Crispy, Melt-In-Your-Mouth Mini-Pavlovas

I have a confession to make:

I have been seriously neglecting my blogspot after being introduced to tumblr by a friend. xDD

After updating my tumblr for the who-knows-how-many-eth time, I decided to actually write something on my poor blogspot. What else, I thought, would be more perfect than some light, delicate mini-pavlovas? Now, I do know that the traditional meringue and pavlova is "crispy on the outside but delightfully marshmallow-y on the inside", however, I (and my pavlova-loving mom) think that it's much better when it's crispy and dry the whole way through.

I went through a pavlova-baking phase a few weeks ago after my mother started craving some from the local Delicious restaurant (no, I didn't capitalise that for fun, the name of the place is 'Delicious'). But RM13 (approx. $4) for a dollop of meringue with whipped cream and strawberries is quite pricey if you craved one everyday. xD

And so, I opened my web-browser and went to allrecipes.com (where most of my recipes come from) and the end result was quite pleasing. =D (after a few adjustments, of course)

The original recipe can be found here. This is the version with my alterations. 

Crispy, Melt-In-Your-Mouth Mini-Pavlovas

serves 7 mini-pavlovas

Ingredients

2 egg whites

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or any kitchen acid you have on hand  eg. lemon juice, white vinegar)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Whipping cream and fruit of your choice

Pre-baking Notes

- My food processor has a whisk attachment, so I make meringues in my food processor (I don't have a mixer). I don't recommend using the normal blade attachment, however... It just won't work.

- Egg whites will never never never double in volume properly when there is a particle of fat in them. Clean your bowl, beaters and everything to make sure they're grease-free for optimum egg volume. Also, when seperating eggs, better to have white in your yolk than yolk in your white.

- Egg yolks don't keep as long as egg whites do in the fridge, so I recommend you making pavlovas with leftover whites than making pavlovas and having leftover yolks... If that made any sense. ^^ (Egg yolk fridge life = 1 - 2 days ; Egg white fridge life = 1 week)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 120 degrees Celcius (or 250 degrees F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Beat the egg whites until really soft peaks form (it'll be mostly foamy without the sugar and etc). White the beater is still... beating, add in the sugar by the tablespoons gradually. Once all of the sugar is in, beat it on high until proper soft peaks form.

3. Put the food processor / hand beater / stand mixer / your hand on low speed and add in the vanilla, vinegar and cornstarch. Then, turn the speed to high and beat until still peaks. Don't overbeat and make sure everything is incoperated. 

4. Using a spoon or spatula or whatever you're comfortable with, dollop around 2 - 3 tablespoons of egg white fluff onto the baking sheet. Lightly press the mound down with the back of a spoon and shape the edges of the blob into a circle. With the back of the spoon, make a small dip in the middle of the egg-white mix so that your whipped cream and fruit can stay on the top instead of toppling off your dessert. Don't worry if your pavlova doesn't turn out looking like a pavlova. Practice makes perfect. ^^ If you have a piping bag, go ahead and pipe out the mix. 

5. Don't worry about it expanding or running, it won't. Which means, about 1 inch or so between pavlovas is enough.

6. Once you have made 7 (depending on how much mix you put per pavlova), pop it into the oven for 1 and a half hours.

7. Turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven overnight (or maybe 4 hours).

8. Once they have cooled and dried off in the oven, turn the oven on again but set it to 90 degrees Celcius (195 degrees F) for about 25 minutes (don't worry about it preheating, just turn it on).

9. Turn off the oven, let it cool again for about an hour or so. To check whether your pavlova is crispy on the inside, just stab a toothpick through the middle of one of them and when it comes out clean and there's no toffee-like layer in the middle, it's dry.

10. Place one on a plate, dollop (or spray-can) some whipped cream on and serve with your favourite fruit on top.

Post-baking Notes

- Don't lick the bowl when making meringues. It's uncooked egg whites, can get you salmonella and it's kinda gross.

- The second baking time isn't really necessary if your pavlovas are already dry all the way through after cooling down. I live in a relatively humid country, so the second baking time is needed. Of course, if it's rainy or hot outside, that will have an impact on your pavlova. But it's okay, practice makes perfect. ^^

- Store un-whipped-creamed pavlovas in an airtight container for up to a week or two. If it gets toffee-like in the middle, just pop into an oven for 25 minutes at 90 degrees C (195 degrees F).

Enjoy~ <3