The Pavlova

Pavlova
The longer I live in New Zealand, the more I've come to understand the behemothic importance of the Pavlova to the Kiwis. Pavlova is a dessert named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, and was so named after the dancer toured in Australia and New Zealand. Herein lies the debate: both the Aussies and the Kiwis claim the origin of the dessert. In fact, the competition of the "Pav" is so intense that Kiwis made the world's largest pavlova to one-up the Australians, and as far as I can tell, the Aussies haven't recovered. When visiting New Zealand, it's probably best to believe that the Kiwis claim ownership.

Making Pavlova
1. INVEST IN AN ELECTRIC MIXER
The beautiful sculpture of a pav seen above was created using a hand mixer, I don't recommend it. Have you ever tried creating a meringue and home whipped creme with a hand mixer?

Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Servings: 1 pavlova

Ingredients:

• 3 Egg Whites
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Directions:

Beat egg whites until stiff (forms peaks).

Add sugar - heaped tablespoon at a time - beating well after each addition. Then beat for at least 10 minutes. This is very important.

Then sprinkle vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence into mixture. Beat until blended.Coat baking paper with water drops to allow baking paper to stick to sides of tin and pile pavlova mixture in 20cm circle.

Heat oven until 300°F (or 150°C). Put pav in oven and immediately turn oven down to 250°F (or 125°C) and leave for 1 hour. Then turn oven off and leave in oven until cold. (Usually overnight).

This makes a nice crust on outside of pav. Before serving, cover pav in whipped cream and decorate with your favourite fruit.

I got this recipe from: http://www.kiwiwise.co.nz/recipe/grandma-taylors-pavlova-recipe