Description
These Mini Pavlova Christmas Trees are a festive and elegant dessert featuring crisp meringue bases piped into tree shapes, topped with whipped cream and decorated with pistachios, raspberries, and silver cachous. Perfect for holiday celebrations, they combine a light crunch with creamy, fruity accents for a delightful treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Meringue
- 6 free-range egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 3 tsp cornflour
Decoration
- 1/4 cup Sunbeam Australian Pistachios
- 300ml thickened cream
- 1 tsp pure icing sugar
- 1 tsp rosewater
- Silver cachous, to decorate
- Raspberries, to serve
- Freeze-dried raspberry powder, to decorate
- Strawberries, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare trays: Preheat oven to 100°C fan-forced (120°C conventional) and grease 2 large oven trays. Place two baking paper sheets on trays and mark four 4.5cm circles on each sheet, spaced apart. Place sheets marked side down on trays.
- Make meringue base: Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition until sugar dissolves. Add white vinegar and cornflour; continue to beat until mixture is combined and glossy.
- Pipe meringues: Transfer 1/4 of the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle and pipe small mounds onto the circles on prepared trays as a base. Fill another piping bag fitted with a 0.5cm fluted nozzle with the remaining mixture. Starting at the base of each mound, pipe 3 rows of small vertical layers around it to create a tree shape.
- Bake meringues: Bake in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges are crisp but not colored. Then turn off the oven and allow the meringues to cool completely inside the oven with the door slightly ajar.
- Prepare pistachio crumbs: Place pistachios in a small food processor and pulse until finely crumbed.
- Whip the cream: Beat thickened cream with icing sugar and rosewater using an electric mixer until just-firm peaks form.
- Decorate the pavlovas: Spoon 1/4 of the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe small rounds of cream onto each meringue tree to help decorations stick. Decorate with silver cachous, raspberries, and sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberry powder and pistachio crumbs.
- Serve: Serve the mini pavlova Christmas trees with remaining whipped cream and fresh strawberries for a festive presentation.
Notes
- Use room temperature egg whites for best meringue texture.
- Gradually adding sugar and ensuring it dissolves is critical for a smooth, stable meringue.
- Cooling meringues in the oven helps prevent cracking and keeps them crisp.
- Adjust piping nozzle sizes to achieve the layered tree effect.
- These pavlovas can be assembled a few hours ahead but decorate just before serving to maintain crispness.
- For a nut-free option, omit pistachios and substitute with crushed freeze-dried fruits.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 mini pavlova Christmas tree
- Calories: 220 kcal
- Sugar: 18 g
- Sodium: 15 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
