Friday, December 9, 2016

Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova


Chocolate and peppermint just speak Christmas
to me, so when I first had this fabulous dessert,
I had to make it myself.  I made this and blogged
about it a couple of years ago, but this one is even
more Christmas party worthy, that I had to
blog about it.

The recipe originally came from
here is my adapted recipe.  It really is
easy to make, but does take a little time.  I
actually recipes like that for when I want a
shopwstopper of a dessert. 

Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova

Meringue Rounds
12 egg whites, room temperature
3 1/2 C. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. vanilla extract

Place parchment paper on two really large
baking pans.  Draw 7 inch circles on the paper.
The meringues will grow so don't have them
too close together.  On my large pans I could
do 3.  My pans are 15x21.  (If you don't have
that big of a pan, you could do this process half
at a time, whipping only six of the egg whites
at a time, and then baking and repeating, but
I don't want to spend that much time waiting around.)

In a clean bowl - free from any oils, whip the
egg whites until stiff peaks just begin to form,
then slowly incorporate the sugar mixed with the cornstarch,
 about a tablespoon
at a time, and continue to do this (takes a while) until
all the sugar is incorporated. The egg whites should be 
stiff and glossy.  Remove the whip attachment and fold
in the lemon juice and the vanilla.

Spoon a couple of large dollops
on the circles, and spread the meringue almost to the
edge with a spoon and flatten out the top
with a spatula.  Try to not have any real thin edges
or spots.

I did three per pan, as these are fragile and you
might have one or two break.

Bake at 200 for 1 1/2 hours.  Turn off oven
and let meringue sit in oven for
another hour.  Remove from oven
and place pan on rack and let cool, then peel
off the paper gently, using a spatula to help
lift them.
(I have since changed this from their recipe. 
 The original recipe had
you bake the meringues for 1 hour at 300 degrees
and then remove them immediately.  That caused
the meringues to be browner than I wanted and
caused a lot of cracking.  The longer time at a
lower temperature gave me white meringues with
little or no cracking.

Chocolate Ganache

Heat 2 1/2 C. heavy whipping cream in
the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes or until
scalded.  Pour over 3 1/2 C. semi sweet chocolate
chips.  Let sit for a couple of minutes to melt the
chocolate, then whisk until smooth.  Place the bowl
in the freezer for a couple of minutes, then give the
chocolate a whisk.  The ganache is going to begin to
cool around the edges and you want to whisk it all 
together.  Keep doing this until it is a soft spreading
consistency, like pudding.  This is a quick way to
cool the ganache down.

Meanwhile chop 10-12 oz. of peppermint
bark.  I used Ghiradelli's.

Place a dollop of ganache on your cake platter.
Lift a meringue round with the help of a spatula
and center it on your cake plate.
Spoon 1/4th of the ganache almost to the edge of
the meringue layer.  Sprinkle about 1/4 of your
peppermint bark on top of the layer.  Repeat three
more times.  (William's Sonomas called for 5
layers, but I ran out of ganache and this is plenty tall.)

The meringues will crumble and break around the
edges as you cut it to serve, but no one will care
because this is out of this world delish!


Use some shards of the peppermint bark
to decorate the top.


I wanted this one a little special, so I decided to add
some glittering truffle balls.  These are just 
Lindt truffles that I glitterized.

For the gold, dip a soft bristled brush in clear vanilla,
almond, or lemon juice and then into your gold
luster dust and paint the truffle.

For the pink, paint your truffle with clear vanilla 
and then sprinkle disco dust over the vanilla.  It
will stick to the vanilla.


The last bit of decoration I added were white
chocolate wings.  Simply melt some white chocolate
discs and smear some on parchment paper using
the back of your spoon.  Sprinkle crushed candy or
sugar while the chocolate is still wet.  Place in the
fridge to harden.


Absolutely heavenly!  This one is worth the time
and effort.

Christmas memories in a bite!!

I will be posting this with




Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

8 comments:

  1. Oh this looks so yummy and looks so pretty, Jacqueline! Have a wonderful Christmas season....Christine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! All my favorite flavors in one bite. I MUST make one of these. Thanks for the recipe and excellent advice. Merry, Merry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pretty Jacqueline, this looks like an amazing dessert, my goodness!
    I am gonna try it now that will have all my little ones here for C'mas.
    Thank you so much for sharing and for your lovely and sweet comment.
    Happy C'mas season.
    FABBY

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, so beautiful. It is glitzy and gorgeous. I have never tried Pavlova. You always make the best desserts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks very yummy.. I must say that your patience level is extremely high. I must applause you for making such a difficult dessert so beautifully...

    Please visit: http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very pretty!
    Definitely a centerpiece!
    Thanks
    Michelle

    ReplyDelete

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