Anna Austen's Apple Snow

One can easily imagine the abundant fruit from Steventon’s gardens being used to create this light and airy dessert. Elizabeth Raffald offers a similar dish in her book, The Experienced English Housekeeper, and closes with this final suggestion, “Lay it upon a china dish, and heap it up as high as you can, and set round it green knots of paste, in imitation of Chinese rails; stick a sprig of myrtle in the middle of the dish, and serve it up. It is a pretty corner dish for a large table.”

Apple Snow Core and pare a lb of apples boil or steam them until tender and put them on a strainer to drain—add six oz of find loaf sugar and two whites of eggs whipt to a froth by itself—whip up the apples also separately them put altogether and whisk it up for a full hour until it looks like snow. Martha Lloyd

3-4 medium sized Apples

80-120 ml / 4-6 oz / ½-¾ cup White Sugar

Two Egg Whites or Meringue Powder equivalent

Peel and core your apples and place them in a saucepan with 1 cup of water. Boil covered over a medium heat for 15 – 20 minutes or until they are very soft. Turn them out into a strainer to drain. While your apples are boiling, whip two egg whites until stiff peaks form. Recently experts have begun to advise against consuming raw eggs. For this reason, meringue powder maybe used instead. Follow the instructions on the package for the equivalent of two egg whites. Once your apples have drained, place them in a bowl and whip them until somewhat smooth, like applesauce. Stir in your sugar—a little more or a little less depending on your taste—and fold in your egg whites. You may wish to whip up the mixture again once you’ve added all the ingredients. This creates a light and fluffy dessert, which does look like snow. For a decorative touch, pipe the mixture into your serving dishes using a large tipped icing bag. Serves 4  

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Excerpted from  Cooking with Jane Austen and Friends, by Laura Boyle.