The Secret Recipe Club was quite helpful this July 4th as I served beautiful Meringue Cups  (which I call pavlova) with lime cream and freshly picked blueberries.

Each month, I am the secret recipe club assigns the members another member’s blog to choose  This month I was blessed with Kim’s blog,   Everyday Mom . She has enjoyed cooking since she’s five years old and now she cooks for her three children passing down her passion. As I browsed Everyday Mom,  I made my mind up quickly, happy to find a recipe I could turn into a red white and blue July 4th dessert. The recipe adapted this recipe from another blog, which was her secret recipe back in May 2012.

Kim especially liked this because she could make it with her kids, showing them how to separate eggs, etc. She notes a very important rule for separating egg whites. Always use 3 bowls when separating eggs. Each egg white must go into a separate bowl before it’s incorporated into the larger mix just in case the egg doesn’t break correctly. Not knowing this simple trick could be very frustrating. I decided to use a double boiler because the first time I attempted the lime curd, it burned too easily and I had to make it over.

I often use herbs in desserts.  The basil in the lime is my own twist. I have it growing rampant in my garden and it’s finding its way into several recipes. I served two desserts on July 4th and both incorporated herbs from my garden.

These are easy to make, and the best part is that they can be made a few days ahead and even assembled several hours in advance. The recipe uses the egg whites for the meringue cups and uses the egg yolks for a basil  lime curd which is then mixed with fresh whipped cream. Berries top it off and these are blueberries I picked myself at the Golden Bell Blueberry Farm behind my house.

This is how the pavlova cups look prior to baking. I used a piping bag. They are baked for two hours in a very low heated oven of 225 degrees.

It rained July 4th, and these served to cheer everyone up. When they were on a white flat platter, they made a very pretty presentation, but it was too dark by the time we ate them and I couldn’t get a nice picture.

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Pavlova Cups with Basil Lime Cream, Fresh Berries

Meringue cups also known as pavlova cups are paired with lime cream and berries

Course Desserts

Cuisine American

Prep Time 3 hours hours

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Pavlova Cups

• parchment paper
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• dash salt
• 1 cup super fine sugar

Lime Cream

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 4 tablespoons butter cut into pieces
• 4 fresh basil leaves
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Pavlova Cups

• Beat egg whites until foamy
• Add in cream of tarter, salt and sugar
• Beat on high until stiff and resembles marshmallow cream
• Using parchment paper, draw 3 1/2 inch cirlces
• Turn parchment paper over and using template, pipe meringue starting in center. Do a double piping on outside to form cup.
• Bake at 225 for two hours. Cool completely. These are best made several hours before serving, up to a few days.

Lime Cream

• Make lime curd. zest limes. Set zest aside.
• Whip eggs and sugar until frothy. Use a double boiler and put egg mixture in top pot over simmering water. Add in butter and lime juice. Cook stirring constantly until the lime curd coats the back of a spoon.
• Add in basil. Cool completely.
• Prior to serving, mix heavy whipping cream until stiff.
• Remove basil leaves. Mix into the lime curd. Refrigerate.
• Mix whipping cream, lime zest and lime curd together to make the cream. If not using right away, refrigerate.

Assembly

• Place lime cream in center of meringue cup. Top with Berries, garnish with basil.

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