The Mini Pavlova with Blueberries dessert I would like to present to you today is incredibly easy to make and helps use up four leftover egg whites.
It impresses with its sweet taste and refreshes thanks to mint and blueberries. The whipped cream filling completes both flavors.
Whether Windbäckerei (as we call it in Austria), meringue, or pavlova. A deliciously sweet gluten-free dessert to work up leftover egg whites, it doesn't matter what you call it!
The Mini Pavlova impresses with its crispy consistency and amazes with its creamy filling.
Bottom line, a dessert that you must have tried! For most, it remains in the cooking repertoire afterward, thanks to its excellent properties:
- Easy preparation
- Long shelf life
- Quick and delicious repurposing of leftover egg whites
- An eye-catcher for guests
Suppose you are looking for more ideas to use up some leftover egg whites; we recommend coconut cookies (Kokosbusserl), walnut meringue cookies, or a chocolate egg white cake.
🥘 Ingredients
- Egg whites - well chilled
- Superfine sugar
- Lemon
- Potato starch or corn starch
- Heavy whipping cream
- Powdered sugar
- Blueberries - or any fresh fruit you fancy
- Fresh mint
See the recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
Step 1
Take a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your Food processor. Place the well-chilled egg whites in it and beat them until very stiff.
Once the whipped egg whites have reached a nice firm consistency and stiff peaks form, slowly add the superfine sugar and continue beating.
Step 2
While whipping, squeeze half a lemon and add a squeeze of the lemon juice to the beaten egg whites.
Add the potato or corn starch as well.
Step 3
Once you've finished whipping up the mixture, preheat the oven to 100 °C // 212 °F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Now prepare the piping bag with a star tip. To make it easier to fill the piping bag, place it in a tall container after you have fitted it with the star nozzle. This way, you have your hands free, and filling in the egg white mixture is much easier.
Fill up the bag with the egg white mixture. As soon as the piping bag is full, twist the upper end together and close it with a clip. This clip will prevent the top of the piping bag from accidentally opening and spilling out.
Step 4
Now pipe nine tiny heaps or nests onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Ensure that the bottom of the piles is thin and that you create a nice high border all around.
After piping those lovely mini pavlova nests, put the full baking tray into the preheated oven. Bake the meringue nests for 100 minutes on the middle shelf.
Pipe nine tiny nests onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Take them out of the oven after cooling.
Step 5
After the 100 minutes are over, turn off the oven. Open the oven door a crack and let the nests cool in the oven with the door open.
Once the meringue has cooled, you can remove the nine nests and store them in an airtight container.
Step 6
Serve. To serve, pick up the desired amount of meringue nests and place them individually on dessert plates.
Wash the blueberries and mint and set them aside. For the filling, I used a ready-prepared whipped cream in a can for simplicity.
Place on a dessert plate.
Fill with whipped cream.
If you prefer to use a freshly whipped one, whip it in a tall mixing bowl until stiff. Pour the whipped cream into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and fill the mini pavlova nests with it.
After filling, garnish the whipped cream-filled nests with blueberries, mint, and dust with powdered sugar.
Garnish with blueberries.
Decorate with a mint leaf.
Enjoy your delicious pavlova.
If you like blueberries, try out this amazing blueberry topping for cheesecakes or this delicious blueberry pie!
More delicious recipes for you to try
- Six egg white chocolate cake
- Old-fashioned whipping cream bundt cake
- Austrian strawberry sponge cake
- Ultimate double chocolate bundt cake
- Chocolate chip ricotta loaf cake
- Baked Alaska (created by splashoftaste.com)
🫐 Variations
It is very easy to vary the pavlova by using different seasonal fruit. The fruit toppings for pavlova are endless.
Try out:
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
- Strawberries
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Plums
- Apricots
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Drizzle with homemade lemon curd
🍽 Equipment
- Food processor or electric mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Lemon squeezer
- piping bag with a star tip (Wilton 1M)
- Baking tray
- Baking paper
🌡 Storage
You can store the yummy egg white nests trouble-free for several months in an airtight container. The only thing that matters in storage is that it stays nice and dry.
The pavlova, the filled meringue nest, should always be prepared fresh and eaten immediately after preparation, as the moisture of the whipped cream would otherwise make the wind ring slushy for a long time.
Can I freeze the pavlova?
No, unfortunately. If you freeze and then thaw before serving, they will get soggy.
💭 Top tip
It is crucial to make the base of the meringue thin. If it is too thick, it will remain soggy and not dry enough in the oven. Unfortunately, it happened to me with a nest, and I had to give it away.
The key is to start in the middle, finish in two circles, and then build up the "sidewall" of the nest.
🧐 The surprising truth about pavlova's origin
Baking a “pav” and turning up to a backyard barbecue with the dessert in hand is about as Australian as it gets. On Christmas Day, soon after the last prawn has been peeled, the white meringue cake topped with cream and fruit takes pride of place on tables across the country. It’s a dish synonymous with summer celebrations; a refreshing sweet treat on an often hot and sticky day. With many of us being brought up to believe it to be a local invention, it’s no wonder Australians feel such a strong affinity with pavlova.
The only problem is, New Zealanders feel the same way.
Source: bbc.com
🙋🏻 FAQ
Pavlova (sometimes spelled pavlova in German) is a meringue cake filled with cream and fruit. It is considered one of the national dishes in both Australia and New Zealand; both countries claim the invention of the dessert. What is certain is that the cake was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who made guest appearances in both countries in the late 1920s. The Oxford English Dictionary cites New Zealand as the place of origin because the oldest known recipe of that name appeared there in 1927.
Source: Wikipedia
Since the meringue nests are the base of every pavlova, you can easily prepare those nests ahead - even weeks and months in advance. The filling and garnishing, however, you prepare best immediately before serving.
The largest Pavlova in history has been created by students from the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke's Bay. It took 5000 egg whites, 150kg of sugar and 150 litres of cream to build "Pavkong". The giant Pavlova stretched 64 metres, beating the previous record of 45 metres, held by Te Papa Museum in Wellington.
Source: nzherald.co.nz
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📖 Recipe
Mini Pavlova with Blueberries
Equipment
- Food processor or electric mixer
- piping bag with a star tip (Wilton 1M)
- Baking tray
- Baking Paper
Ingredients
- 4 Egg whites well chilled
- 1 cup Superfine sugar
- ½ Lemon
- 1 pinch of Potato starch or corn starch
- 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- 1 cup Blueberries or any fresh fruit you fancy
- Fresh mint
Instructions
- Take a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your Food processor. Place the well-chilled egg whites in it and beat them until very stiff.4 Egg whites
- Once the whipped egg whites have reached a nice firm consistency and stiff peaks form, slowly add the superfine sugar and continue beating.1 cup Superfine sugar
- While whipping, squeeze half a lemon and add a squeeze of the lemon juice to the beaten egg whites.½ Lemon
- Add the potato or corn starch as well.1 pinch of Potato starch
- Once you've finished whipping up the mixture, preheat the oven to 100 °C // 212 °F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Now prepare the piping bag with a star tip.
- Fill up the piping bag with the egg white mixture. As soon as the piping bag is full, twist the upper end together and close it with a clip.
- Now pipe nine tiny heaps or nests onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Ensure that the bottom of the piles is thin and that you create a nice high border all around.
- After piping those lovely mini pavlova nests, put the full baking tray into the preheated oven. Bake the meringue nests for 100 minutes on the middle shelf.
- After the 100 minutes are over, turn off the oven. Open the oven door a crack and let the nests cool in the oven with the door open.
- Once the meringue has cooled, you can remove the nine nests and store them in an airtight container.
Assembling and Serving
- For serving, pick up the desired amount of meringue nests and place them individually on dessert plates.
- Wash the blueberries and mint and set them aside.1 cup Blueberries, Fresh mint
- Whip up the heavy whipping cream in a tall mixing bowl until stiff.1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- Pour the whipped cream into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and fill the mini pavlova nests with it.1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- After filling, garnish the whipped cream-filled nests with blueberries, mint, and dust with powdered sugar.Powdered sugar, 1 cup Blueberries, Fresh mint
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.
Jerika says
Wow! what a perfect way to use leftover egg whites.:) This Mini Pavlova with Blueberries dessert is already my favorite dessert. Thanks! Yum:)
Jean says
new way to use egg whites and turn them into this mouth-watering pavlova
Natalie says
Finally a great idea on what to use for my leftover white eggs! Loved it!
Kayla DiMaggio says
This mini pavlova dessert was such a fun recipe to make with the kids! We all enjoyed it!
Nancy says
I love polova but adding blueberries makes it totally addicting