This holiday season, try making mini pavlova cakes with meringue, cream, and fresh cranberries. Shape them into wreaths for extra holiday cheer.

When it comes to sweet eats at the holidays, it's all about cookies. People go nuts for elaborately decorated sugar cookies. And each year, bloggers and magazines are dying to shove another newly derived cookie recipe down our throats, as if our holiday season just won’t be merry without them. Enough with the cookies! (Though I have an exception or two.)

try making meringue instead of cookies

Instead of cookies at the holidays, I’ve come to enjoy meringues. Making a meringue requires no skills other than that of your mixer's ability to beat egg whites and sugar. There is no rolling of dough or worrying that icing is too runny. You just need a clean bowl and egg whites that have no trace of yolk in them.

After whipping, you bake the egg white confections in the oven until they're dried and crisp. You can pipe the meringue out in an attractive style, or just spoon it onto baking sheets. It’s ridiculously simple, and a bag of flavored homemade meringues makes as nice of a gift as a box of cookies, with much less effort. Just add a little flavored extract to your egg whites.

pavlova, the meringue and cream cake

But if you really want to stand out from the cookie crowd at your next holiday gathering, try making the meringue dessert called pavlova. Pavlova has a marshmallowy meringue cake base that’s topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. I find the lightness of the dish and the inclusion of fresh fruit refreshing at a time of year when most of us have traded in our servings of fruit for candy canes.

where did pavlova come from?

The history of pavlova is muddy, at best, as seems to be the case with many of the best dishes. Australia will tell you that they invented and named the dish when Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova toured the country in the 1920s. But so will New Zealand. While that debate continues today, historians will also tell you that meringue and cream-based desserts appeared in cookbooks in other parts of the world well before then. The origin could be German. Or perhaps North America.

Australia and New Zealand may have indeed started calling a meringue and cream cake pavlova after the ballerina, yet throughout the world, a number of other dishes were also named for her. Sounds like a case of Unsolved Mysteries to me. If nothing else, we know that pavlova, or pav, as they fondly refer to it, is perhaps most popular in Australia and New Zealand. They enjoy pav throughout the year, switching out the fresh fruit for whatever may be in season.

mini pavlova for the holidays

In my mini pavlova recipe, I've shaped the pavlova into small wreaths for the holiday season. I make a cranberry sauce (though if you already have some leftover sauce handy, you can just use that) and fold it into freshly whipped cream. Then I top it off with some sugared cranberries.

Don't let the number of steps here stop you from giving this a try. To make things easier, you can bake your meringue in advance, even overnight, and let it cool in the oven while you're doing something else.

Mini Pavlova Cranberry Wreaths

Author: Steve
Prep Time: 75 minutes, plus cooling time
Cook Time: 70 minutes
Total Time: 2 ½ hours
Yield: about 6 mini pavlovas 1x
Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This holiday season, try making mini pavlova cakes with meringue, cream, and fresh cranberries. Shape them into wreaths for extra holiday cheer.

Ingredients

Scale

for the meringue:

4 egg whites
½ cup fine sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

for the sugared cranberries:

¾ cup of sugar
½ cup of water
½ cup cranberries

for the cranberry whipped cream:

1 cup cranberries
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup of orange juice
½ cup cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup of heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F and put an oven rack in the middle of the oven.

Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Use a pencil to trace the top of a glass or mug, about 3 inches wide or so, onto the parchment. Try to fit at least six of these onto the sheet.

With the whisk attachment on your mixer, start whisking the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then continue whisking while adding the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time. Then add the corn starch. When the whites are shiny and firm, stop the mixer and add in the vanilla and lemon juice. Whisk another minute to incorporate.

Scoop the meringue into a piping or plastic bag fitted with a wide tip. You’ll have to do this in two or three batches. Pipe around the edge of each of the circles on the parchment paper. I had enough meringue to do two layers on each of the six. I probably could have made a seventh if I scraped the bottom of the bowl into the piping bag instead of my mouth. Your call.

Transfer the baking sheet with the meringue to the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the meringue is crisp and feels firm when you tap on it. Turn off the oven and leave to cool completely. If you’re in no rush, leave the pan in the oven overnight and deal with it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, make the sugared cranberries. (Or not, if you don’t care about them, feel free to skip this step entirely, it’s not essential.) Heat a ½ cup of the sugar with the water in a small pot over low heat. No need to boil. When dissolved, add the cranberries and let sit for about 30 minutes. Afterward, drain the cranberries (reserve what is essentially cranberry flavored simple syrup for another use) then toss them with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar in a bowl. Spread them out on a piece of parchment to dry for at least 30 minutes.

While the pavlova bakes and cranberries dry, or the next day, start the cranberry cream. Simmer the cranberries, brown sugar, and orange juice together in a small pot over low heat. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and is no longer watery. Turn off the heat and let cool. You could transfer it to the fridge if you want to speed up the process.

In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the heavy cream little add a time. Whisk for about 3 minutes on high until you have a thick whipped cream. Add the sugar and vanilla while whisking on low. When the cranberry sauce has cooled, fold into the whipped cream using a spatula.

When the pavlova has cooled, sugared cranberries have dried and cream is prepared, it’s time to assemble. Finally, right?! Transfer the meringue wreaths to a serving plate and spoon the cream evenly over top. Garnish each with the sugared cranberries and serve immediately.

Notes

Useful tools: a mixer and a piping (or plastic) bag fitted with a wide decorating tip.

Tips for success (aka, ways I've ruined this recipe in the past):

You must line the baking sheet with parchment; otherwise, the meringues will stick to the pan.
Don't skip the cornstarch; it gives the meringue the marshmallowy texture.
Don't try to take the meringues out of the oven without cooling. They'll become sticky and chewy, not in a good way. Trust me!
It's best to serve this as soon as you can after assembling. The whipped cream will start to soften the meringue and ruin its crunchy texture.

Ways to make this recipe easier:

Instead of piping out wreath shapes, spoon the meringue across the entire circle and don't bother with the bag or tip.
No need for mini pavlovas? Great. That's even easier. Just dump the meringue into one large circle. Trace a plate first, if needed.
Ditch the sugared cranberries. You could use plain fresh cranberries instead.

Other thoughts:

Add some small pieces of rosemary sprigs for added decoration.
Try other flavors. Instead of making the cranberry sauce, use your favorite jams then decorate with fresh pieces of fruit.

Recipe adapted from: madelinelu.com.

Category: Desserts
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Australian

Keywords: cranberries, heavy cream, orange juice, cream cheese, sugar, eggs