Strawberry Pavlova

Of course, I meant to have fancy chocolate drizzles on the plate, but I was in too big of a hurry to let the sauce thicken!

Ingredients:

For the meringue shells:

• 4 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 4 scoops stevia (Kal powder)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch

For cream center

• 1 pint of heavy whipping cream
• 1-2 scoops stevia (optional)

For topping

• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1-2 scoops stevia
• chocolate shavings

For chocolate sauce (optional)

• 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 scoop stevia
• 1/4 cup water

Directions

1. Beat room temperature egg whites until the are frothy
2. Add the cream of tartar and beat until gentle peaks form
3. Add sugar about 1 T at a time while continuously beating egg whites until stiffer peaks form
4. Add stevia and beat for another few seconds to blend
5. Fold in the lemon juice and the cornstarch
6. Scoop the mixture into a large zipper bag and cut off a corner to form nests on cookie sheets. I used a decorator tip even to make them pretty. (I put parchment paper sprinkled with cornstarch on my cookie sheets and the nests stuck anyway. Next time I will try cooking spray.)
7. Bake for 25 minutes in a 300 degree oven (tops will be nicely browned, but you can cook them for longer at a lower temp if you prefer them to stay white).

While these are baking you can make the strawberry sauce:

1. Slice or chop all the strawberries, set aside about 1/3 of them
2. Heat the remaining 2/3 in skillet on medium heat; sprinkle sugar and stevia onto berries and mix well
3. Gently mash up berries with a potato masher once they are soft
4. Cook berries until sauce is desired thickness (4-5 minutes)
5. Add in the remaining 1/3 of berries and mix well

You can use Redi Whip to reduce calories, but the homemade whipped cream is much more delicious:

1. Pour whipping cream in a chilled bowl
2. Beat on lower speed until it starts to thicken (just so it doesn't splash out)
3. Increase speed and beat until the consistency of whipped cream
4. Add stevia to taste (authentic pavlova uses unsweetened cream which you could get away with since the meringue and berries are so sweet--my boys like licking the bowl and beaters though, so it had to be a little sweet!

Chocolate Sauce--you can use Hershey's syrup to save time, but this sauce tastes a little bitter to contrast the sweetness and has WAY less calories:

1. Mix cocoa powder and stevia in a small saucepan
2. Microwave the water to boiling (about a minute) and then whisk it into the dry mixture
3. Bring to a boil then gently simmer for 2 minutes
4. Continue heating and stirring until thickened (the mixture will also thicken as it cools, so you have to experiment to find that balance that results in a pourable sauce--clearly by my picture, I have not found it yet)

Assemble ingredients:

1. Drizzle chocolate sauce onto serving plate in a decorative fashion
2. Place meringue nest in center of plate
3. Add a dollop of cream to the center of the nest
4. Spoon strawberry topping onto cream
5. Sprinkle chocolate shavings over berries (I just used a vegetable peeler on a square of almond bark)

Nutrition Facts: 110 calories per serving or 65 per serving with Low Fat Redi Whip or Cool-Whip, Total Fat 7.5g, Saturated Fat 4.6g, Sodium 24mg, Total Carbs 9.6g, Dietary Fiber 0.9g, Protein 1.8g
Is that unbelievable or what?! 110 calories for a dessert you could serve at a fancy dinner party!
I know this sounds like a lot of work, but it can be done in stages. I think I would even make the meringue the night before (do the baking method where you leave it in the oven all night) and then eat this for breakfast! And oh the possibilities for toppings... blueberries, kiwi, banana layered under the cream... anything goes!