Apple snow

Anecdote

Mrs. Krishna Basu is my Mami-in-law. At twenty four I wore tight jeans and tight shirts. So when MIL told me to wear a saree in a train journey to Bangalore to impress this Mami, I was very admissibly peeved. Apprehensions in my heart, irritation in my mind and a placating husband in tow, the train arrived at Bangalore station with Mami at the platform, dressed in jeans and a Fab-India Kurta, gifts in hand and a warm hug in her plans.  

We spent every Sunday at her place for the next four years. She made pastries & pies, curries & cutlets, jams & jellies, and was quite the dessert queen. “Krish Chocolates”, retailed at Bangalore club were her delightful creations too. You could get apricot syrup in the middle of December in her larder and probably fresh mango pulp in the middle of January. I don’t live in Bangalore any more but I suspect that even in her early seventies, Mami’s kitchen is still the Julia Child’s kitchen that one would always want to raid.

Stuff that you must have:

Fresh cream
Vanilla Ice-cream
Nougat (can be replaced by Indian Chickies)
Vanilla extract or essence
Red Apples

What to do:

Whip about two soup sized bowls. Fold in vanilla ice-cream in equal proportion.  Whisk the two till the consistency is creamy. Separately ground about a cup of nougat to small rough bits, do not make it dusty, they should be crunchy. Add to the creamy mixture. Just before serving add in about three grated apples into the mix. You must only grate the apples just before serving the dessert else the grated apple will release unnecessary water.

How to serve:

You can serve the dish cold in separate dessert bowl. Dress it up with a slice of apple on the rim to create some drama.

Trivia:

Snow cream is also called a dessert that falls from the sky. It used to be a child's winter novelty, the stuff of snow days, reloading after a snowball fight and impatiently watching flakes accumulate in a bowl the mother had set outside. Making snow cream is simple: Mix together freshly fallen snow; milk, cream, or condensed milk; sugar; and vanilla. (Some recipes call for the addition of whole raw eggs, making the snow cream custardy.) This homemade cousin of slushes, shaved ice and sorbet might not dazzle the palate, but it is a low-budget, traditional treat of the Mid-Atlantic.
However cream based snow desserts, as this recipe, became quite fashionable in Europe way back in 15^th and 16^th century.