Light Spring Pavlova

Ingredients

Meringue –

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

2 tsp vinegar

Filling

About 2/3 cup per serving of any combination of fruit, sliced if necessary (I used raspberries and blueberries and would have liked strawberries, but forgot to buy them!)

1 to 2 Tbsp any fruit liqueur or brandy

optional: a sprinkle of sugar

Topping

1 cup plain nonfat Greek Yogurt

2 Tbsp honey

zest of one lemon

Directions

Make the meringues: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. My recipe could have easily made 8 small meringues, but I made 4 large ones for people who consider dessert the main dish.

I traced circles on the parchment paper to have a guide to spread meringue, but I’m sure many of you can make a lovely circle freehanded!

In an electric mixer with a clean, dry, bowl, mix egg whites with salt on medium high speed until soft peaks form.

Add sugar about 1/4 of a cup at a time until stiff peaks form (just a minute or so).

Add vanilla, cornstarch and vinegar to just combine.

Spread in circles on prepared pan and put in the oven.

Reduce oven to 200 degrees and bake for an hour to 1½ hours, until you can lift meringues off of the parchment paper with a spatula.

Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside for another hour. Remove to cool.

You can make these up to 2 days ahead of time and store tightly covered at room temperature.

While the meringues are baking, mix fruit with the liqueur and taste to see if you want additional sugar. Also mix yogurt with honey and lemon. This will keep in the fridge for a couple of days as well.

To serve: Put meringues on individual plates, top with fruit and yogurt. Wait for the “ahs.”

© Deer One Publishing 2021