Mini Pavlovas

Preheat your oven to 200ºF. Draw 3-inch circles on one side of 2 sheets of parchment paper. You can easily get 6 to 7 circles on a half-sheet paper and pan. I used a jelly jar for this. Flip the sheets over and line 2 rimmed baking pans with them.

In the bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites and the salt and mix on medium speed until frothy. Increase speed to medium high and begin adding the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until completely incorporated.

Continue beating until the egg whites turn glossy and very thick stiff peaks form. Don’t worry about over beating it. It needs to be thick! You should be able to hold the bowl upside down and have the mixture remain inside. I do this every time just to make sure I’m good, and it works.

Stop the mixer and add the cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla extract. Mix again briefly on medium speed to incorporate. Now you can choose to tint it if you like or leave it white. If you do color it, I strongly suggest using gel food coloring.

Pipe or dollop a small amount of batter onto the parchment paper. Make an indentation in the middle, or if piping, ring the meringue into 3 outer layers then fill in the bottom., smoothening with a knife or leaving them as is. If you’d like to pipe them and don’t have a pastry bag, a large gallon-sized food storage bag with the corner snipped will work nicely, too.

Place pans in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom shelves halfway through. Once baked, open the oven doors a jar and turn off the heat. Allow the meringues to cool in the oven. Gently remove from the paper and store in an airtight container.

Once ready to serve, whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. At this point you can fill the pavlova with just the whipping cream or you can add some lemon curd prior to the dollop of cream. Garnish with your choice of berries, pomegranate seeds, and icing sugar. Serve immediately.