Pavlova and Meringues

Pavlova and meringues are kind of my specialty.  I don't mean to brag, but they are seriously good.  And what makes them even better is that they are really simple especially if you follow my few little tips!  When making a pavlova I use vanilla creme and I like keeping the fruit simple - just berries or passionfruit but you can decorate it however you like!

Pavlova with Vanilla Creme and strawberries

Meringue

6 egg whites

300g castor sugar

A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 150 degrees.  Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on medium speed until light and frothy.  Gradually add the sugar and pinch of salt to the egg white mixture a tablespoon at a time.  Continue mixing until the mixture is white and glossy and smooth when the mixture is rubbed between your fingers, approximately 5 minutes.

To make meringues: Spoon big dollops of the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper spaced two inches apart - they expand as they bake!  Bake for an hour or until lightly coloured.

To make pavlova: Spoon big dollops of mixture in a circle making sure they just touch.  Spoon some mixture into the middle and spread it over the bottom - about an inch.  Bake for an hour or until lightly coloured.

Leave to cool on tray before removing from the baking paper.

Vanilla Creme

250g creme frais

250g mascarpone cheese

1 tbs castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until combined.  It's that simple!  Spoon the vanilla creme into the centre of the pavlova and cover in fruit.

Meringues in the oven

My helpful meringue hints:

#1 It's all about the eggs.  If possible, always use fresh eggs!  I buy my eggs the day I am going to use them and try and get them local and organic.

#2 If you get a chance, use a metal mixing bowl and chill the bowl in the refrigerator before using it.

#3 Rubbing the mixture between your fingers is vital - otherwise you will end up with grainy meringues.

#3 Open the oven after about 30 minutes to let out the steam.

Marshmallows are Sticky Business!

So like many foodies, I see a cookbook or a magazine and before I know it it has made it's way into my carry bag and having coffee spilt on it while I indulge in every recipe from the ingredients list through to it's storing instructions.  I saw this recipe in the "Gourmet Traveller; Annual Cookbook 2013 Collectors Edition" I picked up earlier in the week while grocery shopping.  My ritual for new books and magazines is to wait until I have enough time to be able to read large chunks of glorious pages at a time.  Last Wednesday I had the day off -- perfect! I packed it in my handbag and walked down to my local coffee shop and I slowly made my way through all 250 pages of delicious sounding recipes and mouth-watering photographs.  I write down all the recipes I want to try and ideas I get while I turn all the pages in a little notebook - safe to say this book is already overflowing with ideas and things I want to try.

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows

Before Wednesday I had never made marshmallows before.  As of Wednesday I now know that I might not be making them terribly frequently.  Though the recipe is delicious and not particularly hard to whip together - the mixture is SO incredibly sticky.  I am still finding sticky sections on the kitchen benches 3 days later!!  The recipe for the marshmallows actually comes from a larger recipe for "Dolce de Leche Marshmallow Biscuits", a 'love child of the Spanish alfajore and the good old Wagon Wheel'.

So what I have for you is a wonderful recipe that I recommend you to try.  I am certainly and going to try and make them again as they were delicious - I'm just going to factor in that they take three times longer to clean up as they do to make! I have taken the recipe out of the magazine and added a few little tips that I found useful while whipping them up (my tips will be in red) - Enjoy!!

Marshmallows - Gourmet Traveller, 2013 Annual Cookbook

2 tsp liquid glucose
375g castor sugar
3 egg whites
9 titanium-strength gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes
Seeds from one vanilla bean
Icing sugar for dusting
200g dark chocolate - optional

To start with, I recommend getting all the ingredients ready and measured before even starting heating anything up.  Depending on your cooktop you could find yourself with a very hot sugar syrup and egg whites still snuggled up with the yolks in the fridge!

• Stir the liquid glucose, 250g of sugar and 100ml of water in a small saucepan over a medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.  Bring to the boil and cook until sugar syrup readers 118°C on a sugar thermometer (if you don't have a sugar thermometer then wait until the sugar syrup starts to boil with very thick bubbles - it then has another 5 or so minutes before it reaches 127°C). 
• When syrup reaches 118°C, whisk egg white and a pinch of salt with an electric beater until soft peaks form, then gradually add remaining sugar and whisk until glossy (to test whether it has been whisked enough, rub a small amount of mixture between two fingers it should be smooth and not grainy).  Continue cooking syrup until it reaches 127°C.
• Squeeze excess water from gelatine, stir into syrup, then gradually add syrup to egg white mixture, whisking continuously on medium speed.  Add vanilla seeds and whisk at high speed until mixture is cool and thick (10 minutes) (This is the super sticky part.  Gelatine is kind of like a cooking glue, as you are mixing it it sticks to itself as the beaters go around and around gradually picking up more and more mixture - if you don't keep an eye on it before you know it the marshmallow mixture is up onto the top of your hand mixer and slowing taking over your arm.  Beat on an angle and move the mixer up and down to stop this from happening). 
• Spoon into a 20cm x 30cm cake tin lined with baking paper, smooth top with a wet rubber spatula and stand at room temperature until set (approximately 2 hours). Turn out of tin and cut into desired shape with a biscuit cutter dipped in icing sugar (I used a small love heart).  Coat marshmallows in icing sugar.  If desired melt chocolate and allow to cool before dipping or coating the marshmallows.

They will keep for up to a week in an airtight container at room temperature.