We invited the friends we spent July the 4th with for a barbecue, over for tortilla wraps and tacos. And then, Smallsteps and I decided we would make a pavlova together, because she wanted to learn. Pavlovas are the easiest and most delicious cake there is in the summer, with fresh strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.
We will decorate it later.
The only thing to really be precise about, is to ensure there is no oil residue in the mixing bowl and no egg yolk gets into the whites when separating, otherwise the mixture won't firm up into peaks, and the pavlova will suck.
I used ten eggs
Nine whites.
One of the egg yolks broken when I was separating them, so I had to give that one up. It is because of this that I am careful to separate into a different bowl completely, which also means that if an egg is bad (very rare here at least), it doesn't mix with the others. So, whites into one bowl that gets emptied into the mixing bowl after each separation, and yolks into another bowl for later.
One of the joys of childhood - licking the spoon.
I made this mixture a little different to what I normally do, with a little more corn flour to see if I can get it to cook and stay higher, without spreading and dropping too much in the oven. I suspect it will drop anyway, but I might as well try. I will let it cool in the oven so it doesn't cool too fast and deflate completely, but I have never been able to get it to stay very high.
Smallsteps helped me with the measurements and did a little of the mixing, but mostly we were just talking and she asked questions about why I was doing this or that. The whole process of prepping before oven only takes about twenty minutes or so, and with hardly any ingredients, it really is a simple process.
It was very thick today, so hopefully it stays high.
In the past, I had no idea what to do with all the egg yolks, so I would just throw them away. I knew a custard was possible, but I thought it would be some difficult process that I would screw up. However, the last time I made a pavlova I decided to try an easy recipe and it came out surprisingly good and once it had cooled, was just as good (if not better) than a store bought vanilla custard for pies.
So now, my wife is going to make a pie as well.
Suffice today, that while the dinner might be relatively healthy, the dessert is going to put a dent in anyone's diet, so I am going to have to hit the gym a bit harder the next few days. In Finland, Friday is traditionally "candy day" for children, where they might go and get a small selection from the store for the weekend. I never had this as a child, and we don't do it for Smallsteps either, because we think that it makes junk food a reward or something special and rare, rather than something that we can choose to have sometimes, but is not expected, or entitled.
So far, it has worked.
Is it candy day for you too?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
