Better Late Than Never....
It had been my intention to write this
post last weekend,
but obviously that did not happen.
I make a million and one plans
in my head but
it's pot luck which ones actually
come to fruition.
Never the less,
I really wanted to share this recipe with you.
It is a lovely treat and you could
make it anytime of the year,
but with Valentine's Day approaching
I did think this would be the perfect
treat.
Mr. B is a sucker for anything sweet,
and meringue is a particular favourite
of his.
With this in mind,
a trip to the supermarket at the weekend
gave me the inspiration for this recipe.
There were special Valentine's
promotions of the usual chocolates
and pink champagne.
But, nestled in amongst these slightly
unimaginative treats were some
I stood and pondered for a while
"what I could make with them?",
and on a bit of a whim,
six of them dropped into my basket.
Not an official impulse buy,
but not on the shopping list either.
I do try not to buy things
'not on the list'
but fail miserably every time.
Life is too short to not buy something
essential every now and again, right?
I remembered watching a You Tube video
from Edd Kimber a while back
where he was whipping up a
This seemed like to perfect opportunity
to give it a go.
This is a two stage recipe.
The first being the Passion fruit curd,
and the second stage for a
amazing pavlova.
A very definite Busy Bee family
favourite.
you will need :
6-7 passion fruit - enough to give you 80mls of juice
5 eggs yolks (4 of the whites will do for the meringue later on)
100g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1. Juice the passion fruit through a sieve
into a heatproof bowl.
Do this by squeezing the halves into
the sieve and rub the
pulp with the back of a spoon against
the sieve to
release the juice into the bowl
underneath.
2. Add the sugar and egg yolks to the juice
and pop the bowl over a pan of
simmering water.
Whisk continuously until the
liquid starts to thicken.
The colour will change to a more opaque
pale orange and
the mixture should coat the back of a spoon.
Be sure to stand over the
pan during this process and
inhale.
Th smell is utterly divine.
3. Remove from the heat and add the butter.
Stir gently until the butter
has completely melted.
Pour into a sterilised jar and keep in
the fridge until ready to use.
The next stage is to construct the meringue
pavlova case.
I understand meringues
can be quite a daunting challenge
for some people,
but it really is not that hard to do.
4 egg whites
225g caster sugar
1.5 tsps white vinegar
1.5 tsps cornflous
1.5 tsps vanilla extract
for the filling :
300ml double cream
Passion fruit curd
Passion fruit to decorate (optional)
1. Lay a sheet of baking parchment
on a baking tray.
 |
I put four dabs of the meringue
mix onto the corners of the
baking tray to help the
lining stick.
|
Preheat oven to 160C/ 140c fan/gas mark 3.
Whisk the egg whites in a clean,
dry bowl until they are stiff.
Whisk in the sugar a spoonful at a time.
2. Blend the vinegar with the cornflour
and whisk it
with the last spoon of sugar
into the egg whites.
Add the vanilla extract here too.
 |
Beat the egg whites until stiff and glossy.
They should hold their shape like above. |
3. Spread the meringue out to roughly
an 8” circle on the baking tray
and build up the sides so that they
are higher than the centre.
4. Put the baking tray in the centre of the oven,
turn the heat down to 150c/130fan
or gas mark 2 and bake the meringue for 1 hour.
After the hour gently tap the top
of the meringue.
There should be a hollow sound which
indicates it's done.
Turn the oven off but leave
the pavlova in the oven to become quite cold
(otherwise it will split open as it cools).
I tend to leave it in the oven overnight
and it will be beautifully cold
and 'set' in the morning.
Remove the pavlova from the
baking tray and place on a suitable serving dish.
I have a lovely heart shaped dish but
unfortunately my pavlova came out just
a touch too big to fit,
so I used this pretty glass plate instead.
5.Place the cream in a basin and beat until blended
and the mixture is thick and creamy.
Now at this point you can either blend in the
passion fruit curd,
(about half of the mixture you made
should do it but of course if
you prefer a stronger flavour,
simply add a little more,)
until it is a lovely warm
pale orange colour.
Or you can put the plain cream mixture
into the pavlova and then place
three or four generous dollops of the curd
into the cream and swirl around until you
are happy with the appearance.
Place in the fridge and
leave to stand for at least 1 hour
before serving.
 |
| Look at that beautiful, oozy cream. |
You could also scatter some passion fruit
seeds over the top for decoration at
this point too,
but remember you would need to buy
an extra passion fruit to do this.
Don’t leave overnight –
this dessert is best made on the day you want to serve it,
but I'm sure whoever you make this for
will not want to leave it.
Until next time,
enjoy your day
Bernice
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