This is one of my favorite summer desserts. It’s a show-stopper, but soooo easy. Change up the fruit (peaches, mangoes, nectarines, etc) as the summer goes on. Make your meringues in the morning, use store-bought lemon curd and this becomes a dessert you can put together in 10 minutes flat.

Meringue

4 egg whites (120g)
1⁄4 t cream of tartar
11⁄4 c granulated sugar 1 t cornstarch
2 t white vinegar
1 t vanilla extract

Fruit

1 c strawberries, hulled and quartered 1 pint raspberries
2 T sugar

Whipped Cream

2 c cold heavy whipping cream 2 T confectioners’ sugar
1⁄2 t vanilla
Lemon curd, store-bought or homemade

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean bowl using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or you can beat by hand or use a hand-held mixer) until they reach stiff peaks. Then slowly add in the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, re-beating to glossy, stiff peaks after each addition. Beat in cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla just to combine.

Use a pastry bag to pipe 4” circles or spoon dollops of the meringue onto the parchment and and make a well in the center of each using the back of the spoon. Bake until firm and dry to the touch but do not brown, about 1 hour. The meringues should be completely firm/hard and can be easily removed from the parchment paper. Turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven.

Combine the berries with the sugar and stir. Crush some of the berries with the back of a fork to release juices. Let macerate.

Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or you can beat by hand) until it reaches soft peaks.

I like to make a pavlova “bar” where I set out the meringue cups, lemon curd, whipped cream, and berries and let guests make their own pavlovas.

Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd and Berries