Chantilly Meringée or Elegant Ice Cream

Art of Gluten-Free Baking

-adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 2

Special Equipment Needed

-a stand mixer is very helpful for this recipe. A hand mixer will do in a pinch.

-candy thermometer is very helpful unless you are familiar with finding the soft-ball stage using the ice water technique (which is actually quite easy)

-freezer-friendly containers for freezing the meringuée

Ingredients

For the Meringue Italienne

2 C granulated sugar

2/3 C water

3/4 C egg whites--about 5-6 large or extra large eggs

big pinch of salt

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Chantilly Meringuée

1 recipe of Meringue Italienne

2 C chilled heavy cream

2-4 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: if you want to make this chocolate, 1/2 C unsweetened chocolate + 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate, chopped)

1) To make the Meringue Italienne

Measure out all the ingredients before you start--this makes the process go much more smoothly

-combine the water and sugar in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and set over medium high heat

-do not mix with a spoon, instead, swirl pan slowly by its handle to mix the sugar and water

-continue to swirl the liquid as it comes to a boil

-continue to swirl until it turns from cloudy to clear

-stop swirling pan, cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer while you beat the egg whites

-in the bowl of the stand mixer, beat egg whites for about a minute--until they start to become foamy

-add the cream of tarter and salt

-beat, gradually increasing the speed to high, until the egg whites form stiff peaks

-beat in vanilla

-stop beating and go to next step

-remove cover from your sugar syrup, and insert candy thermometer if using

-raise heat and boil rapidly

-when the bubbles start to look thicker, watch the temperature or start dribbling drops into iced water

-boil until the mixture reaches the "soft-ball stage"--when it makes a definite but blobby shape when you try to form it into a ball under the ice water, or 238 degrees on your thermometer

-once the sugar syrup has reached the soft-ball stage, immediately start beating the egg whites again on medium speed

-carefully and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream into the egg white mixture as it beats until you've used all of the sugar syrup

-continue to beat the egg whites on medium high until shiny, stiff peaks form out of the mixture and the bowl is cool to the touch--about 10 minutes

-stop beating and set aside

2) to make the Chantilly Meringuée

-beat the cream until it has doubled in volume (don't beat so long as to turn it into butter)

-beat in vanilla extract

-with a spatula, fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into your Meringue Italienne mixture to lighten it.

-then scoop out the remainder of the whipped cream onto the meringue mixture and fold it in as rapidly and as lightly as possible--you want to try not to deflate the mixture too much

-once the mixture is combined, scoop it into a freezable container (we use a Tupperware container) and place in freezer until you're ready to eat it. It will take a few hours to fully freeze, but even if it's not fully frozen, it will still taste delicious

For the chocolate option:

-when you come to step 2, making the Chantilly Meringuée, melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until just melted

-beat the melted chocolate into the cream

-then follow the remainder of the Chantilly Meringuée instructions for folding the cream into the meringue mixture

Enjoy!