Preheat oven to 150° F

Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Clean your mixing bowl very well. There can be no grease.

Separate 5 egg yolks from the whites. Be extremely careful to not break the yolks. Any fat from the yolks in the egg whites will prevent the whites from whipping into stiff mix wpeaks.

I separate each white and yolk into different bowls and then add the whites to the mixing bowl separately to prevent contamination from fat.

Mix whites on high speed until foamy.

Add confectioners sugar to taste. I don’t like mine overly sweet that you make it as sweet as you like it. If you want to color your meringues add food coloring at this point as well. Flavourings can be added as well at this point if you desire. I don’t like it, but I’ve seen Kool Aid used as a flavouring/colouring addition.

Continue mixing on high speed until stiff peaks form.

For cookies pipe the meringue with a star tube into desired size cookies.

If making Pavlova spoon the meringue in rough mounds leaving an impression in the middle for cream and fruit.

Place in oven and bake overnight. Then turn oven off and continue to dry meringues in oven.

The stage you dry them to is up to you. For meringue cookies dry them out completely. Traditionally Pavlova has a crispy dry outer shell with a chewy centre. I personally prefer to dry my Pavlova out completely as  when you add the cream it will soak into the meringue to effect the same chew.

For cookies I like to sandwich two together with a whipped cream filling.

Whipped cream and add on top of  the Pavlova and then cover with whatever fresh fruit you would like.