Okay, I’ll fess up. I named it apple meringue surprise because it didn’t have a name. I thought about Apples Maureen but I figured that was a bit over the top and it IS a surprise that custard is on the bottom.
I love stewed apples. I love vanilla bean custard. I also love meringue on anything. Last week I saw a recipe from Fab Food 4 All in England who’d had some egg whites to use up and made meringue and used it to cover some stewed apples. I thought it looked pretty good but for me, it needed something.
That something was custard.
I peeled the apples (making sure to whiz the peel and core for the worms) and sliced them thickly and stewed them with a bit of lemon juice and water for 20 minutes. Then I added the sugar and cooked til soft. I used the apples in the fridge but a nice apple that doesn’t fall apart would be good for this.
While the apples were gently cooking, I made the custard. I cheated and used the Thermomix. 90C for 7 minutes on speed 4. While that was cooking I made the meringue from the egg whites left over from the ice cream mix I’d made earlier.
I took small ramekins and filled the bottom with custard, spooned over the cooled apples and topped with meringue. In the oven they went for 15 minutes and voilà! (or wa la as I saw on a blog earlier)
You’ll notice from the photos, there are differing amounts of meringue on each dessert. John doesn’t like much meringue at all. Rob is pretty average and I’m the one with it piled on. I figure if you’re going to have meringue, have enough that you don’t want any more for a while.
- 4 large apples, peeled and thickly sliced (5 medium)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 100 grams sugar
- 30 grams corn flour (cornstarch) (use gluten free if you need to)
- 500 grams full cream milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or scrape 1 vanilla bean
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg whites - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- ¾ cup of caster (superfine) sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Place apple slices in a saucepan with the lemon juice and water on low heat.
- Stir occasionally until the apple slices are nearly soft.
- Add sugar and finish cooking.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Add sugar and corn flour and whiz for a few seconds on speed 9.
- Add all other ingredients and cook at 90C for 7 minutes on speed 4.
- Pour into dishes or ramekins and set aside to cool. (they'll get a little skin that will hold up the apples.
- Place egg whites and pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and beat on low speed until frothy.
- Add cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until the egg whites turn opaque. It won't take long. You don't want to get to soft peak stage.
- While continuing to beat, add the caster sugar one teaspoon at a time.
- When half of the sugar has been incorporated, increase the mixer speed to high and slowly add the remaining sugar.
- Add vanilla extract and keep beating until the sugar has dissolved.
- When finished you should be able to pick up the beaters and turn them upside down and the meringue stands up.
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F
- Spoon the stewed apples over the vanilla custard
- Add the meringue over the apples and seal to the side of the dish. You can swirl or make peaks - whatever you like.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Chill before serving.
I think next time I’d use glass dishes so all the layers would show. I didn’t have enough matching custard cups so I used these.
G’day and HOW gorgeous your photo is enticing me right now Maureen, true!
I love Meringue but my success rate despite easy to do is less than 100%; know all the hints and tips too! 🙂
Cheers! Joanne
I’ve never had a problem with meringue. Maybe you should come up one day and we’ll do meringue. 🙂
This is a nice and simple dessert! Yum!!!
Thanks! My husband ate two of these and he doesn’t like dessert. 🙂
Maureen, I’m with you and would choose it with lots of meringue piled on! 😛
It was good too! I felt like Goldilocks when I said, “Baby meringue for you, Regular meringue for you and BIG meringue for me.” They both rolled their eyes.
AMAZING! I really love it….
What a perfect way to make apples shine!
great job!
Thanks, Sally!
I love how you individualized them for each person. I would go with minimal meringue myself but lots of custard and apples!
Okay, another one who likes John’s portion. 🙂 Thanks for coming by! I do like portioning the desserts out, especially if it makes more than we can eat in one sitting. Otherwise it looks ratty and then I end up tossing it out.
What a gorgeous layered dessert! I can never resist an apple dessert…this one included!
I love apples too. Those brown butter coyotas are wonderful. At first I thought you were taking cookies in a car and misspelled Toyotas. 🙂
We all have apple on our minds, it’s the perfect fall fruit. I recently made a Normandy Apple start that had a custard base (with brown butter almonds) and the combo was perfect. I too love meringue.
It IS the time of year for apple desserts up there. It’s not here but that’s what I wanted. 🙂
Great name and great dessert!
What a delicious dessert Maureen. I’m a big custard fan so you got my full attention with this one!
Thanks, Eileen!
These look like such delightful little fall desserts!
I know, Amy, but I must confess that I live in Australia and it’s Spring. I’m American too and when October hits, it’s apples, pumpkin and pecans. I can’t help myself.
What a great dessert. And we often do have extra egg whites, so this one is a keeper. I can never ay no to meringue. Love the wa la! 😉 And I don’t think Apples Maureen is over the top at all. 😉
LOL I think I have to be more creative to get ‘Anything Maureen’. I’ll keep working on it. 🙂
Oh I love a toasted meringue top on anything!
You’re a woman I like, Laura. 🙂
What a sweet, creative, pretty ‘Apple surprise’ !
I always copycat my Mom’s and grandma’s recipes, but I believe this time its gonna be YOU 🙂 Thanks for the surprisingly cute and easy fun recipe.
Hugs.
Aww.. I’m certainly old enough to have recipes copied. 🙂
Vanilla custard, apples and meringue … great combination, Maureen.
I ate the last one tonight. 🙂
LOVE IT! So creative and such a special little bundle of seasonal joy! Well – for my side of the world as the most gorgeous apples are just in from the fields over here. Love your ingenuity. And that you have included instructions for how to make this in the Thermomix for those of us that have them.
Big hug,
V
I figure most people without a Thermomix will buy their custard/pudding from a box. I would. 🙂 Maybe if more people see how easy it is to use, they’ll want one too, Valerie.
I like Apples Maureen. 🙂 This look great. I like the combination and I’ll take lots of meringue any day.
Well, looking at my dish, you know that meringue is my thing. 🙂
Apples + Vanilla = YUM
I know. Meringue was the added extra just for the photos. 🙂
What a delightful dessert. I definitely think it should be called Maureen’s Meringues. Love the custard with the stewed apples, this sounds like a keeper! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning! Louise, above, called it Apple Clouds. So it already had a name!
Maureen these are a whole new level of delicious, absolutely gorgeous 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks, Uru. I hope your testing is all complete!
Custard makes everything better, Maureen! 🙂 Great recipe, beautiful looking meringue too! x
I hadn’t thought of that before but you’re right. If something isn’t just right, plop some custard on top and it’s a winner every time.
OOh this looks so delicious, all those wonderful textures and flavours, a definite must make. GG
It will be interesting to see what you do with it. 🙂
My success rate with Meringue is pretty sketchy too. However, your Apple Clouds look so delightful, I may just need to give meringue a chance:) What kind of apples would you suggest, Maureen?
Thank you so much for sharing, Maureen…
Apple Clouds? Custard, apples and meringue has a name? Who knew?
I’m with you – the more meringue the better. These looks so nice – perfect for autumn too.
True, I suppose, but it’s Spring and I’m happy to eat it now. 🙂
I think this is a perfect name, and a lovely dish. It is certainly a surprising mix of ingredients / components to me, and yet I can see that it would work very well indeed!
Sadly, it’s all gone. John wants some more but I said, “I can’t blog version II!”
I think this is a perfect name, and a lovely dish. It is certainly a surprising mix of ingredients / components to me, and yet I can see that it would work very well indeed! 🙂
I will admit I wasn’t too sure when tasting it in my head. (it’s what we all do, right?) But after the first spoonful and the smile on John’s face, I knew it was good.
One word: YUM!
Two words. Thank you. 🙂
It’s my birthday today, if only my wife could roll one of these out for dessert. I’d be a happy boy.
Happy Birthday, David! Maybe she’ll surprise you. Fingers crossed.
You saw, ‘Wa La’ on a blog? Too funny! I love your ramekins, Maureen. And like you, I like a high pile of meringue. When my MIL makes a pavlova it’s half a cm high. She spreads that meringue so thin it’s like a pie crust. The way you pile it up is definitely preferable xx
LOL, yeah, I saw that on a blog and it took me a minute or two to figure out what she was trying to say with Wa La! John doesn’t like much meringue so his was barely smeared on for looks. 🙂
I like the name ‘Apples Maureen’, love apples and custard and the addition of meringue only adds to the yumminess! Bet those worms of yours enjoyed that pureed apple too! x
I haven’t been out to ask how the worms’ dining experience was but I’m sure they appreciated not having to chew so hard. 🙂
I think Apples Maureen is a perfect title to honor your delicious creation.
Have I told you lately that I love you? LOL 🙂
I have not put the burden of naming a dish into my routine; maybe a cocktail I’ll try and do but the food…not so much!
I love anything meringue therefore I love this. 🙂
I would love to see what you name new things you create. We should have an online get-together of new dishes with wacky names. 🙂
As the majority here, I’d go for big pile of meringue, you can never have too much of it in my humble opinion. Love love the photos Maureen 🙂
Aww coming from you, I’m humbled. How’s your new cookbook coming along?
I always think if a photo makes you wanna jump and grab the treat it’s doing it’s job perfectly and your’s a just that 😉
The book, if all things go well, should be out next week, hopefully…
Next week? Woo ! I’m sure it’s going to be marvelous!
I think you picked the perfect name for these little delights! The combination sounds oh so good! Love your ramekins!!
I thought the ramekins would be good until I realized that you couldn’t see the layers. It will be glass next time. 🙂
I’ve always wondered what to do with leftover egg whites- what a good idea! ‘Apple Surprise’- reminds me of Julia Childs’ Veau en Surprise dish that she did for her Cordon Bleu Final Exam- but her SURPRISE was the ingredients being placed inside a brown paper bag (not very elegant)!
Macarons, meringues, pavlova – I always find something. 🙂 We make our own ice cream (that’s the royal we) and there are always egg whites.
Oh, such a surprisingly yummy dessert. What a great combination and great for parties.
I hadn’t thought about it for parties – only for myself. 🙂 I’m shamed.
I love meringue on anything too Maureen. This sounds just like the type of dessert I would love and mine would be just like yours! The stewed apples sound like a rather nice treat on their own with a little cream. Hmm I think I know what I’m having for dessert tonight.
Nothing easier than stewed apples and it’s a favourite around here, especially with a bit of ice cream. 🙂
WOW! What a great treat! Custard and stewed, sweet apples sounds great and then you went and added the meringue. Fabulous! Great creation Maureen!
Thank you, ma’am!
Hi Maureen. Love the name…and like you, I love all of those delicious components. Loved seeing yours topped mile-high with meringue! Thank you for sharing. This looks too delicious!
Oh Monet, never ever TOO delicious. 🙂 I hope you and your little angel are having the time of your lives.
I love these Maureen, I’m with you the more meringue the better. You should have called them apples Maureen for sure. Hope you are feeling better x
I feel better today than I have for the past 8 weeks. I think I’m on the mend!
We love custard, it is a holiday treat that calls us home. What a delightful, simple dessert. Yum!
I love custard 365 days a year. I wear it on my hips. 🙂
Maureen, custard sounds like a wonderful surprise at the bottom of this delectable dessert. Count me in for extra meringue, too! Recipes with “surprise” in the name always make me smile (and a bit skeptical), but I’d have no qualms trying your creation. “Wa la” indeed. 😉
Oh MY Dear Maureen, I love, love, love meringue!!! If only I didn’t live a “million” miles away…..
This looks wonderful.
I hope that you are feeling better. I keep you in my prayers.
Blessings and a hug, Catherine xo
I’m glad I’m not alone in loving meringue. 🙂 I wish you were closer too, Catherine!
Wow, wow wow! So unique and I love this fancy version of custard +meringue! It’s a whole new level of custard, Maureen. Fabulous!
John has asked me to make it again. I told him he’d have to wait til it was time to make more ice cream so I’d have egg whites that needed to be used. 🙂
Never thought to add a meringue to an apple dessert… but it’s genius!
delicious
Maureen – these are beautiful!!! I LOVE stewed apples, but this really dresses them up!
this looks simple and delicious! great recipe 🙂
http://sprinkleandglitter.blogspot.com/
Wow, I just got this pingback to my blog 4 years on, that’s technology for you! Anyhow, I think this is a fabulous idea, thanks for linking back to my original recipe:-)