Inspired by Six Geese a Laying: Pavlova "Nests"

Kind of late on this one, but since the sun hasn't come up on the seventh day yet, I'm still counting this as the sixth day of Christmas. 

I first had Pavlova when I spent a Christmas in New Zealand visiting my parents who were there on a mission.  I loved that Christmas.  I love Christmas here, but it had such a different feel down under.  Instead of sledding and hot chocolate there were barbecues and Pavlova.  Steve the sheepshearer also shares some of the credit for making that an enjoyable Christmas, but that's another story.  Anyway, Pavlova is said to be named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, a graceful, ethereal dancer who toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s.  Both countries claim to be the inventors of the light-as-air dessert, but since I first tried it in New Zealand, I tend to favor them in the debate.

Pavlova is a baked meringue type of dessert with a crisp outer texture and a marshmallowy interior.  Typically it is topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream.  Doesn't that sound good right about now when you're all weighed down with heavy holiday desserts?  Although the Pavlovas I had were large ones about the size of a cake, the ones I made were individual ones in order to better represent the nests of the geese-a-laying, and I kind of like them better this way.  You could just set out the whipped cream and a variety of fruits and everyone could top their own however they wanted to.  Just a little tip, though, I like sweetened whipped cream as much as the next American, but you might want to go New Zealand/European style here and not sweeten it since the Pavlovas are sweet enough on their own.  You really won't miss the extra sugar.

And now for the recipe:  If I could come up with my own take on these, I would, but I just don't think I could come up with a recipe I like as well as this one at Simply Recipes.  It's easy to follow and gave me great results.  Really, I don't mind sending you over to another blog or website if their recipe is superior to what I could come up with, because that's what we're all about here at Where It's Green--celebrating the fact that sometimes things are better elsewhere and that's great.  Just come back when you're done.  We've got a maids a milking craft tomorrow that I'm excited to show you.