KLP Walnut Dacquoises... (Martha Stewart Living)

Walnut Dacquoises with Honey-Walnut Ice Cream

In these individual desserts, disks of meringue are flavored with a mix of walnuts and cinnamon and then used to sandwich ice cream. A warm sauce of honey and cooked apples blends in with a scoop of vanilla as it melts.


Ingredients

Serves 8.

* FOR THE ICE CREAM
* 3 ounces chopped walnuts (1 cup)
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 quart vanilla ice cream or nondairy ice cream or sorbet, slightly softened
* FOR THE WALNUT MERINGUES
* 8 ounces chopped walnuts (2 1/2 cups)
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 4 large egg whites
* 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
* FOR THE APPLES
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter or nondairy margarine
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 3 Fuji apples, peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices


Directions

1. Make the ice cream: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss walnuts with honey and salt on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and spread evenly. Bake, stirring every 3 minutes, until nuts are toasted and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.
2. Fold honeyed walnuts into ice cream or sorbet in a bowl. Freeze until just firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days; soften slightly before serving.)
3. Make the meringues: Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees. Pulse walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor until nuts are finely ground.
4. With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Fold walnut mixture into whites in 2 additions.
5. Using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain pastry tip (such as Ateco #806), pipe walnut mixture into sixteen 2 1/2-inch rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart.
6. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until deep gold, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on a wire rack. (Meringues can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
7. Make the apples: Bring honey to a boil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook until amber and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add butter or margarine and salt, reduce heat to medium, and swirl pan until butter melts. Add apples, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
8. Assemble dacquoises: Place 1 meringue, flat side up, in each dish. Top with 1 scoop of ice cream and some of the apple slices. Drizzle with sauce from pan. Top with remaining meringue, shiny side up. Serve immediately.

First published

Copyright 2007 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.