Taste the soft Oeufs a la neige, fluffy eggwhite snow (a small snowflake.) floating on a bed of velvety vanilla sauce. With a topping of crunchy almond praline. A delicious combination that will make you eat your fingers. An elegant dessert to enjoy!
Creamy snow eggs in vanilla sauce
Snow eggs, also known as oeufs à la neige, Île flottante, or Snow eggs), are an elegant French dessert that will make you dream away. A light eggwhite foam that melts on your tongue.
This snow egg floats in a bed of creamy vanilla sauce. And on top of that, a crunchy, nutty almond praline. You may think of a dream, but this delicious dessert is named Oeufs à la Neige, or snow eggs in English.
Easy French Dessert Recipe
They get their velvety texture by beating egg whites and then poaching them in warm milk. We then use the remaining egg yolks to make a custard. The creamy custard combines perfectly with the airy snow eggs.
And by combining this with crunchy almond praline, you get a perfect combination of texture and taste that you will love.
Try it yourself; the recipe is easy, and find out why the French love Oeufs à la Neige so much.
What do you need for Floating Islands?
You require the following ingredients to prepare this Oeufs à la Neige (Snow Eggs). You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
Ingredients Almond Praline
- Almond slivers: As the name says: slivered almond. It has a slightly sweet, nutty taste.
- Sugar and water: To make a caramel that you mix with the almond shavings.
Ingredients Snow Eggs
- Egg whites: Used to make snow eggs. Separate the yolk from the egg white. There should not be a trace of egg yolk; otherwise, you can no longer beat the egg white stiff.
- Salt: To balance the flavors.
- Sugar: For sweetening the egg white foam
- Milk: The snow eggs are gently poached in hot milk. Then use the same milk for the vanilla sauce.
Ingredients Vanilla sauce (Crème Anglaise)
- Egg yolks: Provide the color and bind the vanilla sauce.
- Salt: To balance the flavors.
- Sugar: For sweetening the crème anglaise.
- Milk: To achieve a sauce of the right thickness. This recipe uses the milk in which the snow eggs are poached.
- Vanilla Extract: For a hint of vanilla flavor. If you can get it, use natural vanilla extract. With this easy vanilla extract recipe, you can make it yourself (which is much cheaper than a small bottle from the store) and use it for a long time).
How to Prepare Snow Eggs Dessert Recipe
- Cover a baking tray with baking paper. In a saucepan, place the sugar with the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the almond shavings and let them caramelize slowly. When the almonds are golden brown, place them on the baking paper. Let cool to room temperature and chop into small pieces.
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until peaks appear. Then add the sugar spoon by spoon while you mix until the egg whites are stiff. Heat the milk in a saucepan until hot and reduce the heat to low. Remove the oval egg whites from the bowl with a tablespoon and carefully slide them into the hot milk (I always use two tablespoons). Poach for a minute and carefully turn the egg white foam over. After another minute, remove the snow egg from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Mix the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in a bowl with a whisk until you have an airy light yellow mixture. Very carefully pour in the hot milk of the oeufs à la neige while you keep stirring.
- Pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan, and while stirring with a wooden spoon, heat the sauce over low heat. The sauce is ready when you can take out the wooden spoon, draw a line with your finger, and the sauce does not immediately flow back.
Serve this wonderfully elegant dessert by dividing the vanilla sauce over the glasses (or plates). Place the snow egg in the sauce. Sprinkle some almond praline on top and serve immediately!
Tips, Substitutions, and Variations
- There is one crucial condition to beat the egg whites stiff: no fat should get to the egg whites; otherwise, they won't stiff anymore. That means that no egg yolk can get into the egg white (that's fat), not even a tiny drop. In addition, make sure that your mixing hooks and bowl are thoroughly washed with hot water and washing-up liquid before you use them and then dried thoroughly. This way, you ensure that everything is fat-free.
- When you turn the bowl upside down, the egg whites are stiff enough, and no egg whites run out.
- Instead of almond praline, you can also sprinkle grated coconut on top. And do you like decadent? Then sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
- Replace the vanilla sauce, with chocolate sauce, fruit compote, or salty caramel sauce, in which you let the eggs swim.
- A reminder: the caramelized sugar water from the almond praline is piping hot. Be careful that you don't get burned.
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
Servings: persons
Ingredients
Almond praline
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ cup Almond slivers
Snow eggs
- 2⅔ cups whole milk
- 6 egg whites size L
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
Vanilla sauce
- 6 egg yolks L
- ¾ cup sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 20 grams of sugar replaced by 20 g vanilla sugar
Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic
Instructions
Almond Praline
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat over medium heat.⅓ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons water
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the almonds and, while stirring, let it slowly caramelize.½ cup Almond slivers
- When the syrup is golden brown, turn off the heat and pour the almonds on the parchment paper.
- Let it cool, then break into small pieces.
Snow eggs
- Put the milk in a pan and heat until hot. When the milk boils, turn the heat to low and let it simmer.2⅔ cups whole milk
- Place the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix at medium speed.6 egg whites, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- When you see that a few peaks appear, gradually add the sugar (spoon by spoon).¾ cup sugar
- Mix until the egg whites are stiffened (and when you hold the bowl upside down, no egg white drips).
- With two spoons, make ovals of egg white and gently let the oval slide into the milk.
- Cook for 1 minute and then turn the egg whites. Continue to poach for one minute, then gently remove the meringue with a slotted spoon from the pan. Store on a plate.
- Repeat until all the egg whites are poached. Note that you won't poach a lot of snow eggs at the same time in a pan, work in batches; otherwise, they'll stick.
- Don't discard the milk because you need it for the vanilla sauce
Vanilla sauce
- Mix the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a bowl with a whisk until you are left with a pale yellow mixture.6 egg yolks, ¾ cup sugar, ⅛ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour the hot milk slowly while stirring with the egg yolks.
- Pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan and cook over low heat while stirring with a wooden spoon. The vanilla sauce should never boil (in that case, you get lumps)
- The sauce is ready when your finger makes a stripe across the wooden spoon pull, and you still see it after 10 seconds.
Finish
- Divide the creme Anglaise into six glasses or plates.
- Put the eggwhites on top.
- Sprinkle some almond praline over the oeufs à la neige.
Notes
1. Vanilla extract: If you can get it, use natural vanilla extract. With this vanilla extract recipe, you can make it yourself (which is much cheaper than a small bottle from the store, and you can use it for a long time). If you don't have vanilla extract, replace it with vanilla sugar.
2. Tips Egg whites
- To beat the egg whites stiff, there is one crucial condition: no fat should get to the egg whites. Otherwise, they won't get stiff anymore. That means that no egg yolk can get into the egg white (that's fat), not even a tiny drop.
- In addition, make sure that your mixing hooks and bowl are thoroughly washed with hot water and washing-up liquid before you use them and then dried thoroughly. This way, you ensure that everything is fat-free.
- When you turn the bowl upside down, the egg whites are stiff enough, and no egg whites run out.
- Instead of almond praline, you can also sprinkle grated coconut on top. And do you like decadent? Then sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
- Instead of vanilla sauce, you can also make a chocolate sauce, fruit compote, or salty caramel sauce, in which you let the eggs swim.
- Snow eggs: Make them in advance (up to a day) and place them on a flat plate or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.
- Vanilla sauce: You can make the vanilla sauce up to two days in advance and store it covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. Heat slowly while stirring in a saucepan or the microwave.
- Almond praline: This can be made up to two days in advance and kept at room temperature in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Calories: 433kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.002g | Cholesterol: 208mg | Sodium: 200mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 68g | Vitamin A: 438IU | Iron: 1mg
bekkitae says
Lovely photography! You had the right idea with meringue/custard ratio. I think drowning ours made it far too sweet for my palate.
andrea says
Thank you Bekkitae. I love sweet, but it can be overwhelmed. This way it certainly wasn't.