EAT: HONEY POTS WITH PAVLOVA

SERVES 8 | PREP 30 MINS + 15 MINS STANDING TIME | COOKING 40 MINS | VEGETARIAN, GLUTEN FREE

Oh my. This is what I made for last week's Food Club. The theme was Gourmet BBQ in celebration of Australia Day. I was so inspired by a bunch of Australian-themed desserts. This was so good, and worth sharing. Just a little bit evil (okay, a LOT). Your hips probably won't thank you, but your taste buds will. Besides, we don't eat this sort of luxury all the time, right?


INGREDIENTS
600ml thickened cream
3 fresh bay leaves
5 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg
3 tbs honey, plus extra to serve
Nutmeg, grated (I used ground nutmeg)
Shop-bought meringues, to serve (This is what my source said, but with all those spare egg whites, why wouldn't you make it from scratch? It tastes so much better than store-bought. Recipe I use below.)

METHOD
1 Place the cream and bay leaves in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and stand for 15 minutes to infuse. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 140°C.
2 In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, whole egg and honey together until just combined. Return cream to medium heat, bring to just below boiling point, then pour into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. Remove from heat and strain into a jug.
3 Divide the custard mixture among four 200ml ramekins (I used eight 100ml ramekins), then place in a deep roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Dust the tops with a little nutmeg and bake for 35-40 minutes until the custards are almost set but still have a gentle wobble in the centre. Cool slightly, then chill for 2-3 hours until set.
4 To serve, drizzle honey pots with a little extra honey, crumble meringues and scatter over the honey pots.

Recipe from here.

SERVES 12-16 | PREP 20 MINS | COOKING 50 MINS

PAVLOVA BASE

INGREDIENTS
5 egg whites, room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cornflour

METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 130 degrees. Prepare a large tray with baking paper.
2 In large bowl, place egg whites. Beat egg whites at medium speed. When the egg whites are frothy, increase speed to high and start gradually adding the sugar. Keep beating until egg whites are glossy and stiff.
3 Pinch a bit of the meringue between your fingers. You shouldn't feel any grains of sugar. If you do, keep beating for a few minutes. Then fold in the vinegar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and cornflour.
4 Place the meringue on the tray with baking paper. Spread to form a thick even rectangle. Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes. The meringue should be pale ivory in color.
5 Turn off the oven, open the door a bit, and let cool for 1 hour. 6 When serving the honey pots, cut the pavlova base into wedges, then crumble the rest (you’ll use about half of this for the honey pots, and can make a square pavlova with the rest!)