This week's
Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is
Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise, can be found on pages 293-295, and was chosen by Andrea of
Andrea in the Kitchen.
If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Andrea's site above and she will have it posted today.
Dacquoise, how very French! And, how very tasty. We've been doing nicely in the non-chocolate desserts in the past couple of months, and we all like pineapple, coconut, and white chocolate ganache, so I knew this would be hit around here with everyone.
This is not a quick dessert to make. There are many steps and there is a lot of waiting around time, but everything is actually very easy if you just follow each step as specified. It also helps to have Twitter buddies who are baking along with you so that when you panic about something they can assure you that you are doing the right things.
The meringues take 3 hours to bake in the oven...well if you measure correctly they do...I however somehow when I was figuring how to reduce the recipe in half, cut all the ingredients in half and then proceeded to figure half of 12 by 6 was 6 by 3 (which is actually half of half) and so my meringues were half size in quarter size rectangles, so they baked for 4.5 hours. Nonetheless, they turned out wonderfully crisp and just barely tan, and tasted absolutely wonderful. Plus there was the added benefit of having them be large and thick. Oh, they were good. Might do this again next time actually.
Between the layers of meringue are layers of white chocolate ganache and roasted pineapple wedges. Toasted coconut is pressed onto the sides, and since we love toasted coconut, we pressed a lot. Yep, a whole lot.
It chills in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours if you don't have guys hanging around wanting to "just cut it now so we can eat it." If you have guys like that around, chilling time can be cut to two hours without losing any impact on the rave reviews.
Would I make it again? Oh, yes, it's quite the dessert...and one only needs a very tiny portion to be satisfied and happy, which is always nice when a little dessert can go a long way. I love crisp and crunchy things and this was most wonderfully crisp and crunchy with a lot of ganache goodness to accompany it.
The guys ranked it in the top ten mostly because it didn't contain chocolate, but they did like the pineapple and coconut very much.
Next week's recipe was chosen by Carol of Mix,Mix...Stir, Stir, is Perfect Party Cake, and can be found on pages 250-252.
Click here and then on individual baker's blog at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways in which different people interpreted their quest. It is not too late to join us. If you would like to bake along, simply go to the TWD site and send an email through the link listed there. You can join in the weekly fun. See you there!