TASTY TUESDAY CLASSIC DESSERT - PAVLOVA

Sunday night was Oscar night and we always watch so hubby suggested he spring for take out (so I would not have to cook) and I took him up on the deal and said I would make a healthy dessert - I thought that was a good exchange. We filled out our ballots and something strange happened (we had only seen two of the movies, Bridge of Spies & Spotlight) Hubby got the first seven correctly and I had one? Hmmmmm so I asked him the question....did you by chance look at some website to help you make your picks????  He very sheepisly replied that he had and we had a good laugh!  I think I ended up with only seven correct but I did get Spotlight, which was a dark horse - I only picked because we had just seen the movie and I thought it was so well done.

Pavlova dessert is formed from a base of meringue with a cream filling and topped with fresh fruit. It is thought to be named after the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova during one of her tours in the 1920's in New Zealand & Australia.  You can see many different ways that this dessert is put together.  My version is made with meringue with very little sugar, reduced calorie whipped cream and a berry reduction made with no sugar.

Room temp egg whites with some cream of tartar....add sugar, Truvia and beat on high speed until glossy stiff peaks for form..

At this point you will add the thickened starch gel, one tablespoon at a time, with the mixer on medium, add the vanilla and salt.

 The mixture will be this lovely, glossy meringue, ready to either spread out on parchment or as I did fill two pastry bags.

I used a large round 9BT tip and a smaller star tip, 1M.

Because I was going for individual desserts I did two bigger rounds, two smaller rounds and then the "O's" as a garnish for "Oscar."

Out of the oven, ready to cool and then put the dessert together.  Next time I will use parchment paper because these meringues did stick a little to the Silpat mat. 

I do not have a recipe per se for the berries.  I just use a few ingredients and adjust them accordingly to the amount of fruit I am using. I had less than a cup of a frozen mixture of raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries. To the berries I added the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of Truvia, 1/4 tsp of vanilla and a scant half cup of water and 1/2 tsp cornstarch (or as it is called in other countries, corn flour).  Stir well and bring to a boil and let the mixture reduce down until it is the consistency you desire.  I had some left over and stored in the fridge in a glass jar for use on other things.

I chose a pretty pink blossom plate....

The meringue and the berries have cooled, time to put together the dessert.  I assembled by first putting some of the whipped cream on the meringue, then a spoon of the berries, the smaller meringue followed by whipped cream, berries and topped with the "O" for "Oscar."

The little O's turned out browner because they were much smaller but they still tasted great.  This is such a light, airy and really good dessert.  Two more thumbs up from my test pilot.  I think this would be really good instead of the berries maybe fresh peaches.  If you Google Pavlova and look at the photos you will see that it is usually served as one big meringue that is sliced for serving.

Meringue Recipe:

preheat oven to 300°

1T corn starch
1/3 cup water  
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Truvia
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
   
Stir cornstarch and water together in microwave safe cup or bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds, stir and heat again for 30 more seconds to produce thick starch gel. Stir and set aside to cool completely.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy.  Add sugar and Truvia while beating on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form.

Add thickened starch gel one tablespoon at a time, while mixing on low.  Add vanilla and salt.

Spread meringue onto your parchment paper and bake for approximately 40 minutes, baking time will depend on how large your meringues are, check after 40 minutes and if nice and brown remove, let them cool completely before taking them off of the parchment paper.

This recipe is adapted from the Truvia website and they show it on a lemon meringue pie.  I'm thinking I might try the pie soon and make the crust out of sugar free cookies.  Worth a try!

As for caloric value and fat and protein I will just give you what two portions are without the whipped cream as that varies,  depending on your brand.

The nutrition for half of this recipe (without the whipped cream) is 158 calories, 7.5 g fat, 9g protein

I used the caloric value of the berries, sugar, eggs and the cornstarch.  The rest of the ingredients are trace, even the lemon only has like 6 calories.  I know there are calorie free whipped products on the market but my personal preference is to us the whipped light cream.  

 Resource

Truvia website, lemon meringue pie recipe: Link
Dessert plate by Oxford & Thyme
Piping tips available at specialty cooking supply stores, Williams-Sonoma, Sur le Tab, Walmart, etc.

Thank you for stopping by.