Caramel Coconut Pecan Praline Pavlova

Every once in a while I get some crazy idea that works. Complicated, but delicious, this is one of those ideas. It's a conglomeration of parts of different recipes: pecan praline butter/paste and caramelized pecans from Cupcake Jemma's Vanilla Pecan Cinnamon Buns, salted caramel sauce, pavlova base, and stabilized whipped cream.

I only made this because I was making a key lime pie for my husband's birthday, and I had some extra egg whites. I also had the leftover pecan praline butter and caramelized pecans from the last time I made the Vanilla Pecan Cinnamon Buns. Aaaand I was trying to use up some heavy cream in my fridge and I had just made a bunch of salted caramel sauce. So as strange as it may sound, making this dessert just made sense to me--maybe the package of Girl Scout Samoa/Caramel De-lite cookies sitting on the counter also influenced this decision. 

It's pretty sweet, but the caramel and praline elements add just a touch of bitterness that balance it all out. Mmm. The pavlova is crisp and a little chewy, and the whipped cream is there just doing its creamy thing. I wanted to have just a touch of chocolate to give it the Samoa/Caramel De-lite vibe. Like I said, it works. 

At any rate, this is so complicated I wasn't going to bother with the recipe, but I want to have it on hand in case I want to make it again. So I'm going to try to put it all together below so that it makes sense to me and to anyone else. If you give this a go, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

*Note: You will end up with twice as much pecan praline butter and caramelized pecans as you need. You can either save those for another time, or you can make Cupcake Jemma's Vanilla Pecan Cinnamon Buns, or you can double the recipe for the other parts (pavlova merengue, caramel coconut, and whipped cream) and make one big pavlova or two of the regular ones. Just saying.

Caramel Coconut Pecan Praline Pavlova

Caramelized Pecans

    Caramelized Pecans Ingredients:

• 25g light brown sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons water
• pinch salt
• 180g toasted pecans

    Caramelized Pecans Instructions:

• Roughly chop the pecans.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Place a nonstick pan over medium low heat and add the 25g brown sugar and 1.5 tablespoons water. Stir and then add the 180g chopped pecans and salt. Cook and stir over medium low heat until sugar looks dry on the outside of the pecans. Pour caramelized pecans onto a parchment lined pan to cool.

Pecan Praline Butter/Paste

    Pecan Praline Butter/Paste Ingredients:

• 150g toasted pecan halves
• 150g light brown sugar
• pinch salt

    Pecan Praline Butter/Paste Instructions:

• Line another baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place a nonstick pan over medium-low heat. 
• Add the 150g light brown sugar. Heat sugar until it melts. You can stir it with a silicone spatula, but be careful to scrape off any sugar build up along the way. Sugar needs to be completely liquid. 
• Add the 150g pecan halves and pinch of salt to the melted sugar and stir to coat the pecans. 
• Once pecans are basically covered in molten sugar, carefully scrape all of it onto a parchment-lined pan and allow to cool completely.
• Once praline is completely cool, break it apart into the bowl of a food processor, and process until you have a relatively smooth paste. Scrape into a bowl or clean pint size mason jar and set aside.

Salted Caramel Coconut

    Salted Caramel Coconut Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup toasted sweetened coconut, divided*

    Salted Caramel Coconut Instructions:

• Place cream in the small saucepan over low heat. Once it's hot, you can turn it off. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't boil.
• Place the clean mason jar on the stove to stay a little warm while you make the caramel sauce.
• Pour the sugar into the large saucepan set over medium heat.
• It will take a while, like 5-8 minutes before you start seeing the sugar start to melt. When you start seeing melted patches, start gently swirling the pan to evenly distribute the sugar and prevent any burned spots. 
• Continue melting and swirling the sugar until it's a deep amber color. Once it's deep amber, remove from the heat and pour in about half of the cream, which will bubble up violently. 
• Whisk the sugar and cream together, making sure to get any sugar in the corners of the pan. 
• Whisk in the remaining cream, and then the salt. Whisk until smooth, again paying attention to the corners of the pan. 
• Pour the caramel sauce into a heat-proof bowl and allow to cool a bit.
• Reserve about 1 tablespoon of the toasted coconut for the garnish. Then stir the rest of the coconut into the caramel sauce.

    *To toast the coconut, preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread coconut evenly on a baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, about 5-8 minutes Take care not to burn it because it goes from light golden brown to burned pretty quickly. You may need to stir it once if the edges are browning more quickly than the center.

Pavlova

    Pavlova Ingredients: 

• 2 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

    Pavlova Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, mix the cream of tartar and cornstarch and set aside for later.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium high until soft peaks form.
• While the mixer is still on, slowly add half the sugar and beat for 30 seconds. Then slowly add the remaining sugar. Once aded, turn mixer to high speed and beat until glossy stiff peaks form. This will take about 2 minutes.
• Add vanilla and beat for another minute. Continue to beat on high until peaks are very stiff. 
• Fold in the cream of tartar/cornstarch mixture using a silicone/rubber spatula.
• Scoop the mixture onto the parchment-lined pan, and using the back of a spoon, spread it out to make a 6 to 7 inch circle. Make the edge slightly taller than the center portion. 
• Place the pan in the oven and then immediately reduce the heat to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave the oven door closed and bake until the pavlova is firm and dry, about 90 minutes. 
• Turn off the oven and allow the pavlovas to cool inside the oven. 
• Move the baked pavlova to a cooling rack and allow to come to room temperature. 

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting

    Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar

    Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting Instructions:

• Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften. 
• Scald 2 tablespoons of the cream (this means you put the cream in a pan and bring it to a simmer on the stove); pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved.
• Refrigerate until consistency of unbeaten egg white. (This takes about 10-15 minutes.) Then, with a whisk, beat until smooth. 
• In a stand mixer with a whip attachment, or with a hand beater, whip remaining cream and sugar just until soft peaks form; whip in the smoothed gelatin mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl twice. Whip until stiff peaks start to form, but be careful not to over beat. You will probably only need to whip it another 10-20 seconds before it's done.

Topping Ingredients Not Yet Named

• 35 grams (about 1.3 ounces) dark chocolate

Assembly

• Melt the chocolate by placing in a microwavable dish and microwave on high for about 30 seconds. Stir. If  not melted with one minute of stirring, microwave another 10-15 seconds and then stir until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside.
• Move the cooled pavlova to a serving plate. 
• Carefully spread half of the pecan praline butter (which is about 1/2 cup) over the top of the pavlova, leaving about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch border around the edge.
• Spread the salted caramel coconut on top of the pecan praline butter layer. 
• Spread the stabilized whipped cream on top of the salted caramel coconut.
• Drizzle melted chocolate over the top and then sprinkle with the caramelized pecans and reserved toasted coconut. 
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Cover and refrigerate leftovers.