Dacquoise

Nutty Meringues with Fresh Berries and Crème pâtissière 

Ingredients for Meringue

  • 100g Egg Whites
  • 65g Sugar
  • ¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
  • 72g Ground Almonds
  • 67g Confectioners Sugar
  • 20g Flour
  • Toasted & chopped nuts (hazelnuts or almonds)

Ingredients for Crème pâtissière 

  • 555g    Milk                           
  • 70g  Sugar (mix with milk)                 
  • 50g      Egg Yolks                 
  • 70g      Eggs, whole            
  • 44g      Cornstarch             
  • 70g  Sugar  (mixed with cornstarch)                    
  • 33g      Butter                       
  • 8g Vanilla
  • Whipped Cream

To Make Meringues

  1. This is an optional step for making uniformly sized meringues:
    • Prepare parchment paper by drawing circles corresponding to pastry size.  Flip over paper so that the pencil marks are away from the meringue.
    • Affix parchment to baking sheets by ‘gluing’ each corner with a drop of meringue
  2. Preheat oven to 350o F
  3. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy then gradually add the sugar until glossy and stiff.
  4. Mix ground almonds, confectioners sugar and flour together. 
  5. Fold into whipped eggs whites
  6. Spoon or pipe meringues onto to parchment paper.
  7. Press chopped nuts into the surface of the meringues
  8. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes and leave meringues to cool in oven.
    • Meringues should be crisp all the way through.

To Make Crème Pâtissière

  1. In a heavy saucepan dissolve the sugar in the milk and bring just to a boil.
  2. With a whisk, beat the egg yolks and whole eggs in a stainless steel bowl.
  3. Sift the cornstarch and sugar into the eggs. Beat with the whisk until perfectly smooth
  4. Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating in the hot milk in a thin stream. Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  5. When the mixture comes to a boil, continue to stir constantly and boil for up to 2
    minutes, until the cream has no raw, starchy taste
  6. Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Mix until the butter is melted and
    completely blended in
  7. Pour out into a large shallow pan to cool. Cover the surface with plastic film to prevent a crust from forming.
  8. Cool and chill as quickly as possible.
  9. To lighten the custard filling, fold in whipped cream until it’s reached a light smooth consistency.
    • Quantity of whipped cream depends on preference.
    • I generally use about 100ml or half of a small container of 35% cream.

Assemble and Enjoy!

Meringues, filling and whipped cream can be prepared ahead of time. Cooled meringues should be stored in an airtight container. The pastry cream filling should be stored in the fridge. Additional whipped cream should be prepared just before serving.