Need a dessert recipe
I am making my customary fabulous Christmas Eve dinner at my mom's house. Standing rib roast, chantilly potatoes, yorkshire pudding, maybe a beet salad, because mom and sil and I like it, whatever else strikes my fancy at the market for sides.
Which leaves desserts.
Here are my constraints:
* Dad is diabetic, which does not slow him down too much, but fruitcake, bread pudding, and entirely carb-based desserts are expensive for him
* Must not take more than a day to make
* Should not require obscure specialty utensils (gingerbread plates, wacky stacking cake molds)
Here are my assests:
* An almost infinite supply of fresh-frozen summer berries of excellent quality
* 8 hours
* Two sous-chefs
* Access to almost any ingredient
Like Anne Shirley and her conception of a diamond as purple and sparkly, I had a conception of Floating Island as meringue puffs floating in some kind of beautifully tart berry sauce. I thought this would be awesome because berries are a good(ish) sugar, and the egg whites have a lot of protein, and because it's showy and dramatic. But no, that is imaginary Floating Island. The real one sounds sickly sweet, even to me.
Previous Christmas Eve desserts have included:
* Baked Alaska (if you make it with chocolate ice cream, it may give you a fierce craving for smores)
* Flaming Plum Pudding
* Pots de creme
* Bouche de Noel
So, suggestions? Marshmallowy? Berry? Lemon? Hmmm...
Edited to add: I think I have found my winner:
Lemon Berry Meringues
Which leaves desserts.
Here are my constraints:
* Dad is diabetic, which does not slow him down too much, but fruitcake, bread pudding, and entirely carb-based desserts are expensive for him
* Must not take more than a day to make
* Should not require obscure specialty utensils (gingerbread plates, wacky stacking cake molds)
Here are my assests:
* An almost infinite supply of fresh-frozen summer berries of excellent quality
* 8 hours
* Two sous-chefs
* Access to almost any ingredient
Like Anne Shirley and her conception of a diamond as purple and sparkly, I had a conception of Floating Island as meringue puffs floating in some kind of beautifully tart berry sauce. I thought this would be awesome because berries are a good(ish) sugar, and the egg whites have a lot of protein, and because it's showy and dramatic. But no, that is imaginary Floating Island. The real one sounds sickly sweet, even to me.
Previous Christmas Eve desserts have included:
* Baked Alaska (if you make it with chocolate ice cream, it may give you a fierce craving for smores)
* Flaming Plum Pudding
* Pots de creme
* Bouche de Noel
So, suggestions? Marshmallowy? Berry? Lemon? Hmmm...
Edited to add: I think I have found my winner:
Lemon Berry Meringues