Grandma Perritts Pavlova With Custard Cream Food

GRANDMA PERRITT'S PAVLOVA WITH CUSTARD CREAM

Steps:

• Heat your oven - as hot as it will go while you prepare the pav mix.
• Place baking paper on a pizza tray and set aside.
• In a large clean bowl (metal or glass) beat the egg whites on high until thick and "soft peak stage" (when you lift the beaters up, the egg whites resemble whipped cream).
• Turn the beaters down to low, add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all in, return to high and beat for 7-10 minutes until the sugar is dissolved (check by rubbing a small amount of mix inbetween your thumb and finger - there should be no grit).
• Turn the beaters to low and add the flour and vinegar, mix well.
• Use a metal spoon to scrape out the mix onto the lined tray.
• I aim for a 10 inch circle, it will be a mound.
• Place in a hot oven and turn down to 130oC straight away. Bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave for another hour. Open the door and leave for another hour. The pav needs to be cold when it leaves the oven (this makes the outside crunchy and the inside soft marshmellowy).
• Dress just before serving.
• Custard cream:.
• In a bowl (medium) beat the egg yolks, flour, sugar and vanilla.
• In a saucepan gently heat the cream and milk over a low heat.
• Pour the yolk mix in and whisk constantly until thick and almost to boiling point.
• Set aside and cool for 5 mintues, then pour into a clean bowl.
• Place cling wrap over the top (to catch the skin so you can discard it).
• Serve on the side (cold) to a dressed pavlova.

GREAT GREAT GRANDMA'S PERSIMMON PUDDING

Steps:

• 2 quarts of milk poured over 1 quart of persimmons. (Remove seeds by running through a colander).
• Add 1 quart flour and 1+1/2 pints sugar, (mix together so flour won't lump), to the pulp and milk mixture.
• Mix together well: 1 teaspoon soda, 3 whole eggs (beaten), and chunk of butter (size of an egg).
• Mix and pour into a large crock or roaster and bake in a moderate oven '(350*F)', for 3 hours. Stir 'while baking' a couple of times.
• Serve with whipping cream.
• I had to add 'baking' to the ingredient soda as the Zaar program wouldn't accept just soda and '+' for 1+1/2 pints sugar as it looked like eleven halves in the directions.
• My mother added the 'mix together so flour won't lump' as the original recipe has the flour at the bottom of the recipe and doesn't tell how or when to add it. She also added the '350 degrees' and 'while baking' as the original recipe didn't have this information. She also had: chunk of butter the size of a walnut (or egg). As for the persimmons, I'm just guessing, she cut out the stem and skinned them before she put them through the colander to seed them?.
• I suppose you would want to preheat the oven too, as I believe this was originally made in a wood stove oven?.
• Not listed here is cinnamon and nutmeg as other recipes on Zaar have in them but I'm sure it would help this recipe. Maybe a poor farmer's wife didn't have these spices in 1850 Indiana?

PERFECT PAVLOVA

Steps:

• Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Using an 18cm round cake tin or plate as a guide, draw a circle on the parchment, then flip it over. Heat the oven to 130C/110C fan/gas ½.
• Rub the reserved lemon half around the inside of a large bowl or stand mixer, then wipe with kitchen paper to remove any butter or oil. Tip in the egg whites and whisk with an electric whisk or the mixer on a low speed until the whites form small, foamy bubbles, about 1-2 mins. Keep going until the mix looks like shaving foam, then add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until it's a thick, glossy meringue. Rub some between your fingers - if you can feel any grains of sugar, keep whisking for a few minutes. Add the cornflour, lemon juice and vanilla, and whisk for another 30 seconds.
• Spoon the meringue onto the baking parchment, into the centre of the circle, and spread it out to the edges with a palette knife. Swipe the knife around the edge, then smooth the top. Bake for 15 mins, then turn the oven down to 100C/80C fan/gas ¼ and bake for 1 hr. Turn the oven off and leave the pavlova inside to cool for at least 2 hrs, or overnight.
• When you're ready to serve, carefully invert the pavlova and peel away the parchment. Don't worry if it cracks a little - it will be covered by the toppings. Toppings to tryWatermelon, lime & mint sugar pavlovaBanana, tahini & salted caramel pavlovaCherry, almond & vanilla custard pavlova

CHERRY, ALMOND & VANILLA CUSTARD PAVLOVA

Steps:

• Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Using an 18cm round cake tin or plate as a guide, draw a circle on the parchment, then flip it over. Heat the oven to 130C/110C fan/gas ½.
• Rub the reserved lemon half around the inside of a large bowl or stand mixer, then wipe with kitchen paper to remove any butter or oil. Tip in the egg whites and whisk with an electric whisk or the mixer on a low speed until the whites form small, foamy bubbles, about 1-2 mins. Keep going until the mix looks like shaving foam, then add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until it's a thick, glossy meringue. Rub some between your fingers - if you can feel any grains of sugar, keep whisking for a few minutes. Add the cornflour, lemon juice and vanilla, and whisk for another 30 seconds.
• Spoon the meringue into the centre of the circle and spread it out to the edges with a palette knife. Swipe the knife around the edge, then smooth the top.
• Bake for 1 hr 15 mins, then turn the oven down to 100C/80C fan/gas ¼ and bake for 1 hr. Turn the oven off and leave the pavlova inside to cool for at least 2 hrs, or overnight.
• When ready to serve, carefully invert the pavlova and peel away the parchment. Don't worry if it cracks a little - it will be covered by the topping.
• To make the topping, heat the double cream with the milk in a small pan until steaming. Remove from the heat. Whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour, vanilla extract and caster sugar in a bowl. Slowly pour this over the cream mixture, stirring continuously, then return the pan to a low-medium heat. Cook for 5 mins, stirring, until thickened - it should coat the back of a spoon and leave a channel when you run a finger through it. Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with baking parchment to prevent a skin forming. Chill for at least 1 hr, until thick enough to spread.
• Pit and halve the cherries (leaving a few whole, if you like). Toss with the icing sugar and a dash of cherry liqueur or more vanilla extract, then leave to macerate for at least 30 mins. Spoon the cherry jam or compote over the centre of the pavlova, and spread it out to the edges. Beat the chilled custard briefly, then spread it over the jam. Top with the macerated cherries and scatter over the toasted flaked almonds. Best served straightaway but leftovers will keep in the fridge for two days.