Desserts - Pavlova

I'm an avid reader. If you don't know that, then you don't know me at all. 

One of my favorite series is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I have explained this series to people like this, "The Outlander series is like crack for readers. Once you start it, you can't stop it." 

It's that good! 

When I found out that Starz was going to put Outlander into a 16 episode T.V. series, I became obsessed with Twitter for updates. 

I have made new friends on this quest, one in particular is Leah, from Australia. 

We've chatted quite a bit and I feel we have started a fun, long distance friendship. I have shared a recipe or two with her, and she shared with me some of hers. 

I attempted to make a traditional Australian dessert for Christmas this year called Pavlova, or per Leah, "Pav." 

This recipe sounded so delicious but when I started looking at recipes on the internet, I quickly became intimidated. 

I'm not now, I just know that the meringue bottom takes a LONG TIME to make. I was glad I made it the night before because I worked on it for an hour before baking it. My mixer hated me, in fact it may have smelled a little like it was going to blow up in my hand.

Natalie, at that point I wish I had your mixer and was so jealous of you! 

The meringue bottom before I baked it

Anyway, the next day I put the toppings on and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor. It was sweet, but not like you just ate a king size candy bar sweet. 

***Side bar: normally the toppings would only go on the top; I didn't want to waste them so I put them all around my pav. 

It was good and I would make it again, but only if I had a fancy mixer because the hand mixer didn't cut it. 

Here is a recipe I found online: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-pavlova/

I'm not going to share the recipe that Leah gave me without her permission first, but this recipe is sort of similar. If you are really interested in trying this, let me know. I'll email you what Leah gave me.