Pavlova

Every Summer a dear friend has a lovely tea party for a gaggle of ladies. She goes all out and makes just about everything herself, but also has help from a few hands here and there.  


One of my favorite dishes she makes is Pavlova's.  I had never seen or tasted these until about 6 years ago when I attended her tea party. Her Pavlova's are beautiful with strawberries, blueberries, kiwi and passion fruit sauce drizzled on top. 


The origin of this dessert is based in New Zealand (though the Australian's think so too).  Either way it was for the tour of the famous Ballerina Anna Pavlova (from Russia). My neighbor Nancy, who makes everything, said she'd never made this before but that a dear friend of hers from New Zealand had made it for her. So with the added Kiwi's and that a native from New Zealand had it as part of her repertoire I'd say the origin is New Zealand. And the beautiful egg white based meringues look like a beautiful tutu from Swan Lake.  They would make Anna Pavlova proud.

Above are the ones from my friend Sherry's yearly tea.

So I thought for a little party I was doing for my friend I would try my hand at this. I needed to be brave as I've never attempted this recipe and for some reason Meringues scare me.

I love my orange KitchenAid.  It's the best thing we ever bought and easy for whipping egg whites into beautiful peaks.

You need to beat till you get stiff glossy peaks.  Should not be runny at all.

The first batch came out perfect as I used egg whites from cracked eggs. The second time I used a carton of egg whites. What went wrong: 1. They came out slightly yellow; 2. They did not get stiff enough so I think that there were egg yolks in them; and, 3. They were sticky, sticky, sticky, and no good. I'm glad I tried this and now I know the next time to use real eggs.

I spooned the stiff egg whites and then got a small sandwich bag and filled it with remaining egg whites.  Cut off a corner of the bag and you have your tip to pipe edges around the Pavlova's.  This helps hold in the whipped cream and berries after they've cooked.

Cool on a wire rack

Here's the recipe I used:

Meringue:

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar OR 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar OR distilled white vinegar

1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup (6 ounces, about 6) large egg whites, preferably room temperature

Pinch of salt

Topping:

1/3 cup of sugar

Pint of  Whipping Cream

Sliced Berries (any combination you like: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)

Sliced Kiwi's (I didn't remember to get these, but traditionally you use Kiwi's)

Passion Fruit sauce (Alice Waters Fruit cookbook says this is a traditional addition to Pavlova's)

Directions are here.

Next time I'll buy myself some a few pastry tips and bags for a more professional look, although the homemade look was just fine as well. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Bars

So this last week was a whirlwind.  Book swap party, 30th wedding anniversary party and children books party for a baby to come.   Pheww.  For the book swap party, which was given by "My Life At Playtime," I volunteered to make a dessert.  While surfing Pinterest I found a gorgeous peanut butter bar and I was determined to make it for this party.  For the recipe go here.  Only comment on the recipe is that I would put the pan in the refrigerator right after you put the second layer of peanut butter on.  It needs to harden a bit before you smear the last layer of chocolate.  

Since this was a book swapping party I took one of my old college books that I wouldn't will on anyone, Plato's Last Days of Socrates.  I cut up strips, wrapped them around the cold bars and tied them with twine.  This made up for the fact that cutting these bars was a hot mess.  These are decadent, very rich, I saw people cutting them in half, but well they came back for the other half too.

As for the books I chose, well I only wanted one and I took three, sorry SB, I couldn't help myself.  I chose The Help, The Hunger, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  That last one has my name written all over it.  I'll tell you how I feel about them once I get them read.  I have SOoooo many books right now.  

One last thing, I have to say I'm liking my iPhone photos better than my expensive camera, go figure.

Cheesecake

So last weekend J threw a party for some friends. I helped with the hors d'oeuvres. I had extras of puffed pastry, white wine sauted crimini mushrooms, white bean puree and cream cheese left. Plus an arsenal of lemons that have been supplied by friends and co-workers who are fortunate enough to have lemon trees. All this equated to a few scratches on the head what to do with it all before it spoils. The mushrooms ended up on flattened pan fried chicken.

For the puffed pastry I rolled it out the and chopped up some apples sauted with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Then I rolled up the apples in puffed pastry, brushed with egg wash baked in 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Delish. SB who isn't usually overwhelmed with my cooking IM'd me during the day to say YUMMY, love the apple pastry. Yeah a winner and just an afterthought. Love it when that happens.

Now what to do with the VAT of cream cheese and lemons. Hmmm...lemon cheesecake. I found a few recipes online and combined them to come up with this. Lemon cheesecake with a graham cracker and chopped toasted almonds crust. Cream cheese mixed with the juice and zest of a few meyer lemons Polished off by a sour cream, sugar, and lemon zest. If you know anything about my obsession with sour cream you will see how much this is my perfect cheesecake recipe. Refreshing and light with a special almondy crunch.