrown/homemade boysenberry jam- plenty available for the asking and a small donation to Solar Cooker Project!)
1 cup mixed fresh raspberries and blackberries
Heat to slow simmer. Don’t break up berries too much.
Auntie Marcie
Assembly:
Remove Pavlova from parchment with long spatula to serving platter. Spread Cream cheese layer onto Pavlova. Spread remaining cup of whipped cream on top. Spoon Berry sauce on top of that. Garnish with fresh berries and fresh mint. I used fresh chocolate mint from my garden…so aromatic.
NOTE: You will notice I did not use cornstarch and many of the recipes on line insist on it. Why not? Because I used powdered sugar - and that has plenty of cornstarch in it already…
Auntie Marcie
Variations: I actually wanted to use Lemon curd mixed with whipped cream for the filling, with a bit of Limoncello added for kick, and I was planning on zesting Meyer Lemon peel onto the Berry toping, but couldn’t find my jar of Lemon Curd.
But in any case any flavor combo will work. There are thousands of recipes for Pavlova’s on line. One recipe I found takes 2T fresh crushed raspberries and swirls it very lightly w/the Pavlova itself so it is a swirled Pavlova…it looked so gorgeous…… next time…
Love,
Auntie Marcie
www.auntiemarcie.com
