Light and elegant dessert for a sticky summer day
Sometimes you just want something luxurious for dessert. I've spent the better part of the last year dieting and trying to bring my weight down. But there are some days when I want more than an orange to round off a meal.
This afternoon, I decided that I wanted one of those fancier desserts, but I still wanted to keep the fat level at bay.
I wanted to make something that looked beautiful, tasted sweet and just made me feel a little fancy.
Meringues are light and airy and oh so sweet. Sherbet has all the decadent sweetness of ice cream with none of that awful fat. Why not combine those two desserts into one fantastic snack for a rare treat.
The lightly browned meringue is the perfect bowl for the soft sweet sherbet. You could make this the centerpiece of a dessert party.
And remember, sherbet is totally fat free...there is no such thing as really fat free ice cream. Because it does have a lot of sugar (from the fruit, mostly) there are 220 calories in a cup (enough for four servings in this recipe). Meringues also contain no fat. They are also cholesterol free.
Sherbet in a Meringue Bowl
5 egg whites
10 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 cup of orange sherbet (or whatever flavor you want)
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Put the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a bowl that will be able to accommodate an eight-fold increase in the size of the ingredients.
- Mix on the highest speed of your electric mixer for about 5 minutes (or until there are stiff peaks in the meringue.
- Put down a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil on a baking pan.
- Make a thick circle of the airy egg whites on the paper.
- Plop tablespoons full of the meringue around the perimeter of the circle to form a shallow bowl.
- Bake the bowl for 15 minutes until it begins to crack ever so slightly.
- Turn the broiler on low and brown the edges of the outside peaks. (Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn.)
- Fill the middle with the sherbet.
Vegetarian.
