Floating Islands (Île Flottante) or Snow Eggs (Oeufs à la Neige) - A Heavenly French Dessert
.jpg)
While watching the Grammy's Sunday night and working on this post, I was reminded of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel
songs: "I Am a Rock".
I pretend to be an island most of the time, choosing to be very independent and private. Last week, while riding on a school bus for a field trip with my daughter's Grade 4 class, I was reminded how social children are. They relish the time they have to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences with each other every chance they get. The bus was noisy with their giddiness and excitement for life.
"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." —Angela Schwindt
Maybe it's the fact that I spent the first four years of my life on a floating island in the South Pacific (Papua New Guinea) that I have a fascination for islands. And this culinary version of a floating island is the perfect dessert. It is now my favorite dessert and the one I would have at my "last meal". I can't believe it took me this long to taste it, but now that I've made it three times this past week, I won't have to live without it again!
Floating Islands versus Snow EggsThere is some discrepancy about what Floating Islands (Île Flottante) are versus Snow Eggs (Oeufs à la neige). In my research, I found Floating Islands to be one large island that is baked in the oven in a bain marie and typically contains toasted almonds. Snow Eggs are individual egg-sized meringue puffs that are poached in either simple syrup or milk. To confuse the issue even more there is another version of a French Floating Island that is
a liqueur-sprinkled sponge cake spread with jam, and topped with nuts and whipped cream, surrounded by a pool of custard.
After making Dorie's version of Floating Islands, I decided to try making the Floating Islands and Snow Eggs from my vintage 1971 Grand Diplôme Cooking Course book.
Both Floating Islands and Snow Eggs are made up of three components: crème anglaise, meringue and caramel. Each element on its own is delicious, so I knew together they would be amazing.
Crème AnglaiseCrème anglaise contains sugar, yolks, milk, and vanilla, but it can be flavored with all sorts of delicious things such as cardamom, rum, chocolate, ginger, chamomile, brandy, Grand Marnier, espresso, or even stout! Crème anglaise is a stirred custard as opposed to a baked custard. It must be stirred constantly so that it doesn’t curdle at the bottom of the pan or overcook. Because it’s stirred, it doesn’t thicken as much as a
crème brulée or
crème caramel which thickens in the oven.
It’s a rich, smooth sauce that can be served warm or cold. It is also common as a base for making ice creams.
MeringueMeringue is simply sweetened egg whites. You can use superfine sugar since it dissolves faster, but I just used regular sugar. The salt helps stabilize the meringue. After poaching half of the meringue puffs, I folded in some red food coloring to the remaining meringue mixture to make pink ones.
To shape the islands, I used my 1-tablespoon ice cream scoop. I also tried a larger ice cream scoop, but they puffed up too big. And I tried using two spoons to shape an oval, but found these were oddly-shaped and puffed up too big as well. Whatever method you use, you should know that they expand quite a bit when poached in the milk.
CaramelCaramel shouldn't be that hard to make. However, I made it three times this past week and only once did it work. The first time, I let it get past a perfect amber color to a point where it started to smoke and burn. The next batch hardened too quickly before I could get it on a floating island. Finally, the third one worked. (I also supplemented with store-bought caramel sauce from a plastic jar for some helpings of floating islands.)
Joe from Joe Pastry did a whole
segment on making your own caramel with pictures, and here's a
video showing how to make caramel.
Recipe: Floating Islands
Makes: 6 servings
Ingredients:
For the Crème Anglaise:
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Islands:
2 cups milk
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
¼ cup sugar
For the Caramel (optional)
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup water
To make the crème anglaise: Bring the milk to a boil.
Meanwhile, put the yolk and sugar in a heavy saucepan and whisk vigorously until thick and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Still whisking, drizzle in a little of the hot milk — this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining milk. Put the saucepan over medium-low heat and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, cook until the custard thickens, lightens in color and coats the spoon (this can take 10 minutes or so) — if you run your finger down the spoon, the track should remain. For this recipe, the crème anglaise should be cooked until it reaches 180˚F on an instant-read thermometer.
Immediately remove the pan from the heat, strain the custard into a bowl and stir in the vanilla extract. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, or for up to 3 days. (The crème anglaise will improve with at least on overnight rest.)
To make the islands: Spread a clean kitchen towel on the counter near the stove and have a large slotted spoon at hand. [The towel will help the floating islands drain after poaching.] Put the milk in a wide saucepan and bring it to a simmer over low heat.
Meanwhile, put the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a large bowl and a hand mixer. Beat the whites on medium speed just until foamy, then beat in the salt. When the eggs turn opaque, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and add the sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time. Whip until the meringue is firm but satiny and still glossy.
You have two options in shaping the islands: you can just scoop up some meringue — specifically, an amount about twice the size of an egg — in which case you'll have the equivalent of a rocky volcanic island, or you can smooth the meringue to get a manicured island. For the smooth look, use a large oval spoon to scoop up the meringue, then use another large oval spoon to very gingerly transfer the meringue from spoon to spoon a couple of times to form a smooth oval.
Either way, one by one, lower the islands into the simmering milk, adding only as many islands as you can fit into the pan without crowding. Poach the meringues for 1 minute, gently turn them over and poach 1 minute more, then lift the islands out of the milk and onto the towel. Repeat until you've poached 12 islands. Put the puffs (which will have inflated when poached and will deflate when cooled) on a wax paper-lined baking sheet and chill them for at least 1 hour, or for up to 3 hours.
To make the optional caramel: Decide whether you want to serve the meringues in one large bowl or six individual bowls, and have the bowl(s) at hand.
Right before serving, stir the sugar and water together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat, bring the sugar to a boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until the caramel turns a pale gold color, 6 to 8 minutes or so. Pull the pan from the heat and let the caramel cool just until it is thick enough to form threads when it is dropped from the tines of a fork. (If the caramel hardens, rewarm it slowly over low heat.)
Either pour the crème anglaise into a large serving bowl and top with the meringue islands, or make six individual servings. If using the caramel, working quickly, dip the tines of a fork into the caramel and wave the fork over the floating islands to create threads that will quickly harden.
Serving: Once the dessert has been assembled, it should be served immediately.
Storing: You can make both the crème anglaise and the meringue puffs in advance and keep them chilled, but the assembled dessert won't keep.
NotesYou can also find the recipe for Floating Islands in the book
Baking:
From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by
Dorie Greenspan or
here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click
here and then click on each blogger!
You can find
tips about this recipe here.
Ideas for variations to flavor the meringue: lemon, orange, lime or even espresso
.jpg)
Tasting NotesNow that I've eaten three batches of Floating Islands and Snow Eggs, I'll have to put these recipes aside for awhile. It's just too hard for me to leave them alone since I'm the only one eating them at our house! I loved the caramel with this dessert and not the chocolate that I tried for one plate. I found the chocolate overpowered the delicate taste of the Snow Eggs. This is also a great dessert to make ahead and assemble just before serving. There is still one more recipe I'd like to try: Fernand Point's recipe in
Ma Gastronomie
for Île Flottante, which contains egg yolks in the meringue mixture. But I'll have to wait before making any more batches of this delicious dessert.
"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."
— St. Theresa's Prayer (sent to me by Kate from Aapplemint on a day when it was just what I needed to read)
Recipe for Next Week (February 17)Devil's Food White-Out Cake on pages 247-249 (the cover recipe) chosen by Stephanie of
Confessions of a City Eater.
A few other links to Floating Islands or Snow Eggs• Béa from La Tartine Gourmande's
Pistachio Floating Islands and
Vanilla Cardamom Snow Eggs• Helen from Tartelette's
Strawberry and Vanilla Floating IslandsMy Tuesdays with Dorie TriviaSince I got to pick this week's recipe, I thought I'd share with you a bit of my TWD trivia. It's been a wonderful year meeting other food bloggers who share their passion about baking (and cooking). Thanks for making this year a great one for me!
• I joined March 25, 2008 and made another of my favorite desserts that week:
Caramel-Topped Flan• I've made 46 desserts from
Baking: From My Home to Yours and have loved most of them.
Apple Cheddar SconesArborio Rice PuddingBerry Surprise CakeBlack-and-White Banana LoafBlueberry {Saskatoon/Raspberry} Sour Cream Ice Cream Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread CookiesButtery Jam CookiesCaramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie CakeCaramel-Topped FlanCarrot CakeCherry Rhubarb CobblerChocolate ChunkersChocolate Malted Whopper DropsChocolate PuddingChocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte in a PopsicleChocolate-Chocolate CupcakesChunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate ChipstersCrème BrûléeDimply Plum CakeDouble-Crusted Blueberry PieFlorida PieFluted Polenta and Ricotta CakeFrench Chocolate BrowniesFrench Pear TartFresh Ginger and Chocolate GingerbreadGooey Chocolate CakeGrandma’s All-Occasion Sugar CookiesGranola GrabbersKugelhopfLa Palette’s Strawberry TartLenox Almond BiscottiLinzer SablésMadeleinesMarshmallowsMixed Berry CobblerPeanut Butter TortePecan Honey Sticky BunsPeppermint Cream Puff Ring...SwanPumpkin MuffinsQuintuple Chocolate BrowniesRugelachSavory Corn and Pepper MuffinsSummer Fruit GaletteThanksgiving Twofer PieThe Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream TartWorld Peace CookiesAn Award
I received an award called the Lemonade Award - When Life Give You Lemons, Make Lemonade from Gretchen of Canela and Comino. I feel very honoured!
More to Explore:
+1.jpg)
.jpg)
+mise+en+place.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
