Spiced Pavlovas with Oranges and Mulled Wine Caramel
The first Christmas Food & Wine editor Melanie Hansche celebrated in Bavaria with her Australian husband, he made her Bavarian family a classic Australian pavlova. Even though Bavarians don't tend to eat dessert at the end of a Christmas meal, the lightness and freshness of the fruit and meringue in the pavlova, which balanced the rich, savory dinner that had come before, was a winner. These individual pavlovas represent a mash-up of Hansche's Bavarian and Australian upbringing. In it, the the aromas and ingredients of a Bavarian Christmas markets—glühwein, toasted almonds, spiced cookies—are infused into the components of the classic Australian dessert: a base of sweet, cinnamon-spiced meringue is topped with fresh tangy quark, and crowned with bright citrus and intense mulled wine caramel.