Christmas Tree Pavlova

 Is anyone else in a perpetual state of belly fullness?  Itching for the New Year and a complete reset from ALL of the food.  But in quintessential me fashion -- no matter how full I get, I can't close a meal without something sweet.  That's where pavlova comes in -- ultra light, almost like eating air -- if air is sweet, tart, and irresistible that is. . . .

Berry Curd:

6 oz raspberries

2 tbsp Chambord liqueur

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp +2 tsp unsalted butter at room temp

1 tbsp lemon juice

Cook the raspberries with the liqueur over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, or until very soft and almost dissolving. 

Press through a fine sieve to strain out the seeds.  If the mixture is thin, boil for a couple of minutes to thicken.

Whisk egg yolks with sugar and lemon juice and add mixture to raspberry puree. Heat, still whisking until sugar dissolves.

Add butter and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens or reaches 170 degrees.  It should only take a few minutes.

Strain again into a bowl and cool. When cool, top with saran wrap (with wrap touching the curd) and refrigerate until needed.

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp granulated white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Whip heavy cream with sugar and vanilla to soft peaks.  Refrigerate covered until needed.

Meringues:

6 egg whites

1 1/3 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

green gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F

Beat egg whites on medium while sprinkling in the cream of tartar and half of the sugar.

When you hit soft peaks, sprinkle the rest of the sugar in and continue mixing until stiff peaks.

Beat in desired amount of food coloring.

Trace out 12 circles onto parchment paper, with a couple inches in between each-- 4 of 5 in diameter, 4 of 3.5 in diameter, 4 of 1.5 in diameter. These are approximate measurements.  I hunted around my pantry to find things that fit and ended up with the lid of a cannister, the opening of a pint glass, and the top for a liquor bottle.

Draw a star into each circle, so that the points hit the circle.

Flip the parchment so the marked side doesn't touch the food.

Using a star tip (1M works perfectly,) pipe each star out.  Make sure it's pretty solid, although a hole here and there is fine.

Pipe a couple of mini trees out as well. 

Now, you can scoop out a little bit of the meringue in the center now, or after baking.  It doesn't matter either way.  You will need a very small well to put the filling in.

Bake for 4 hours. Then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for another hour.

Christmas Tree:

If you haven't already scooped a small well into each meringue, this is when to do it.

Starting with the largest stars:

Place a star on the serving platter.  Put a small amount of curd into the well. Top with whipped cream.  Make your filling very sparse so that you don't have a mess.

Place the next star of the same dimension on top and continue the process until you finish the largest stars.  Proceed to the middle stars, and then to the smallest stars. With the smallest stars, you may only get to brush the filling on.

Don't be afraid to finagle the stars a little to see the best way for them to sit (and importantly, the most stable.)  If you want to be extra sure, you can use stick a thin wooden skewer into the first star and feed each subsequent star onto it. Top with one of the spiral piped trees.

Melt some white chocolate in a ziplock bag. Snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag.  Where ever you want to attach a decoration, dot some white chocolate, or if you are feeling lazy, drizzle it all over and sprinkle decorations over the entire area. I used SprinklePop's Merry and Bright mixture.  The larger dragees and balls have to be attached individually by hand but it's fine to simply toss on the smaller sprinkles. Note that anything shiny in this mix isn't technically edible per the FDA, although are apparently fine to eat per the EU and Canada, so take that for what you will. I painted the tip of the top of the tree with gold edible paint and attached some gold leaf stars for an extra pop.

Now, the candles.  Simple white birthday candles are fine.  Cut them down as necessary.  These can be shellacked to the tree with chocolate too (you can glue almost anything with chocolate if a. you use enough and b. you are patient enough to stand there while it dries.) Attach them as peripherally as possible.  Meringue goes up in flame REALLY easily.  Make sure the candle is away from the "branch" above.

Pluck each layer off and serve with extra raspberry curd and whipped cream.