我在“英式早茶”里，准备了两样用蛋白做的甜品： Pavlova和Macaron。Pavlova是澳洲和纽西兰经典甜品，外脆而内似棉花糖般柔软的口感，深受欢迎，也是在佳节庆典的餐桌上常见的甜品。查了一下资料才知道原来Pavlova名字源自一名俄罗斯芭蕾舞蹈员Anna Pavlova。在1926 年Anna到访纽西兰时，当地酒店师傅首创了这道甜品，所以取名Pavlova。很巧，我当天的客人之一也有名字叫Anna的朋友喔！
虽说Pavlova和macaron两者都以蛋白霜为主，但是Pavlova是一道极之容易操作的甜品，反之macaron却是非常考技巧。 我的第一batch Hello Kitty马卡龙，因为太自信，以为这样pipe一个圈两个尖角当耳朵，两粒眼睛，一个鼻子和几条胡须就是KittyCat的脸，结果呢，形成了“猫脸”没有Hello Kitty的轮廓，没了Hello Kitty可爱的神态。我这才惊觉，原来猫和人都一样，只要鼻孔洞稍微有别，整个神态都大大受影响。打电话给Wing诉苦，说我的“猫脸”全丢掉了，因为太不像了。告诉她上帝真是厉害，几百亿人个个也是两粒眼睛，一个鼻子和一个嘴巴，但是没有人是100％相似的。Wing竟然回了我一句，人更厉害，能辨认出几百亿的人。。哈哈。。
有朋友问我，Hello Kitty马卡龙难不难做，说难不难，说简单倒也不是，就是加工了的马卡龙。以方便piping,我自己画了Hello Kitty的template，打印出来，放在不沾baking paper下面，就可以清楚看到图案，然后跟着pipe 就行了。
Basic Meringues
Ingredients:
4 eggwhites
1 cup (220g)
caster sugar ( I used 200g)
1 tsp white
vinegar
1tsp corn flour
Method:
1. Preheat oven to
120C . Place the egg whites in the bowl of electric mixer and whisk until stiff
peaks form. Gradually add the sugar whisk until the mixture
thick and glossy. Add corn flour and vinegar mix well.
2. Place spoonfuls of
meringue on a baking lined with non stick baking paper. Sprinkle chopped pistachio on each meringue.
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and
allow meringues to cool in the oven for 1 hour. Makes 12.
(I leave the
meringue to cool down in the oven for 1.5 hours)
4. Serve with passion fruit pulp, strawberries, blueberries and whipped
cream/ ice cream.
*The low heat
puffs up the meringue while the long cooking time dries it out to give you a
lovely crisp shell.
*Store your pavlova, undressed, in an airtight container at room
temperature for up to 5 days.
Pavlova recipe adapted from : Donna Hay Magazine Issue 59, Oct/Nov 2011,
pg 122
Macaron
70g almond powder
98g icing sugar (I used 80g)
50g egg whites
15g caster sugar (I used 25g)
Rhubarb
Strawberry Buttercream Filling
Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1 tbs rhubarb strawberry jam
½ cup (80g) icing sugar (I used 60g)
½ cup (60g) almond meal
Method:
Place the butter in an
electric mixer and beat for 6-8 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add the
icing sugar and beat for a further 10 minutes or until light
Buttercream filling: DonnaHay Magazine.
