Meringue à Trois (Gluten free option)

Meringue à Trois

You all may have noticed that I haven't posted here in a while. That is because I created a new blog (https://getoffyourbuttandcook.net/) that is focused on healthy eating. I didn't think this creation fit in, though it isn't the most unhealthy dessert in the world. 

I am really proud of this recipe since it it one of my truly unique creations. You won't find this creation anywhere else. I originally called it Ménage à trois, but I opted for a more PG title when I starting writing this post. I experimented several times making this dessert. A meringue a trois has three crunch components. A baked phyllo dough cup, pomegranate meringue, and tempered dark chocolate. These components are not only crunchy, they each have a different kind of crunch. The phyllo dough has a brittle snap. The meringue is a little softer and dissolves once it hits the tongue. The tempered dark chocolate melts a little when you bite into it without dissolving. All in all, it is a party in your mouth. Believe it our not, this recipe can easily be modified to make it gluten free.

The full recipe makes about 24 servings.

Phyllo Dough Cup

Ingredients

•  Half a roll of phyllo dough that is thawed according to the instructions (gluten free phyllo dough if you want to make this gluten free. There are a few recipes out there. You can use this product, though it is puff pastry which isn't as crunchy. If you are using the GF puff pastry, make sure it is rolled very thin )
• Melted butter (as much as needed)

1. First get out a mini muffin tin and spray it with non-stick spray and preheat the oven according to the phyllo dough/ puff pastry box.

2. Use a pizza cutter to cut  4 inch length and width squares out of the phyllo dough. Make sure you cover the dough with a damp towel when you aren't using it. It will dry out and become too brittle to use if you don't cover it

3. Carefully place a single square in each muffin tin hole and quickly brush with a little bit of melted butter. I tend to do a few at a time to minimize the time the dough is exposed without a coat of butter. Brittle phyllo dough is a pain to work with. Well thawed and moist phyllo dough is easy to work with.

4. Repeat 2 times. If you are using GF puff pastry, you only need one layer. Also if you are using gf puff pastry, prick the dough all around with a fork to ensure that the dough does not puff up while baking. I haven't tried using puff pastry, but I am assuming this will work.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

With the extra phyllo dough, I cut it up the same way and put some Parmesan cheese and garlic powder inside and baked it with the other empty shells. They came out great, just make sure you are generous with the cheese because it does shrink down quite a bit when you bake it.

Pomegranate Meringue

While the phyllo dough is prebaking, you'll have time to make the meringue. I used Christina Tosi's Fruity-Pebble Meringue recipe as a base and modified it.

Ingredients:

• 4 room temperature egg whites from large eggs (absolutely no egg yolks)
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1.5 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tarter
• 2-4 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses (depending on how pomegranatey and tart you want it. I started with 1 tablespoon, then 2, then 4. Maybe 3 is just right?)

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Whip the egg whites alone in a stand mixture until it becomes really fluffy with bubbles which should take about 2 minutes.

3. Add in the salt and cream of tarter. Whip for one minute more so the salt and cream of tarter dissolve.

 

4. Add in the sugar and beat for about 3-5 minutes until soft peaks form. Add the pomegranate molasses.

5. Whip until stiff peaks form.

6. Using a piping bag with a thick star tip, pipe in meringue.

7. Bake for 3 hours and let them cool completely in the pan.

Tempered Dark Chocolate

You can just use regular melted dark chocolate, however tempering chocolate leads to a more shiny/ crunchy product. Tempering can be very intimidating, but this video shows you a very easy way to do it (Thank you Bigger Bolder Baking!). You can also use milk chocolate as wepp.

• 4 ounces of chocolate of your choice (do not use chocolate chips)

1. Cut the chocolate finely with a knife and put 1 ounce of the cut chocolate in the fridge.

2. With the rest of the chocolate, melt it slowly in the microwave. Make sure you stir gently after each microwave interval. The final temperature of the chocolate should be between 114-118 degrees Fahrenheit if you are using dark chocolate.

3. Mix in a little bit of the the chocolate from the fridge at a time until the chocolate reaches a temperature of 88-89 degrees Fahrenheit if you are using dark chocolate.

4. Drizzle the chocolate on top of the Meringue à Trois. Do not be tempted to pour a lot of chocolate on top. The chocolate will overwhelm the taste, so a little goes a long way. I have pre-washed and dried strawberries on hand to use the leftover chocolate with.

Please let me know your experience cooking these.