Frozen Egg White Recipe?

September 23, 2009 4:06 PM

Help me find the recipe of a delicious frozen dessert I had years ago?

A few years ago, I was at a gathering where someone brought a delicious homemade frozen dessert.

All I can recall of this dessert was that it had been frozen, and seemed to be made of egg whites (it had that airy, light, melt-in-your-mouth texture, and was not chewy). It may or may not have had nuts. It was nice and light, not too sweet. The dessert was shaped like a big pile of meringue, with lots of peaks. I remember it being crumbly and breaking apart easily (the piece that ended up on your plate was a pile of messy frozen dessert).

Any idea what this dessert might be, and perhaps even a recipe? I've checked online, and the closest dessert I can find is the pavlova, but I don't think that's what the dessert was - the shape is different, it was definitely frozen, the inside was not marshmallow-y, and there were no fruits or whipped cream involved. This did not help.

The person who made the dessert was originally from Israel, if that helps.

posted by cranberryskies to food & drink (10 comments total)

Baked Alaska? Did the meringue look browned at all? What was inside (besides nuts)?
posted by iconomy at 4:11 PM on September 23

More info: I remember the outside color being light cream, maybe slightly tannish? But not browned. There might have been flecks in the dessert? Sorry, my memory is very fuzzy. There was nothing significantly different inside, like a baked alaska - the entire dessert was composed of the light, airy (I'm guessing) frozen egg white-like substance, and maybe some nuts.
posted by cranberryskies at 4:18 PM on September 23

I wonder if it was some kind of variation of a frozen fool, as described here, in message#3? Or the post before that, where a dessert called a dacquoise is described? That one doesn't seem frozen though.
posted by iconomy at 4:24 PM on September 23

Sounds like it could be tortoni.
posted by neroli at 4:25 PM on September 23

Sounds like a semifreddo to me.
posted by lowlife at 4:43 PM on September 23 [1 favorite]

If you weren't sure there was no cream involved, I'd think it sounded an awful lot like semifreddo. It's an Italian dessert usually made with egg yolks whipped and cooked over a water bath that are then folded together with whipped cream or a mixture of whipped cream and whipped egg whites. It can be flavored with honey, liqueur, nuts, chocolate, fruit or any number of things, either simply or in more elaborate combinations.

The texture is sort of airy, softly frozen, custard-mousse, if that makes any sense. Here's a couple of recipes to take Here's a few recipes to peruse.
posted by mostlymartha at 4:45 PM on September 23

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

The frozen fool, tortoni and semifreddo all involve some form of cream, ice cream, or gelato, and I'm pretty sure there was no cream involved. The consistency was less like mousse or ice cream, and more like frozen, sweetened...egg whites (the kind that you whip so much air into it makes little peaks).

It could have been some variation on the dacquoise...
posted by cranberryskies at 5:03 PM on September 23

Frozen souffle?
posted by elsietheeel at 5:10 PM on September 23

Btw, this pavlova is the closest I can get to what the dessert looked like, minus all the fruit. Maybe it was a pavlova, specifically served frozen? (The person who brought the dessert had to serve it quickly, because she very specifically had frozen the dessert.)

How likely is it that I was just eating frozen pavlova?
posted by cranberryskies at 5:14 PM on September 23

frozen pavlova is very yummy. You can buy them (pavlovas) pre-packaged.
posted by titanium_geek at 9:53 PM on September 23