The Happy Home Cook: Holiday Pavlova
/The Happy Home Cook features cherished recipes of Filipino dishes from well-known foodies and contributors. If you have a recipe that you are proud of and would like to share, please send it along with a photo of the dish, your two-sentence bio and your picture to submissions@positivelyfilipino.com.
Holiday Pavlova (Illustration by Jojo Sabalvaro-Tan)
We visited Australia during the Christmas holidays and Pavlovas were served in almost every home. This dessert with its layers of cloud-like white meringue, whipped cream topping and jewel- like fresh fruits is said to be inspired by its namesake, the famous Russian prima ballerina Pavlova. Around Christmas, the meringues can be purchased ready-made at the Australian grocery stores which makes it a quick and easy dessert to bring as hostess gift or for a potluck party. ‘No worries’, as the Australians say, for those of us who don’t live down under, the meringue is not hard to make from scratch.
Ingredients
Meringue
4 large egg whites 1 cup white sugar 1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Sweet Whipped Cream
1 cup chilled heavy cream 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
6 cups of assorted fresh berries, washed, hulled and cut as desired
2 passion fruits, halved Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Procedure
Preheat oven to 180˚F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw a 9-inch circle with a pencil on the parchment using a 9-inch cake pan or plate as a template. Invert the parchment paper so meringue does not touch pencil mark.
Beat egg whites on high speed until firm in a large bowl using the whisk attachment. Gradually add the sugar and salt, while continuing to whip until firm and shiny peaks form. Remove bowl from mixer. Sift cornstarch onto beaten egg whites. With a rubber spatula, lightly fold in vinegar and vanilla. Spread the meringue to fit circle on parchment. Leave a shallow well or indentation in the middle top of the meringue.
Bake for 1½ hours. Turn off oven but leave meringue in oven for about an hour or until it cools. When cool, the meringue should be crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside.
Sweet Whipped Cream: In a large bowl, whip the cream until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until firm. Transfer meringue onto serving plate. Place whipped cream on top of the meringue.
Decorate with prepared mixed berry topping. Scoop out the pulp from the passion fruits and drizzle on top. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Jojo Sabalvaro-Tan
Jojo Sabalvaro-Tan is a retired corporate director of accounting, payroll and compensation at OfficeMax (formerly Boise Cascade Office Products). An alumnus of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, she now devotes her time to volunteer work and her travels, art, food, quilting and needle arts, which she writes about in her blogs, Finding Art and Ang Kusina ni Lola Alfonsa.
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