Leche Merengada (Colombian Meringue Milk)

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Milk infused with cinnamon and lemon zest, half frozen to a slush, then folded into meringue. It sits between a drink and an ice cream, and it needs no machine. Serves four.

Prep Time5

Cook Time0

Freezing1

Total Time1 5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: meringue milk

Servings:

Calories: 171kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

3 glasses milk
1 cinnamon stick, or ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated zest only: the white pith underneath turns it bitter
3 tablespoons sugar for the milk
Ground cinnamon, to decorate

For the meringue

2 egg whites at room temperature: they whip to more volume than cold ones
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 pinch salt

Instructions

Put the milk, the lemon zest, the cinnamon and the sugar in a pot and bring it to the boil over medium heat.
As soon as it boils, take it off the heat, cover the pot and leave it to infuse so the milk takes on the flavour of the lemon and cinnamon.
Once it is cold, put it in the freezer for about an hour to crystallise, stirring it with a fork now and then.
Put the egg whites and the pinch of salt in a bowl and start beating by hand with a fork until they foam.
Switch to a mixer and add the icing sugar a little at a time, beating until it holds stiff peaks.
Add the half-frozen milk to the meringue and fold it in gently with a spatula until it is evenly combined.
Serve, with ground cinnamon over the top.

Notes

Stirring the milk with a fork every twenty minutes while it freezes is what makes the texture: it breaks the ice into crystals instead of letting it set into a solid block. Fold the meringue in rather than stirring it, and stop as soon as it looks even. Every stroke past that point knocks out the air you just spent five minutes beating into it. Raw egg white is a consideration for anyone pregnant or elderly; pasteurised whites from a carton whip perfectly well. Serve it straight away, since it separates as it stands.

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