Healthy Floating Island

Hi everyone! I do hope you enjoyed yourself last night. I had a barbecue ~ It's officially 2014 now! I'm so excited for the new year! I plan to achieve more and make this year even better than the last. Thank you all for supporting me throughout 2013, it really means the world to me when you guys like and comment on my pictures, and even try my recipes out! Tag #healthiepanda if you do :) 

For the first breakfast for the year, I decided to have dessert. What's new? Haha. It's a French dessert called île flottante, œufs à la neige aka Floating Island. It consists of a poached meringue floating on crème anglaise (vanilla custard). The texture of the meringue is like marshmallow!

However I gave my my own twist to the custard by adding in some orange! Simplified the recipe by microwaving the meringue, inspired by sorted food. They're awesome so go check them out :) 

Oh and I know it's strange that I only use 1/2 an egg yolk, but if you use more it'll be way too eggy. Blech.

What you'll need 

Custard:

1/2 egg yolk

1/2 tbsp maple syrup

1/3 cup plain non fat no sugar yogurt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Juice from 1/4 orange

Meringue:

1 egg white

1/2 tbsp maple syrup 

Chopped walnuts (any nut is fine)

10g 85% dark chocolate 

How to

1. Put the egg white and a little squeeze of orange juice into a mixer.

2. Beat the custard ingredients together in a heat proof bowl. Boil some water in a sauce pan. Place the bowl over the mouth of the sauce pan. Cook for about 10min, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened. 

3. Beat egg white until soft peaks. Add in maple syrup slowly while beating until you get stiff peaks. Pour 1/2 a cm of water into a dish/bowl. Scoop a mound of the meringue onto the water. Microwave on high for 30s. Now when you poke the meringue it should be firm.

4. Microwave chocolate for 30s or a little more until it melts. But make sure not to burn it. 

5. Pour custard on to a plate, top with meringue, chopped nuts, drizzle melted chocolate over and garnish with a sprig of some herb. 

Yum!