apple snow with blackberry ripple

Faced with piles of blackberries from a recent walk and a bag of Bramley cooking apples from my Mum’s tree, I felt myself lean towards my default blackberry and apple crumble. But then I remembered the cloud-eating joy of apple snow and wondered if it was still as good as I remembered. It was. Better in fact as I added a blackberry ripple.

Apple snow is made by folding whipped egg whites with stewed apple/apple sauce. That’s it. I’ve added a blackberry sauce but you can make it without. You could even cheat and use a jar of apple sauce if you don’t want to cook your own apples. This is an old fashioned recipe and is so delightful that I think it deserves our attention again. It is so easy to make and also works for a whole host of modern dietary requirements since it is dairy, gluten and refined sugar free. But don’t let that put you off if you eat everything. It is one of the desserts you can serve up every night of the week and not feel like you’ve ODd on sugar. You could even have it for breakfast.

There are no precise measurements in the guide below. Don’t let that stress you out, just know that you can freestyle this a bit to suit your tastebuds and whatever number of people you’re feeding.

If you are a confident cook, this recipe doesn’t need much explaining, but if you’re not sure how to stew apples, make a berry sauce or whip egg whites then scroll down and I’ve explained each part in detail.

To make apple snow with blackberry ripple

1. Put 2 US cups (around 2 coffee cups in the UK) of cold apple sauce into a bowl and add 2 whipped egg whites.
2. Use a metal spoon to carefully fold them together, once they are nearly combined, add a couple of spoons of blackberry sauce and fold again, trying not to knock out too much air.
3. Scoop into serving glasses or bowls then drizzle the apple snow with a little more blackberry sauce.

This will survive in the fridge for a couple of days but it may lose some volume so it’s best made and eaten within a couple of hours. If you have leftovers you’ll be fine to eat them for a couple of days but they won’t be quite so airy.

Here’s how you make the three elements for the apple snow with blackberry ripple

Make the apple sauce (or cheat)

Use Bramley apples or cooking apples rather than dessert/eating apples as they cook into a fluffier sauce. Cooking apples are trickier to find in the US so you could cook regular dessert apples and then blend them to make a smoother sauce.

Peel and cook as many apples as you can face in one go as having a stash of apple sauce in the freezer is a total joy. Use the sauce with roast pork or as a crumble or pie filling. We have it with yoghurt or oats for breakfast too.

You could of course cheat and buy a jar or unsweetened apple sauce. In the US the Trader Joe’s unsweetened apple sauce is a great store cupboard standby. Apple sauce is trickier to buy in big jars in the UK – perhaps because so many of us have apple trees that we can get free fruit from.

You’ll need a couple of cups of the finished sauce for a four people serving of this dessert so you’d need to use around four fist sized cooking apples.

1. Peel, core and roughly slice the apples. The thinner you slice them, the faster they’ll cook. But if you’re a slow chopper it mat be easier to cut them thicker and cook them a few minutes longer – pick your battle.
2. Put the apple slices in a saucepan with a tiny amount of water – a couple of tablespoons will do it. Then put a lid on and cook on a medium heat, stirring and shaking occasionally for 10-15 minutes until the apples collapse into a mush.
3. Once they’re cooked, taste them and add sugar or maple syrup until they sweet enough for you. I prefer maple syrup but I don’t feel the need to add much as I like things quite tart.
4. Let the apple sauce cool and then freeze or keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Make the blackberry ripple sauce

1. Pick blackberries – you’ll need around 2 handfuls for this recipe.
2. Leave them to soak in a bowl of water for a couple of hours before throwing the water away. Put the drained berries into a saucepan and cook on a medium heat, using the back of a spoon to squish the berries as they cook. After about 5 minutes they will have collapsed and you’ll have a pan of lumpy juice.
3. Put a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the blackberries through it – you’ll need to use a spoon to push the juice through and will be left with the seeds and skin in the sieve. Be sure to scrape the underside of the sieve into the bowl before discarding the solids.

Keep the liquid in a jar in the fridge until needed. If you have leftover from this recipe you can use it to mix with Gin, soda and lemon juice or instead of kir with champagne. Dreamy.

Whip the egg white

2 egg whites will make enough for four small bowls of apple snow.

Separate an egg and whisk the egg whites until they are stiff. I use my electric whisk for this. Make sure the whisk and bowl are free of any grease otherwise the egg white won’t fluff up.