Pavlova

By RecipeLot

Pavlova - Baked meringue with whipped cream and sliced fresh fruit. The family did Christmas dinner different this year. Instead of the traditional turkey, stuffing, etc, each person picked a continent & a type of dish. We then got to pick a country from that continent and try to find a traditional food from each country (if possible, trying to find a Christmas dish from each country). So this year we had Asian spare ribs, German-style red cabbage with apples, Moroccan bread, sorrel (a Jamaican/Latin American hibiscus tea drink) and an Australian/New Zealand pavlova dessert. AMAZING. ? Photo by William Brawley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pavlova is a light and fluffy meringue dessert named after the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. Both Wellington, New Zealand and Perth, Australia claims to be the home of the dish. The earliest record of the recipe is a cookbook published in New Zealand in 1933, two years before claims made in Perth. Pavlova is traditionally decorated with fresh fruit and whipped cream, and is especially popular in Australia and New Zealand. Factory-made pavlovas can be purchased at supermarkets in those countries and decorated as desired. Leftover pavlova can be stored in the fridge overnight, but will absorb moisture from the air and lose its crispness. Undecorated pavlova can safely be left overnight in the oven in which it was baked, to be decorated in the morning.

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