Vegan Mini Pavlovas
Meringue-lovers rejoice! These vegan pavlovas are delightfully fluffy, pillowy, creamy and delicious in the extreme.
Day 4 and the grand finale of our Very Vegan Christmas Feast. I am totally going to play favourites here and say this is my favourite recipe of the lot.
Did you know you can make vegan meringue from tinned chickpea liquid? Yes, I know, what a time to be alive! That being said it does require a little more patience than an egg based meringue, but the result is truly incredible, and indistinguishable from an egg based meringue. No friends, this will definitely NOT taste like chickpeas! Rather, these pavlovas will bake up lush, sweet and soft. Delicious!
Chickpea liquid used in cooking is commonly known as aquafaba, and is a recent discovery as far as cooking techniques go. As with any meringue, it’s inherently simple, but getting this right requires adhering to the recipe. So, taking shortcuts will only lead to undesirable results! Approach this baby as you would a risotto. Give it some love, patience and time and you have a winning final product.
Simple + delicious = perfect vegan pavlovas
This final iteration of my vegan meringue recipe is the result of many of my own failed attempts… Ones where I tried to rush the process of adding the sugar, didn’t add an acid, or simply cooked the meringue at too high a temperature. I have finally settled on a super simple recipe for vegan meringue, using only 4 ingredients!
The prep time for this recipe is just 30 minutes, before the meringues goes into a very low oven to cook for a few hours. Then you turn off the oven, leaving them to slowly cool inside, and ta-dah! Vegan meringue! Top them with coconut whipping cream and berries (or any fruit really), and you have one of my all time favorite vegan desserts – Vegan Pavlova.
This recipe is make-ahead friendly, so you can pre-make these up to 3 days in advance. Just be sure to store the cooled meringues, without any berries and cream, in an airtight container in the freezer to prevent them from going soft.
Essential Tips for Success:
- Go slow – you must add the sugar incrementally over 20 minutes. Trust me. Put a Netflix series on, and settle in.
- Don’t skip the lemon juice/cream of tartar – this gives the mixture its strength, and prevents the baked meringues from collapsing.
- Use a super clean and dry glass or metal bowl – fat and water are the enemy here, and plastic bowls can lead to undesirable results.
- Cook the meringue slowly – 100C and no higher
- Let the meringues cool in the oven – drying the meringues out slowly will limit the chances of them cracking and collapsing in the middle. If you have a few cracks, don’t worry, they will still taste amazing.
- Coconut whipping cream – This can be found in many super markets and online, under the Nature’s Charm brand. It is essentially just a high fat coconut cream. If you can’t get this, a tin of chilled coconut cream will do just fine, but you will get slightly less “cream” out of it
- With a short bit of work you are going to have an absolute cracker of a finale for your Vegan Christmas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this gluten-free?
This dish is gluten free! Enjoy!
Can I use the liquid from other tinned beans?
This works best with chickpea liquid.
Why didn’t my meringues work?
Be sure to read our Essential Tips For Success to see where mistakes can happen.
Vegan Mini Pavlovas
- Total Time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
- Yield: 10 - 12 Meringues
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Meringue-lovers rejoice! These vegan pavlovas are delightfully fluffy, pillowy, creamy and delicious in the extreme.
Ingredients
For the Meringue
- 1 can of chickpeas (see FAQs)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar OR 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Pavlova
- 1 can Nature’s Charm coconut whipping cream
- 400g berries of choice (I like these)
- 1 sachet of berry coulis (or make your own)
Instructions
- Pop your coconut whipping cream or coconut cream into the fridge to chill for at least 5 hours. You can also speed this up by placing it in the freezer for 45 minutes and then moving it to the fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Next, drain your chickpeas, reserving 1/2 cup liquid from the can. Save the chickpeas for another use (like my carrot or beet hummus). Pour the chickpea liquid into a bowl and add the cream of tartar (or lemon juice).
- Beat the mixture using an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. This means the mixture can hold its shape, and when you remove the beater from the mixture an upright fluffy white peak should appear.
- Gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, over 16 minutes beating continuously at a high speed. Add your last bit of sugar at the 16-minute mark. Beat the meringue for 4 more minutes so the sugar fully dissolves into the mixture, leaving you with a glossy, creamy meringue.
- Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into small circles, about 5cm in diameter, onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 2 cm free between each meringue so they dont stick together when they expand. If you need help, I have linked a video here where egg-based meringues are piped out, however, the technique is exactly the same (skip to 1:24). If you don’t have a piping bag, no worries! Just scoop out blobs and form them freehand with a spoon into little baskets.
- Bake in the preheated oven until meringues are firm and come away easily from the parchment paper, for about 2 hours. Turn off the oven, and forget about them, until the oven cools completely (this slow cooling process prevents cracks!)
- Once you are ready to serve, take the coconut whipping cream out of the fridge. Spoon the solid coconut cream into a bowl, leaving behind the clear watery liquid for another use. Whip the coconut cream for 2 minutes until thick and combined. Spoon the thick cream over the pavlovas, top with a few berries and drizzle over the berry coulis.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
That’s a wrap friends. Happy happy Christmas! See you all again in the new year
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 321.67kcal
- Sugar: 35.85g
- Sodium: 20.84mg
- Fat: 7.78g
- Saturated Fat: 5.38g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.79g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 55.82g
- Fiber: 5.72g
- Protein: 7.91g
- Cholesterol: 0g
