Light, fruity pavlovas are a dessert favorite. This version uses tropical mango and pineapple in place of the usual berries and laces the fruit to the meringue base with an easy strawberry sauce. Adding cornstarch to the meringue mixture helps keep it crisp on the exterior and soft on the inside, but if you prefer a more uniformly crisp meringue, you can leave it out. Bake the meringue up to 3 days ahead and assemble the pavlovas no more than 10 or 15 minutes before serving or they may become soggy.
Special Diets:
Ingredients
Method
To make the meringue, preheat the oven to 225°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make 8 mounds of meringue on the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1½ inches between each. Using a large spoon, make an indentation in each mound (this will hold the fruit filling), spreading the meringue out until each mound is about 3½ inches in diameter.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the meringues are dried and crisped on the outside but not tan or browned, about 1 hour. Turn off the oven; crack the oven door and leave the meringues to cool in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from baking sheet and store in an airtight container up to 3 days.
To make the sauce, combine strawberries, orange juice, powdered sugar and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth; taste and add more sugar or lemon if desired.
To assemble the pavlovas, fill each meringue base with prepared mango and pineapple, drizzle with strawberry sauce and garnish with mint.