Cherries in the Snow

Ruminations on a snowy afternoon lead us to this cozy Cherries in the Snow recipe.  The Spectacularly Delicious version takes the classic Île Flottante as its starting point, islands of snow drifts afloat a pond frothy crème Anglaise. But hold the caramel — it’s Presidents’ Day weekend so in honor of George’s birthday this breezy dessert is topped with sweetened (and color-enhanced) tart cherries.

(Timelier still is the eerie echo of recent events in wintry Russia, where the frigid landscape was studded with meteorites of burning, brilliant red. Strange and scary times indeed.)

Anyway, there are lots of Cherries in the Snow recipes buzzing around the web.  A brief survey revealed that the most popular renditions include at least one (and frequently a few) of the following ingredients: Cool Whip, vanilla pudding mix, white cake mix, ready-to-eat graham cracker crusts, frozen pound cake and marshmallow fluff.

Nothing wrong with any of those tasties, Lord knows I’ve enjoyed plenty of these American stalwarts and look forward to more.

This recipe does have canned cherries in common the more familiar versions.  Use tart cherries if you can find them and always opt for “topping” over “pie filling” — the sauce in cherry topping is not as gooey and therefore easier to rinse off.

CHERRIES IN THE SNOW
Recipe

4 eggs, separated
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
3 c. whole milk
pinch salt
16 oz. can tart cherries

Make the meringues:

Pour the milk into a wide bottom pot. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod into the milk, stir to mix. Drop in the split pod. Bring to a boil then immediately take of the heat to keep the milk from filming over.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the pinch of salt and beat until they a moderately stiff.  Sprinkle in 2 T. of the sugar and continue to beat until the whites stand in firm, glossy white peaks.

Fish the vanilla bean pod out of the milk, discard.  Bring the milk back up a simmer.  Use two soup spoons to drop egg-sized blobs of the egg whites into the simmering milk. Cook for 1 minute, turn over an cook on the other side one minute more.  Lift out of the milk with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels. Continue until all the meringues have been poached.

Make the crème Anglaise:

Clean the bowl and whisk attachment of the mixer. Put in the egg yolks and the remaining sugar. Beat for 3 minutes, scraping the sides as needed, until the yolks are creamy and just the palest yellow in color.

Strain the cooking milk with a fine sieve.  With the mixer running on medium, slowly pour in the milk in a thin slow stream.  The hotter the milk, the more care is needed so the egg yolks don’t scramble.  Whisk until all the milk is incorporated and the the mixture is frothy.

Pour the yolk mixture into a double boiler. Cook, stirring with a whisk, for 8-10 minutes, until it coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour the creme Anglaise into a shallow serving dish. Float the meringues on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Drain the canned cherries well, rinsing off any thick sauce.

To serve spoon the cherries on and around the meringue drifts.

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