To Make the Meringues

Remove eggs from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature.

In a small mixing bowl, combine sugar, cream of tartar, cornstarch and lemon zest

Preheat oven to 300 F.  Line a couple of half sheet pans with parchment paper.

Separate the egg whites and egg yolks.  Put the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl (if using a hand mixer).  It is crucial that no yolks break and mix with the egg whites and that the bowl used to whisk the egg whites is completely clean of any grease.  Fat will prevent egg whites from forming stiff peaks.

Whisk the whites.  Once frothy, begin adding the sugar mix little by little, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Once soft peaks form, add vanilla extract (or other flavoring extracts).  Continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Whip to stiff peaks.

Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe out meringue shells to your desired size.  Alternatively, you can use a spoon to dollop the mixture out onto the sheet pans and then use the spoon to create an indent in the middle of each mound.  Approximately 1/2 cup of meringue mixture will make a nice palm-sized individual pavlova portion and this recipe will make about 6-8 palm-sized shells.

Place meringues in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200 F.  Bake for 40 minutes for small shells, or 1 hour for a large pie sized shell.

Cooked Meringue Shells ready for garnishing.

Let meringues cool completely and then store in an airtight container until ready to use.  If you don’t have a good airtight container, store in any container you have and then wrap it completely with plastic wrap.  This is especially important if you live in a humid climate.  Humidity will make these really sticky as they sit which is not what we’re going for.  If this happens, you can preheat the oven to 200 F, put the meringues back in, turn the oven off and let them dry in there for a couple of hours or overnight (but you may lose the marshmallow-like softness of the inside). Meringues will last for a week if stored properly.

To Garnish

Put your cut fruit into a bowl, drizzle with honey (or sprinkle with sugar) and let it sit until it becomes a little saucy.

Whisk cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.  Grab the meringues you plan to serve and eat, leave any remaining tightly covered for garnishing at a later time.  Spread the whipped cream over the meringue shells.  Top with fruit.  Serve and enjoy.

These are best enjoyed right after garnishing.  They do not refrigerate or freeze well.  Only garnish the ones you plan on eating.