Black Forest Pavlova: January's Winning Dessert

This is an Australian recipe that I was really looking forward to making and found that it looked so amazing and delicious.  When it ended up being the winning choice, I was very excited.  I did have to improvise a few ingredients due to inability to locate but little did I know that my problems were just beginning.  There were a few minor conversions to be made with temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit, but my main problem came with the hand mixing.  I had completely forgotten the properties of plastic and how they affect mixing when needing stiff peaks.  Not mixing in a glass bowl did ruin my eggs, and since the recipe called for 8, I didn't have enough.  However not being one to give up, I decided to go with what I had and try to bake it anyway.  So of course it may not have been as pretty as it was meant to be, it did turn out tasting amazing!  And it is a reminder for everyone out there that if you are mixing anything that calls for "stiff peaks" be sure to use glass instead of plastic.  Here is the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients:
Parchment Paper
Glass Mixing Bowl


For the meringue.
8 egg whites
2 cups granulated raw sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I am not sure what the difference is between this and Dutch cocoa but I couldn't find Dutch Cocoa anywhere)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the topping.
2 cups thickened (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons strong espresso coffee
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Almond flavoring
1 10 oz jar of Maraschino Cherries (Morello cherries could not be located)
3/4 cup dark chocolate curls (To make chocolate curls run a potato peeler down the edge of a block of chocolate.)

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 420ºF Place a sheet of baking paper on two large baking tray and draw 8" circles.
Separate your eggs making utmost care not to contaminate the egg whites with any egg yolk. Any fat in the egg whites will prevent them from beating properly and will weigh them down.
Beat your egg whites in a glass bowl until they are stiff and add your sugar slowly along with the vanilla essence, one tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks form. Turn your bowl upside down to make sure the whites are stiff enough. If not, beat another minute or so then check again.
Sift the cocoa powder into the raw meringue and fold through carefully ensuring you leave streaks of cocoa rather than fully incorporating it.
Shape the meringue into the two rounds on the baking paper/trays. Place meringues into oven and immediately turn temperature down to 240 degrees. Bake for 60-90 minutes then turn off the oven, do not remove meringues until oven is cool.

Topping:
Beat the cream, coffee, almond and sugar until stiff peaks form. With a silicone spatula spread half of the cream over the bottom meringue, place cherries on the cream and sprinkle half of the chocolate shavings over the meringue.
Place the top meringue layer over the bottom. Spread the remaining cream over it along with the cherries and chocolate shavings. Drizzle cherry syrup from the jar over the entire pavlova.

Some of the delicious starting ingredients

Draw 8" circles on your parchment paper

Beat the eggs until frothy

Take a smile break of your sous chef

Have a silly break

Add the sugar and almond and beat until stiff peaks form (This is where my transfer to a glass bowl could not save the meringue)

Taste tester

Swirl the cocoa powder into the meringue and shape onto the circles (As you can see without thick meringue this didn't work out for me, so I decided to just pour it onto my baking sheets and hope for the best)

Remove when oven is no longer hot (I only cooked for about 60 minutes when it started to stiffen due to the thinner surface area, I didn't want to overcook it)

Mix the cream, espresso, almond and sugar

Mix until stiff peaks form

Excited to taste it!

Lay down a layer of the meringue (Mine was crumbly but still delicious)

Add a layer of the espresso cream, cherry and chocolate curls

Top with more meringue

Finish off with a final layer of cream, cherries and chocolate curls, serve & Enjoy!  (Regardless of my meringue disaster it still tasted amazing and was a treat to eat!)

If you would like to view the previous winning desserts they can be found here:

December's Winner: Pumpkin Tiramisu

November's Winner: Caramelized Banana Pudding

October's Winner: Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

September's Winner: Apple Raspberry Crumble

Steak Au Poivre & Mashed Potatoes

I always love cooking this one, but it was a challenge to try to find a suitable substitute for the liquor.  It turned out really great though, I was pleased.  The zucchinis and dried cherries were a wonderful addition :)  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3-4 Steaks
Seasoning (Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt, and Mango Lime rub)
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Zucchini (Peeled and sliced)
5 Mushrooms (sliced)
1/3 Cup Whole Raspberry Syrup
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Dried Cherries
1 tsp Dried Tarragon

Directions:
Add 2 Tbsp Butter to a heavy bottom skillet.  Season the steak and add to the skillet.  Cook over med-high heat turning once for a total of 6-8 minutes for medium-rare (Cook longer for more well done steaks).  Transfer the steaks to a plate and keep warm in the microwave.
Add the remaining butter to the skillet and turn heat down to medium.  Add the zucchinis and mushrooms to soften for about 1-2 minutes.  Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until slightly thickened.  (1-3 minutes).  Turn off the heat and return the steaks and any remaining juices to the pan to let the sauce soak in.  Serve by spooning sauce and veggies over the steaks. 

*For the mashed potatoes go check out the recipe at: Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Cover the potatoes with water and boil

Add the steaks to the skillet and boil the potatoes

Close up view of those yummy steaks

Add the veggies to the skillet and continue boiling the potatoes

Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer, while the potatoes finish boiling. 

Return the steaks tot he skillet and start mashing the now softened potatoes

Add the remaining ingredients to the potatoes

Serve by spooning sauce, veggies & cherries over the steak and cutting green onions onto the potatoes.

What should I cook? YOU DECIDE!

Some days you just want someone to tell you what to cook and then you can be as creative as you want with the dish instead of having to do all of the thinking yourself.  As I was perusing the internet thinking of inspiration for my blog and what I wanted to pour my time into this evening I ended up looking at a lot of delicious recipes.  It brought a brilliant idea to mind.  What if I posted a couple ideas for the main dish and the dessert of a meal and I could have my wonderful readers vote and I will cook that dish within a week and post my version of the recipe with my step by step photo recipe blog.  I am really excited about this!  I hope that I can get some of my readers to actually comment and vote so that this can be very interactive and fun!  I look forward to the results and would love to this at least once a month or more.  If you have any recipe suggestions that I don't post, please feel free to share them with me and if plausible they can be featured on the next What should I cook recipe vote, or just as a regular meal that I prepare and recipe share with you!  Thank you for your support and I am giddy with excitement about the outcome of this!

Here are 4 of my top picks for the Main DISHES:

Option A: Burgundy Pork Tenderloin

This is a delicious pork tenderloin in a hearty red wine based sauce

 
The original recipe
Burgundy-Pork-Tenderloin











Option B: Creamy Lemon-Pepper Orzo with Grilled Chicken

I absolutely love orzo, and for some reason it always seems to go amazingly well with lemon.  Add the grilled chicken on top and you can't go wrong

The original recipe:

creamy-lemon-pepper-orzo-with-grilled-chicken

Option C:  Apple-Honey Drumsticks

 I love trying new flavors on chicken and don't like to get in the BBQ rut.  This looks like a nice Asian flair to a great drumstick.

The original recipe:

apple-honey-drumsticks

Option D:  Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

I don't use my slow cooker nearly as much as I should, and am always looking for great new recipe inspiration.  I love messing with Chili and this looks like a great recipe to try.

Original Recipe:

slow-cooker-chicken-chili

Now we move on to the DESSERTS!!!

Option 1: Apple Raspberry Crumble with Oat Walnut Topping

It always makes you feel great when you can make dessert and also feel like you are getting some great vitamins into your body at the same time.  Apple and raspberry are two of my favorite flavors to cook with and these seem like they would make a great combination in this dessert. 

Original Recipe:

apple-raspberry-crumble-with-oat-walnut-topping

Option 2: Caramelized Banana Pudding

One of my all-time favorite desserts is banana pudding, this looks like a delicious twist to an old favorite!

Original Recipe:

caramelized-banana-pudding

Option 3: Slow Cooked Winter Bread Pudding with Dried Pears

 I LOVE bread pudding with the pear addition sounds like a fantastic combination!

Original Recipe:

slow-cooked-winter-bread-pudding-with-dried-pears

Option 4: Rice Pudding with Cherries

 Rice Pudding AND Cherries, and there is also WHITE chocolate, I am salivating just thinking about it!

Original Recipe:

Rice-pudding-with-cherries

Now you have seen the 4 main dishes and the 4 dessert choices.  Please vote by selecting a Letter and Number so that I can go shopping and get everything.  Voting will close in 1 Week and then I will cook the selected dish and dessert and post my version of the recipes along with step by step instruction with photos of what I did.  Thank you very much for your support, I can't wait to see what you have selected for me to make!