Bring some holiday cheer to your dessert table with Chef John's Pavlova Christmas Tree! This stunning creation features layers of crisp, airy meringue topped with fluffy whipped cream and vibrant fruit, arranged in a festive tree shape. Follow Chef John's step-by-step guide for tips on crafting the perfect pavlova and decorating it like a confectionary pro.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Pavlova Christmas Tree!
00:09That's right!
00:10Not only is this fun and easy to make dessert gorgeous and delicious, it is also light and
00:14refreshing.
00:16Which makes it a perfect thing to serve after one of those heavy holiday meals.
00:20Especially if you have leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.
00:23And if you don't, don't worry, we'll show you how to make some from scratch.
00:27But first things first, and we'll start with our meringue.
00:30And for that we will need three egg whites, which are most commonly separated with the
00:34old shell-to-shell method.
00:36Which works great, but when I worked in restaurants, I usually did it through my fingers like this.
00:42Which is probably quicker if you're doing a whole bunch.
00:45And yes, some people like to crack the eggs in the bowl and then remove the yolks with
00:47their fingers.
00:48But I've always thought that's kind of risky, so I usually use one of these two methods.
00:53And no matter how you decide to do it, make sure your eggs are at room temperature.
00:58Since room temp egg whites whip up much better than cold egg whites.
01:02But before we start whipping those up, we want to mix a couple teaspoons of cornstarch
01:05into our white sugar.
01:07Because we definitely want this pre-mixed before we start trying to add it in.
01:11And yes, things are going to look a little smoky, but don't worry, that's normal.
01:16And that's it once mixed, and after the dust settles, we'll go back to our room temp
01:20egg whites and start whipping those on high speed.
01:23And for this dessert, using a hand mixer is totally fine.
01:26Okay, for things like souffles, I usually do it by hand with a whisk, since you do get
01:30a little more volume.
01:33But for a pavlova, that really doesn't matter as much.
01:35What does matter though, is forgetting the pinch of salt and cream of tartar.
01:40Which I did notice, even though they were only like a foot away from me.
01:44So I added those in and continued mixing.
01:47And yes, the pinch of cream of tartar is optional, but it really does help stabilize
01:50the meringue.
01:51And if you have some in the pantry, go ahead and add a pinch.
01:55But anyway, what we'll do, is whip these egg whites until they're nice and foamy, and have
01:59about doubled in size.
02:01At which point we'll start adding in our sugar-cornstarch mixture, about a tablespoon or so at a time.
02:07And after each addition, we'll whip that for a little bit, before adding the next tablespoon.
02:11And yes, I fully admit I'm terrible at this.
02:14I always try to add too much, too fast.
02:16Which will kind of weigh things down, and it will take longer to get where we want to
02:19go.
02:20So please do as I say, and not as I usually do.
02:24And just add that in a little bit at a time, and then what we'll do once the last of that's
02:28been transferred in, is stop and add the last two ingredients.
02:32Which is a small splash of pure real vanilla extract, as well as a little bit of plain
02:36white vinegar.
02:38Which like the cream of tartar, helps stabilize the meringue.
02:41And then we will simply keep beating on high speed, until our meringue gets nice and thick
02:45and glossy.
02:46And if we stop and pull the beaters out of the mixture, whatever shape is formed will
02:50stay exactly in that shape, and not move.
02:53Okay, if those peaks kind of fall over and slump down, keep mixing.
02:58But mine were perfect, so we're going to spin any excess meringue off the beaters.
03:03At which point this stuff is ready to transfer onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
03:07Which I'm going to use a pastry bag for with a star tip.
03:09But you can definitely just use a couple spoons to do this as well.
03:12Alright, the piping bag just looks cooler, and is faster, and much better.
03:17But other than that, there's not a huge advantage.
03:19But either way, we'll start by making a circle about two and a half to three inches across.
03:24Followed by another slightly smaller circle, and then a slightly smaller circle than that.
03:30And then for my fifth and final piping, I'm just going to do a small kiss, which is going
03:34to be the top of our tree.
03:37By the way, as you'll see when we build our pavlova, I only ended up using four layers.
03:42But as I was piping this, I wasn't sure how many layers I was going to do.
03:46So I played it safe to make sure I had enough.
03:49Which reminds me, this much egg white is probably going to give you enough for six trees, with
03:52possibly a little bit of meringue left over.
03:55So in the empty spaces, feel free to pipe a few extra kisses, since those will make
03:59for a great chef's snack later.
04:01And to save time, I'm just going to do one pan, but in real life you can do both at the
04:05same time.
04:07And that's it once piped.
04:08We can transfer that into the center, or the upper center of a 250 degree oven, for about
04:13one hour and 15 minutes, or until the surface of our meringues are dry to the touch.
04:19At which point we're going to turn off our oven, and then very important, we're going
04:23to stick a wooden spoon in there, so we have about an inch or so crack, to let a little
04:27bit of the heat out.
04:28And we'll leave those like that for at least an hour, to cool slowly and continue to dry
04:32out and get nice and crispy.
04:35And while we're waiting for that, if we need some, let's go ahead and make our cranberry
04:38sauce, which we'll do with some fresh cranberries, as well as some white sugar, some orange zest,
04:46one star anise, plus a little pinch of salt, before we finish off with some freshly squeezed
04:51orange juice.
04:53And once all that's in there, we'll set our heat to medium high, and we'll wait for this
04:57to start to simmer, at which point we'll give it a stir.
05:01And personally, I like a fairly simple cranberry sauce, but of course, if you want to add some
05:05other flavorings or spices to this, go ahead.
05:08I mean, you are after all the Post Malone, of what to spoon over your baked sugar foam.
05:13And speaking of facial markings, be careful not to get your face too close to the pan,
05:18because as this comes up to temp, some of these cranberries are going to start to pop
05:21and explode.
05:22All right, let me have you listen to that for a little bit.
05:25So yes, if your face is too close, it could be a problem, so be careful.
05:34And if you want, you can cover this for a few minutes, until all those have popped open,
05:39which by the way, is the point we're trying to get to.
05:41And then once virtually all the berries have split open, we will cook this for just a few
05:45more minutes, just until those juices reduce a little bit, and things start getting a little
05:50bit syrupy.
05:52But I really do think we should stop before every single cranberry falls apart, unless
05:56you want it that way, which is fine.
05:58But I prefer to stop at about this point, where like I said, the juices have thickened
06:02up just a little bit, and our berries are soft, but they are not completely falling
06:07apart.
06:08And that's it.
06:09We'll simply turn off the heat and let that cool completely, and then refrigerate this
06:12mixture until we need it.
06:15And then we'll head back to our meringues, which have cooled in the oven for an hour,
06:19And if everything's gone according to plan, they should still be fairly light, with just
06:23an ever so slight toasted appearance.
06:26And yes, you can toast them darker if you want, using a hotter oven, or keep them whiter
06:29using a lower oven.
06:31But for me, this is perfect.
06:33And after cooling, they should be very crisp, especially the smallest pieces.
06:41And by the way, in the biggest pieces, it might be a little bit chewy in the center,
06:45which is totally fine.
06:47And that's it.
06:48To build our pavlova Christmas tree, we'll take one of the big pieces, and then pipe
06:52over or spoon on some whipped cream, which could also be some plain yogurt if you want.
06:57And once that's been applied, we'll transfer over a nice big spoon of our cranberry compote,
07:03which is just a fancy culinary term for a cranberry sauce.
07:06And then we'll go ahead and top that with some chopped pistachio, which is going to
07:10give us that gorgeous red, white, green, Christmassy look.
07:14And then to finish the layer, we'll do one more small dollop of our whipped cream, at
07:18which point we'll top that with a slightly smaller meringue.
07:21And we will continue building these layers in the same order, which could have been five
07:25layers for me.
07:27But as you'll see, I just decided to go with four meringues, since I thought I had achieved
07:31the perfect Christmas tree shape.
07:34And yes, some of your chopped nuts are going to fall off.
07:36And if they do, just pick them up and place them back on, wherever you feel they're the
07:40most visually advantageous.
07:43And by the way, I'm going to give you the procedure for the whipped cream in the written
07:45recipe, which contains exactly one ingredient, cold, heavy cream.
07:50All right, never under any circumstances buy whipped topping, since it's filled with things
07:55you do not want to eat.
07:57But anyway, after I finished that third layer, I decided this was ready to finish up and
08:01top off.
08:02So I took a little bit more of the cranberry mixture and dripped some here and there.
08:07Because we must.
08:08We have to have some sexy drips.
08:11And that's it.
08:12After fussing around for a little bit, I piped down the last little dollop of whipped cream
08:16and then topped it with one of our small crunchy kisses, at which point I transferred that
08:20to a plate to do some final touches.
08:23Since like most people, I'm never satisfied.
08:27So I did go ahead and do a few more drips of cranberry sauce, including one on the plate
08:32I decided I did not like.
08:34So I cleaned that up, using my finger, because nobody's watching.
08:37Or if people are watching, be a pro and use a towel.
08:41And then to finish this off in true magazine cover style, we will give that a dusting of
08:46powdered sugar to simulate, of course, some freshly fallen snow.
08:50And once I did that, I took way too many pictures before grabbing a fork so I could get this
08:56Christmas tree into me.
08:59And I literally took this from the top and ate that crunchy kiss first with just a little
09:04touch of that tart cranberry sauce, which as I will explain in a second, is just an
09:08absolutely perfect pairing.
09:10And then let me go ahead and press this down and cut this in half with my fork so you can
09:14sort of see what's going on.
09:16And yes, the inside does look like a piece of cake, but since it's fat free and mostly
09:21air, it is much, much lighter than cake.
09:24And yes, I was a little stingy with the cranberry sauce, so at some point I'm gonna have to
09:28spoon a little more on.
09:29But anyway, like I said, even with the richness from the whipped cream, this really is a very
09:34light, refreshing dessert.
09:36Which after one of those big, decadent, heavy holiday meals, I think will be very much appreciated
09:41by your guests.
09:43And over the years, you've probably heard me talk about contrast being one of the secrets
09:47to great cooking.
09:48And this delicious dessert is the perfect example.
09:52Not only do we have a great contrast between the crunchy meringue and our soft whipped
09:56cream and soft, sticky fruit, but we have an incredible contrast with the flavors as
10:00well.
10:01Right, on its own, I think meringue is not a great dessert, since it's just too sweet
10:06and one-dimensional.
10:08But when you combine it with that intense tartness from the cranberries, it becomes
10:12perfectly balanced, and it is very, very hard to stop eating.
10:16And if you're thinking a spoon might have been a better choice here, I was kind of thinking
10:20the same thing.
10:22But no matter what you use to eat this, it is fun and easy to make, and as I've already
10:26mentioned a few times, delicious and gorgeous.
10:29Which is why I really do hope you give it a try soon.
10:33So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
10:38more info, as usual.
10:40And as always, enjoy!