Chocolate pavlovas with ice cream

It's that time of year again when I'm preoccupied with thoughts of ice cream, and different ways of eating and presenting it.  Ice cream and frozen treats are one of the best things about summer!

Remember how I've been boasting about being more productive and timely lately in cooking/baking recipes that catch my eye thanks to a little organization and menu-planning that I started doing this year?  Well, for all that, there are plenty of old recipes ripped out from magazines or bookmarked from websites that still await.  You could say these chocolate pavlovas were five years in the making.  The recipe that inspired this comes from an old Jan. 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living that I kept.  I don't know if I used to be more sentimental or if past content was better than it is now but I have a handful of old magazines I can't seem to part with...and that's unlike me since I love throwing things out!

The gorgeous chocolate pavlova in the Jan. 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living that inspired my far-less-gorgeous mini ones for ice cream

Once in a blue moon, I take out one of those old magazines and remember why I kept them.  With ice cream on my mind, I decided to make a few small pavlovas inspired by the one in the magazine and use them as a base for some ice cream instead of the chocolate and whipped cream featured in the original.

I didn't want/need a giant pavlova so I divided the recipe in half and "stretched" it into three 4-inch chocolate pavlovas, just what I needed for an afternoon summer treat for the three of us.  I was thinking of them as little serving plates or saucers for the ice cream.

I stretched a bit too much (or maybe I should say "too thin")...I tend to forget that lofty mounds of meringue spread and thin out after baking.  So my pavlovas were flatter than I envisioned.  I probably baked them a bit longer than I should have, too.  The very centers were still nice and chewy - with chocolate flavor that's distinctive yet light - but the edges were drier and harder than I was aiming for.  This is what I get for messing with recipes sometimes, but no regrets.  

A few minutes into eating this, we were breaking the pavlovas up with our hands and making a mess of it.  It was a tasty mess though so no one complained.  If you're a fan of contrasting textures like I am, you might enjoy your ice cream this way too.   

On the general subject of pavlovas and meringues, Francois Payard makes a roule cake with these meringue curls on top that are soft as pillows!  My pavlova and meringue-making (and even eating) experience is very limited but I'd sure love to know how to make those...they literally melt in your mouth.  Every time I see, make, or eat any kind of meringue, I talk about those and I just may be holding all others against that standard.

If you make homemade custard-base ice cream and have egg whites leftover, this is ideal!  I hardly need ways to use up extra egg whites; I like bulking up my morning egg sandwiches with an extra white, and I absolutely love using them to make financiers, or French tea cakes made with ground almonds and brown butter.  So I actually had to plan ahead and save a couple of egg whites for this project, another reason I went with these smaller versions.  

I used 2 egg whites.  The recipe uses the swiss meringue method - you start by first whisking the whites and sugar over a pot of simmering water before transferring it to a stand mixer to continue to stiff peaks.  This is intended to help build volume and stabilize the whites.    

I always think of a little vinegar in pavlovas to help create that chewiness within but this recipe for chocolate pavlova uses dark brown sugar and a little cocoa powder for that affect.  

Spread the meringue onto parchment paper where you've drawn circles with pencil on the underside to guide you.  Make a bit of an indentation in the center and try to resist over-working it so you don't deflate the whites too much.  I have a suspicion I over-work my meringues more than I realize.

For thicker pavlovas, I would make 2 instead of 3 rounds.  I really stretched to make three 4-inch rounds here.  The mounds look pleasantly abundant going into the oven but once I took them out, I was reminded by how much they spread after baking!

Bake the pavlovas in a 300 degree oven until they are dry to the touch, roughly 40-45 minutes.  As you can see, once they're done, I had a saucer or plate-like disc for my ice cream.  They spread to about 4 1/2 inches after baking.  Next time around, I think a thicker pavlova would give a better contrast in texture between crisp edges and chewy center.  As I mentioned, mine were rather hard around the edges though the center was chewy (and I definitely like chewy).   

The fun part comes with adding the ice cream and serving it up!  I topped one with homemade vanilla bean ice cream (and some fudge sauce), and the others with store-bought coffee chocolate-chip and neapolitan ice creams.  We just dug in and made a mess of ourselves! 

Here's to summer and lots and lots of ice cream treats, in all the ways you like to enjoy it!


Recipe:

Chocolate Pavlovas with Ice Cream
Adapted from Martha Stewart (recipe appeared in Jan. 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living)

- For three, relatively thin, 4 1/2-inch round pavlovas (for thicker pavlovas than the ones I made in this post, make two instead of three) - 

2 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
Ice cream of your choice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  On a piece of parchment paper, draw three 4-inch rounds, spacing them about two inches apart.  Line baking sheet with the parchment paper, pencil marking side down.

Place egg white, sugars, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugars dissolve and mixture has thickened and feels warm, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, attach the bowl to the mixer, and whisk on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla.

Sift cocoa powder over the meringue and gently fold until just incorporated.  Take a large spoon and place dollops onto the parchment paper on top of the drawn circles.  Gently spread the meringue using the drawn circles as a guide.  Lightly flatten the center to create a well in the middle.  Avoid over-working the meringue or spreading the meringue too thin.

Bake meringue until dry to the touch, about 40-45 minutes.  They will spread a bit during baking. Let cool on baking sheet set over a wire rack.  Once cooled, remove from parchment paper.  They can be stored, covered, for 1 day.  Otherwise, place pavlova on plates and top with scoops of your preferred ice cream.