White Christmas Bombe Alaska From Highpoint Christmas
Recipe appears in
Prep time 4 hours (inc. freezer time)
Cook time 30 minutes
Serves 4-6
This one combines two of my favourite desserts: White Christmas and Bombe Alaska! Grab a great quality vanilla bean ice-cream from the shops, and use this as your White Christmas base to take the hassle out, so that you can focus on the centrepiece that is the torched meringue! An absolutely show-stopper.
Filling:
1L of vanilla ice cream, softened
3/4 cup chopped pistachio
3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries (or dried sour cherries)
Biscuit Base:
150gms digestive biscuits
75gms butter, melted
25gms shredded coconut
Good pinch of salt
Meringue:
6 egg whites
330gms caster sugar
You can use any sort of dry biscuit in your base from Nice to Marie.
Note: Start this one the day before serving so the ice cream and base have time to set.
Spray a 26x12cm sized loaf tin with oil and then line with 2 pieces of glad wrap that sit on top of each other.
In a medium sized bowl, stir together the softened ice cream, chopped pistachios and cranberries until evenly mixed through. Pour into your lined loaf tin and flatten down to give yourself an even bottom. Place in the freezer for 3-4 hours to let the ice cream set.
When the ice cream is almost set, make the biscuit bottom. Blend the digestives to a fine crumb and pour into a bowl. Stir in the melted butter, shredded coconut and salt, to combine. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and pack down the base into the top of the loaf tin. Take time in evening out the bottom again, and making sure the base has compacted together. Place back in the freezer overnight.
Before serving, make the meringue. Place sugar and egg whites in a heatproof metal bowl. Your heatproof bowl then needs to be place over a saucepan filled with approx. 5cms of water – just ensure that the heatproof bowl isn’t touching the water.
Place on a very gentle heat and slowly melt the sugar into the eggs, stirring together constantly with a whisk for 5 or so minutes. Before taking off the heat, ensure the sugar has melted by rubbing some of the mixture between your fingers – it shouldn’t feel at all gritty.
Add the whisk attachment to your stand mixer, pour in the snotty whites and beat on a medium to high heat for 10-15 minutes. The mix will become thick and glossy, and will be ready when your mixer bowl has cooled down to room temp.
Once the meringue is ready, take the bombe out of the freezer, flip out of the tin so that the biscuit base is on the bottom.
Add the meringue around the outside using an offset spatula or two (using two tools helps to swish the meringue off the spatula, giving you a more exuberant finish). Swish the meringue in upwards motions to create icy mountain peaks – hence the ‘Alaska’ component. Once finished, it’s time for the flambé moment. Gently torch the outside to your preference. You can either serve now or place back in the freezer until ready.
- If you don’t have a flambe torch, you don’t have to worry – the meringue is fully cooked through as it is.
- You can speed up the process by using a cardboard container of ice cream (such as “Connoisseur” or Maggie Beer’s as your ice cream mould. Pack the biscuit base down over the top of the ice cream, refreeze overnight, then cut away the container once you’re ready to scoop the meringue over the top.
