Chestnut Pear Iced Vacherin: A Festive Glass Dessert
Frozen desserts are usually enjoyed to conclude a festive meal on a note of freshness and sweetness. To delight your guests with an original and very easy dessert on New Year's Eve, simply prepare sweet verrines. We invite you to discover the recipe for chestnut pear vacherin glacé assembled in a verrine.
Ingredients
Here are the necessary ingredients to prepare chestnut and pear vacherin glacé for 4 people:
450 ml of chestnut ice cream.
1 small can of pears in syrup.
6 small meringues.
Whipped cream from a spray can or homemade.
Note: If you have time to make homemade whipped cream, it's even better. Plan for 30 cl of full-fat whipping cream, one tablespoon of powdered sugar, and one vanilla pod or two packets of vanilla sugar.
Pear Preparation
The chestnut and pear iced vacherin is an express dessert for the holidays. You can assemble these verrines at the last minute, provided you have prepared the different components in advance.
1- Drain the pears in syrup.
2- Cut the half pears into slices about 1 cm wide, removing any hard parts and fibers.
3- Cut the slices into cubes and set aside.
Meringue Preparation
For this chestnut and pear vacherin glacé recipe, you can either buy a large meringue from a bakery or a bag of small meringues at the supermarket.
In any case, you will need to break the meringue with your hands to get meringue shards, as shown in the picture. These meringue shards will serve as the base for your sweet festive verrines.
Assembling sweet verrines
Sweet verrines are an excellent alternative to the traditional Yule log for New Year's Eve as they are both elegant and easy to prepare. They also have the advantage of offering individual portions, which allows for serving a lighter dessert at the end of a hearty meal.
Since this chestnut and pear iced vacherin is based on ice cream, it is essential to maintain the cold chain. In practice, this means that the ice cream should not melt during the assembly of the verrines.
To avoid this issue, place the ramekins or glasses in the freezer at least two hours in advance. They must be very cold at the time of assembly.
1- Place the chestnut ice cream in the refrigerator for 15 minutes so that it becomes more pliable, without melting.
2- Put a layer of crushed meringues in the chilled verrines.
3- Cover the meringue pieces with a layer of chestnut ice cream.
4- Add diced pear in syrup to the center of the verrine, then cover them with a thin layer of chestnut ice cream.
5- Smooth the surface of the verrine with an offset spatula.
Note: if your whipped cream is not ready at this stage of the recipe, reserve the verrines in the freezer to avoid breaking the cold chain.
Sweet verrines decor
To make homemade whipped cream, the simplest method is to use a kitchen siphon with a gas cartridge. You just need to prepare the mixture of cream, sugar, and vanilla in advance because the siphon must rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
If you don't have a whipped cream siphon, whip the cream with powdered sugar and vanilla in a very cold mixing bowl. Then pour it into a piping bag to create decorations for your verrines.
To top off the verrines of chestnut pear vacherin glacé, you can either pipe a pretty rosette or make small domes of whipped cream as shown in the photo. If you wish, you can sprinkle this festive dessert with pieces of candied chestnut or a bit of praline.
As soon as your sweet verrines are ready, serve them immediately.
