With all the baking and pastry making I have been doing these past several weeks, I ended up accumulating quite a large amount of egg whites. The first thing that comes to me, in so far as to what to do with all these unused egg whites is to make dacquoise!
Dacquoise is a french name for meringue baked with ground almonds and hazelnuts that comes out extremely crisp, but when married with various fillings becomes softer, yet still retains a succulent subtle crispness. Visually they make stunning desserts, because you can shape them in whatever design pleases you and can be filled and layered with a multitude of flavor combinations.
I have been making dacquoise type pastries since my early twenties, starting with the famous oblong chocolate, vanilla and praline filled gateau Marjolaine, which was the magnificent signature desert of Fernand Point’s renown restaurant many years ago. I made five heart-shaped meringue dacquoises on Valentine’s day, with the intention of filling one with caramel au beurre salé mousse and chocolate ganache and the other with raspberries. Once the meringue is made, they can keep perfectly in a dry oven for several days till filled.
Some of my favorite fillings are lemon cream and raspberry, and the one I made sunday ended up being filled with plain almond flavored whipped cream and raspberries. I had just come home from walking around the gardens of a chateau south of Paris late in the afternoon, when I discovered I was missing egg yolks for the mousse, making the raspberry version the only one possible last night.
That was perfectly fine with me, because I frankly never tire of anything with those bright beautiful berries. The best come form your own raspberry bushes, which I was lucky enough to have had in my garden for at least one season, when I lived for a few months in a small French village near the Swiss border.
The technique involved isn’t too difficult if you know how to beat the whites correctly and not deflate your egg whites while folding in the ground nut and sugar mixture. The trickiest part can be getting the baked meringues to come off without breaking into a million crumbs, but non stick baking paper makes that easier if baked long enough at a low temperature.
Keys to success are correctly measuring the amount of egg whites versus sugar, which I prefer to do in grams now and not making them or any meringues for that matter, on rainy days. I remember it being more difficult to do them in Louisiana, where days, even without rain are often high in humidity.
My caramel and chocolate version will have to wait till next sunday, as finishing off just one is good enough for me in a week’s time! Anyhow, the raspberry dacquoise went perfectly with the Nicolas Feuillatte Rosé Champagne, making it a grand finale to a perfect Valentine celebration. Heart filled hugs to all!
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You are such an amazing chief. I want to eat at your house. How do you keep your weight in check?????
Thank you KK for your very complimentary comment! You are indeed invited to my house for dinner any time you are in Paris!
I only create one desert a week, on sunday and that is it! Everything else I eat is made by me with the best ingredients that I can buy and usually is low carb. Paris is a pastry lovers heaven, but frankly I prefer to make my own most of the time. In addition, I walk a lot every day , not only to buy groceries and or to get here and there, but also just because I love too, because to me walking makes me happy and feels good! If I do not walk a lot every day, I feel out of kilter. Today, after a day spent writing this post and an upcoming post, I just had to get out and walk for my physical and mental health! Thank God for my healthy legs and heart!
Cherry, it sounds and looks terrific . . . LMAO . . . I could never reach the level of your cooking and baking. As KK noted: How do you managed to keep your girlish figure with all of your terrific cooking and baking?
Last week I made some brownies . . . they last for over a week because June barely tastes it all with her rather rigid diet. I wind up eating 95% – 98% of anything like deserts or breads that I make. I did take half of the brownies to the grand children when we went to Naples this last weekend. Turns out they don’t like nuts in foods; and I always put nuts in lots of things.
Your baking certainly whets one’s appetite to taste it though.
David, I do feel sorry that your family, for whatever reasons are not able to enjoy your culinary creations. Part of the joy for me, is sharing the food that I have put a lot of love into creating. However, I do indeed enjoy my own creations too!
I rarely eat simple carbs, except my one homemade desert once a week, avoid all processed foods, and make all that I eat from scratch, except the fabulous baguettes and cheeses that I allow myself to have in small quantities. Plus, I walk extensively everyday!
Mon Cherie,
Of all places, I first learned about the magic conversion of surplus egg whites when visiting a South Louisiana Cajun girlfriend’s family during my college days. It is known “down the Bayou” as “Schaum” Torte – quite remarkable having the French Acadians using a German word to describe the delectable concoction. It brings back fond memories – – am thinking about calling my old girlfriend to see if she will whip up some for me….
Thank you Ken for sharing your own memories around the Schaum Torte! Maybe her french roots went back to Alsace Lorraine, which shares some culinary traditions with bordering Germany.
In France pure meringue confections are called Vacherin and are generally filled with fruit and whipped cream too. The dacquoise has more taste and texture due to the ground almonds and hazelnuts and is less sweet.
Marie Antoinette is probably responsible for bringing meringue cakes to France from her native Austria, where they are called Spanische Windtorte.
In Australia and New Zealand they are know as Pavlova.
In most French pastry shops you will see piles of meringues for the same reason, and now les macarons,as all the egg yolks used in making brioches, pastry cream and buttercreams,etc, leaves the pastry chef with a lot of left over egg whites.
Such delights! I enjoyed the courses even though they were on screen. And I share your penchant for walking
Thank you Louis for your comment! My raspberry dacquoise was divinely delicious! Walking in the countryside can be more meditative for me than in the city, where one is faced with dodging others on the sidewalk, but the city affords more historical and cultural discoveries. Winter time in Paris allows more views of the architectural reliefs of buildings that are otherwise hidden by trees thick with leaves.