Mini Fruit-topped Pavlovas #BakingBloggers

These mini fruit-topped pavlovas are the perfect dessert for a dinner party or potluck.  The meringue bases can be made ahead of time then all you need to do is whip the cream and pop the fruit on top. They are so easy but look impressive.

Who owns bragging rights to the creation of pavlova is a hotly contested subject between Australians and New Zealanders so sometimes it’s fun to bring it up if you have a few at your gathering. The best part is that once you’ve let them vie for ownership for a while, you can flummox them all with more current research.

Dr. Andrew Paul Wood, a New Zealander, and Australian Annabelle Utrech have traced the origins of pavlova as we know it back to the German-speaking Habsburgs who made a certain dessert, a confection of meringue and cream and fruit, that they had “borrowed” from Spain. They named it Spanische Windtorte, which translates to wind pie. Apt for a light and fluffy meringue, don't you think?

German immigrants brought that recipe and its cousin the schaum torte or foam cake to the United States, which eventually evolved into a recipe called Forgotten Cake. It was quite popular in the 1940s, and was so called because meringue is put into a hot oven, which is then turned off and is left for at least eight hours. Forgotten cakes were originally served with a fruit filling and cream on top, but eventually busy housewives started just topping them with cream and then fresh fruit. Much like the traditional pavlova.

So how did the recipe make its way to our friends in the southern hemisphere? Wood and Utrech discovered that an American cornstarch company began importing their product to New Zealand in the 1890s, with a pavlova-type recipe on the package. So it’s really sort of American, by way of Germany and Spain.

Mini Fruit-topped Pavlovas 

No matter how it got there, pavlova is still a quintessential Australian or New Zealand dessert. A traditional fruit topping down under is passion fruit pulp but you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. Serve the mini fruit-topped pavlovas shortly after topping them as the cream will soften the meringues.

Ingredients for 4 dozen mini pavs
4 large egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 cup or 225g caster sugar (I used golden caster sugar.)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar

To serve:
1 3/4 cups or 414ml whipping cream
Selection of fresh fruit - I used 7 oz or 200g raspberries, 2 small mangoes and two kiwi fruit.

You will need 4 baking sheets, lined with parchment or silicone liners and a piping bag with a large hole tip.

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Whisk the egg whites with the salt until they're holding firm peaks but are not stiff.

Gently add in the sugar a spoonful at time, still beating, until you've got a bowl full of shiny, thick meringue. There should be no grittiness left when you rub the meringue between your thumb and finger.

Use a sieve or sifter to sprinkle in the cornstarch, add the vanilla and vinegar, then gently fold to combine.

If you are using parchment paper without guidelines, you can use permanent marker or pencil to draw small circles as guide. Mine are about 2 inches or 5cm wide. Turn the paper over so you will be adding the meringue on the clean side.

Put the meringue in a piping bag with a large tip. Start in the middle of your circles and pipe a solid base, finishing with one more circle of meringue on top of the very outside of the base.

Put the first two pans into the oven, turn it down to 300°F or 150°C and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in for another 20 minutes, then take them out of the oven and put them in a cool dry place.

Once the first batch is out, preheat your oven again to 350°F or 180°C and repeat the process with the last two pans.

When you are ready to assemble the bite-sized pavlovas, whip the cream into soft peaks and peel and cut your fruit, if necessary. Small fruit, like raspberries, can be left whole.

Spoon a couple of teaspoons into the meringues then top with fruit.

Enjoy!

This month my Baking Blogger friends are sharing their favorite recipes with summer berries. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime for her behind the scenes work and this fun theme. Check out all the tasty berry recipes below.

• Bora Berry Tart by Sneha's Recipe
• Lattice Top Blackberry Pie by Palatable Pastime
• Brownie Berry Dessert Pizza by Simply Inspired Meals
• Make-Ahead Mixed Berries Baked Oatmeal by Hardly A Goddess
• Mini Fruit-topped Pavlovas by Food Lust People Love
• Mixed Berry Bubbly Pies by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Mixed Berry Cheese Danish by Cookaholic Wife
• No Churn Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream by Caroline's Cooking
• Roasted Blackberry-Cherry Tomato Chutney on Venison Medallions by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Strawberry Crisp with Pepita & Chia Seed Topping by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Strawberry Shortcake Bars by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry Shortcake Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Vegan Lemon Raspberry Layer Cake by The Baking Fairy

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles #FoodieExtravaganza

These easy appetizers are perfect for cocktail time and plenty filling for your tapas party. Made with extra sharp cheddar and herby mashed potatoes, potato cake grilled cheese nibbles go down a treat.

Since 2016, the third Thursday in June has been designated World Tapas Day, a holiday I can completely get behind. After all, who doesn’t love little tasty nibbles? A snack is a snack but when you call it tapas, you are pretty much required to have a drink as well, which pushes us right into party territory.

If you agree, you might also like to check out some of my other tapas recipes. I'm particularly partial to my Garlicky Artichokes which are divine heaped on crusty bread, Spicy Squid with Bacon which also has a good hit of garlic, and the sweet and salty combination of these Chorizo Date Skewers topped with crumbled blue cheese. So good! I tasted that last one in a restaurant in Atlanta and could not wait to get home to make them again myself.

Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles

These fun little “sandwiches” can be made with your favorite herbs to flavor the potatoes but using green onion tops makes them taste like my favorite baked potatoes. In fact, sometimes I add crispy bacon to the mix. Everything’s better with bacon.

Ingredients
1 3/4 lbs or 790g waxy potatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 medium egg, lightly whisked
Herbs of your choice
3 oz or 85g extra sharp cheddar – or your favorite flavorful melty cheese

Method
Peel the potatoes and cut into them chunks. Boil them until just fork tender, then drain and leave to air dry in the hot pot for a few minutes, lid removed.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now mix in the egg and the chopped herbs until both are completely incorporated.

Use a scoop or a tablespoon to divide the potatoes into about 26 pieces. I used a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop and got 27.

Cover the potato balls with cling film and chill them for a couple of hours.

Wet your hands to avoid the potato sticking to them then form the balls of potato into little cakes. I like to use the edge of a rubber spatula to pat the cakes into square-ish shapes. This is totally unnecessary but I think it made them look more like toast. Which makes the potato cake grilled cheese nibbles look more like tiny sandwiches. Such fun!

Slice your cheese thinly and set aside.

Put a non-stick griddle to heat over a medium flame. If your griddle is on the older side (and not as non-stick as it used to be), you might want to drizzle on a little canola or olive oil. You don’t want the potato cakes to stick.

Put the cakes a few at time on the griddle, making sure to leave enough room to get a spatula in to turn them. Cook on the first side for several minutes or until the bottom is nicely browned.

Carefully turn the potato cakes over and cook the other side till browned.

At this point I take time out from our regularly scheduled, eat-right-now recipe to offer you a party plan version for making ahead.

PARTY PLAN MAKE AHEAD: Cook all the potato cakes and refrigerate until ready to serve. Reheat in a single layer in your oven, preheated to 375°F or 190°C for about 7-10 minutes or until heated through. Top half with the sliced cheese and pop back into the oven until the cheese just starts to melt. Remove from the oven and cover the cheesy potato cakes with a plain one. Serve!

Now back to our make them/eat them recipe:
Add the cheese to half of the potato cakes and put the other half on top to make a sandwich. Since the potato cakes are hot, it will take just a minute or so for the cheese to melt.

Remove them to a platter and add the next batch of potato cakes to the griddle. Repeat process until all the potato cake grilled cheese nibbles are done. Garnish with more chopped herbs.

Enjoy!

This month’s Foodie Extravaganza party is celebrating World Tapas Day. Created by Spain, the home country of tapas, it was first declared to commemorate of their favorite snacks in 2016. It's always the third Thursday so this year get ready to party on June 20th. We are here to help with several delicious recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to this month’s host, Juli from Pandemonium Noshery for choosing this excellent theme.

• Patatas Bravas with Tomato Aioli from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Flamenquín from Pandemonium Noshery
• Ensaladilla Rusa from Sneha's Recipe
• Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles from Food Lust People Love
• Spiced Beef Kabobs from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays by posting delicious recipes your family will love. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a home cook looking for tasty recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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Orange Marmalade Muffins #MuffinMonday

These orange marmalade muffins bake up fluffy and tender. The yogurt and zest add an extra punch to the already flavorful buttery crumb.

Any good cookbook I've ever read always suggests reading the recipe through before starting to cook or bake. Wise advice for sure so I do try to comply. In the case of muffins, I've been baking them so long and so often that I make up my own recipes with ease.

I sit at my computer before heading into the kitchen. For 12 muffins, 2 cups of flour is about right. Are they going to be sweet muffins? Well then, I add some white sugar, brown sugar or honey or even jam (or a combination) to the ingredients list. What will I use to moisten the dry ingredients? Milk, melted butter, oil, yogurt, buttermilk? How many eggs? Usually one will do. Don't forget a leavening agent and salt. Even a sweet muffin needs some salt.

Finally, or sometimes initially, to be honest, what add-ins or flavorings will I use? Fruit in season, chopped candy bars or maybe leftover meat and cheese in the fridge. Any of these might motivate me to create a muffin recipe. This morning my inspiration came from a jar of homemade orange marmalade I bought at a weekend market a couple of years ago. It's been languishing, still sealed, in the cool pantry ever since, slightly darker than when I bought it but just as good.

The one thing I had not considered was a muffin pan. Much to my horror, I realized that I don't have one in the house I'm staying in right now! I was saved when I came across a set of 12 silicone muffin cups tucked into a kitchen drawer. That was close. It's also why my very first instruction for Muffin Monday recipes is to prepare your pan! Better to know before you start if job one is actually to go buy a muffin pan (or silicone cups.)

Orange Marmalade Muffins

Pump up the orange flavor in these muffins by adding a little tangerine or orange zest to your granulated sugar before mixing in the other dry ingredients.

Ingredients
2/3 cup or 132g sugar
Zest 1 small tangerine, minced or finely grated
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup or 120g plain yogurt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml good quality marmalade
1 large egg

Optional glaze:  2 tablespoons marmalade, slightly warmed

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups. Or use silicone cups on a baking pan! These little miracles allow one to bake muffins, even if you actually don't own a muffin pan in your current location.

In a large bowl, rub your sugar with the tangerine zest to release the oils. I use the back of my silicone spoon against the bowl.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the sugar bowl and whisk to combine.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your melted butter, milk, yogurt, egg and marmalade.

Check out the gorgeous color of my butter, there on the left. All natural, from Jersey Dairy, made with the rich cream from Jersey cows. 

Pour your egg/milk mixture into your dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

Divide the muffin batter between the muffin cups.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Warm the extra marmalade briefly in the microwave and then brush it onto the muffins to glaze.

Remove the muffins from the pan (or silicone cups) and cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all of the other lovely muffins my Muffin Monday friends have baked for you today!

• Flo's V8 Cafe Oat Bran Muffins from Simply Inspired Meals
• Morning Glory Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Tomato and Basil Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Orange Marmalade Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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