Pavlova With Figs And A Salted Maple Syrup Caramel Sauce
I received a lovely package in the mail from Old City Syrup Company. Upon receiving it, I did a lot of research to come up with something very special to use their fantastic syrup. This was it! While I did take some inspiration from Lorraine Elliott, I di change it and adapted the recipe for what I wanted to do. Figs are in season so briefly and hard to get most of the year, so I wanted to take advantage of using them while I could.
The caramel sauce I made for these is just incredibly yummy, I would suggest doubling or tripling the recipe and keep some in the refrigerator. Serve on ice cream or use it in crepes. It should keep, covered, in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
Pavlova’s look so intimidating, but in actuality, they are pretty easy. You just throw all the ingredients together in the mixer and then bake it. You do need to allow a good 3 hours for your meringue to be ready. Two hours to bake it at a very low temperature and then 1 hour to 1 ½ hours to cool in the oven.
The meringue can also be made the day before if lightly covered. Once you put the whip cream and sauce on it, you do need to serve it right away.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 20 hours
Cooling Time: 1 ½ hour
Ingredients for Pavlova:
9 egg whites
1 ½ tsp cream of tartar
3 Tbs Cornstarch
2 ¼ cup superfine sugar (caster sugar)
You can use regular sugar but it will be a little crunchy, it doesn’t dissolve as well
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
(I prefer the paste, because we love the little black specks it leaves)
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
Ingredients for the Salted Maple Caramel Sauce:
6 Tbs butter
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Find a 10 inch round pan to use to mark where you should place your meringue circle. Trace around the pan onto the parchment paper.
Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on high, preferably with a stand mixer, although you can also use a hand held mixer.
When the meringue mixture forms very soft peaks, it is time to add the cornstarch, the vanilla, the lemon juice and the sugar. If you add these too early, the eggs will not whip. When you add your sugar, do it slowly as the mixture is beating. The mixture will turn stiff and become glossy.
Fill a pastry bag with a tip with a large opening or a baggie with the corner cut off, with the mixture. Pipe the mixture around the circle that you drew on the parchment. Fill in the middle with mounds of meringue with a spoon. Trace along the edge with your piping bag, 3 or 4 layers thick of piped meringue. Leave a indentation in the middle to fill with whipped cream.
Bake the meringue for 2 hours. Check it a few times, if you see that it is starting to brown, make a tent over it with aluminum foil to protect it.
Whip the cream. Place covered in refrigerator until ready.Notice, there is no sugar in the whipped cream, because the caramel sauce is so sweet.
Make the caramel. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan. Add the maple syrup. Bring to a simmer. When the mixture is simmering, add the cream and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes to thicken. Cool. This can be made up to two days before and kept in the refrigerator.
Turn oven off after 2 hours and leave the meringue in the oven for at least 1 hour, preferably and hour and a half.
Be very careful, when moving the meringue to your serving dish. It will be brittle. Fill with whipped cream. Arrange the figs in the center of the meringue over the whipped cream. Drizzle the sauce over the figs and the meringue.
Serve immediately