Peppermint Meringue Brownie Cake

The peppermint streak continues!

After seeing this recipe for peppermint meringue brownie cake both in the last ever (tears!) issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine and in the blog The Bitten Word, I had to give it a try.  I also had egg whites leftover from my peppermint ice cream from last week... kismit?  Maybe.
 

This recipe really is pretty simple, but looks pretty fancy.  Brownies and meringue.  Neither is too hard... Plus I got to use my peppermint extract (carried across the world by Meghan and Liz) as well as my cream of tartar (carried across the southern hemisphere from Sydney by yours truly).

 

I like how the brownie is dense and rich and then the meringue is light and both marshmallow-y and crispy.  Awesomesauce.

I made marshmallows... and it was messy.

After making a couple batches of ice cream in the past week, I had about 8 egg whites lounging in the fridge, waiting to be put to good use.  I did some Googling to try to find a recipe I could make with all those egg whites that didn't involve an oven, which we are not yet in possession of....  My ice cream guru, David Lebovitz, had some suggestions which included homemade marshmallows.  Marshmallows don't require an oven, so I decided to give them a try. 

Tray of sticky marshmallow dough.

 Messy, very messy.  First sticky, then powdery.  Then, in my case, sticky again.

Cutting and powdering the marshmallows.

I used sheet gelatin since they didn't seem to have plain powdered gelatin at our grocery store here (despite the Indonesia's love of weird jiggly gelatin desserts).  Luckily, David's instructions included options for sheet gelatin.  I also ended up using cane syrup in place of corn syrup, which I didn't find here. 

Marshmallows.  Fin.

Overall, my version seemed to work out pretty well... bouncy, fluffy, light, sugary, just like marshmallows should be.  However, they were a little damp, which I think is because I got impatient when the mixture was cooling.  I should have let it go longer.  Also, apparently I am not very good at cutting a sheet into equally-sized squares.  My talents lie elsewhere.

Now we just need to see if they melt properly, because, as you well know, marshmallows are best when they're crispy on the outside and melty on the inside.  S'mores are on the menu this weekend, provided I can find graham crackers.

Meringues with Berry Coulis

I wanted to give from-scratch meringue making a try after successfully making a pavlova with the pre-packaged mix. I used Ina Garten's recipe for Meringues Chantilly. They came out pretty well, but I think I still have some work to do to really perfect the right texture- these were a little too chewy!

I made a berry coulis to top off the meringues, using frozen blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, loosely based on this Emeril recipe. Tasty!

Topped also with whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Pavlova Magic!

In honor of Amy's last DC meal, and to steel her for the barrage of Aussie delights she'll be eating at her first Australian Christmas, I made a pavlova topped with passion fruit puree and sliced strawberries.

A pavlova (or "pav") is basically a giant meringue- egg whites and sugar- all poofed up and slowly cooked to make a crackly mound with a soft, marshmallow-esque center. The tartness of the passion fruit puree really compliments the sugary meringue.

I could have made the pavlova from scratch- it seems pretty easy- but Amy had given me a container of an Aussie pav shortcut: Pavlova Magic, the equivalent of American boxed cake mix. It was pretty foolproof, if not magical, once the internets converted the directions from Celsius to Fahrenheit for me.

The best part about Pavlova Magic, though, is that it comes in this weird egg-shaped packaging. It's like all of the '80s era L'eggs pantyhose packaging died and went to Australia to be reincarnated as Pavlova Magic containers: