Pavlova

It is traditional in our house to always have a pavlova for dessert on Christmas day. Many of you will know what a pavlova is but for those who don't I enclose the recipe.

There is an ongoing argument between Australians and New Zealanders about who invented the Pavlova, at the moment it looks as if it was us!

Pavlova's can be tricky to make, the secret is to beat the sugar into the egg white really well so as much as possible is dissolved. Also leave it in the oven for an hour or two after it is cooked for it to dry out.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
1 tspn vanilla essence (5 ml)
1 tspn vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup (8oz)castor sugar

1 Tablespoon of cornflour

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 150 °C (300 °F)
Grease oven tray and line with greaseproof paper
Beat the egg whites until very stiff
Fold in vinegar and vanilla
Add sugar - just a spoon at a time, and beat and beat and beat until smooth. Last of all fold in the cornflour.
Pile the mix onto an oven tray, make it about the size of a medium cake. Make a slight hollow in the middle of the mixture. I grease the tray first and dust it with cornflour. Or use a baking paper.
Place pavlova in oven, and immediately reduce temperature to 100 °C (important!)
Cook for 90 minutes
If cooked correctly (as all ovens vary), the pav should be crunchy on the outside, and like marshmallow on the inside. Do not open the oven at all while cooking.

To serve:
When cold, top with whipped cream (250ml of full cream per pavlova), and arrange sliced kiwifruit or any other fresh fruit you like. Sometimes instead of fruit we sprinkle grated chocolate, or strawberries dipped in chocolate. Eat with a fresh fruit salad.