Tom & Alissa

This pudding is from the Sweet Serendipity: Delicious Desserts & Devilish Dish cookbook (yep, that’s the restaurant in that John Cusack/Kate Beckinsale movie). I made it around Easter and it was so amazingly yummy; light, fluffy, sweet but not too sweet, and very coconutty - it’s a lot like whipped cream, but lighter and with coconut in it. This makes a huge amount, but you can halve it to make much less.

7 teaspoons (2 envelopes plus 1 teaspoon) unflavored powdered gelatin
1/2 cup milk, cold
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 cups heavy cream, cold
5 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flaked, sweetened coconut (was about one bag for me)

Combine gelatin with milk and heat it in microwave in 10-second bursts until the gelatin dissolves; do not boil. The mixture will appear to have curdled a little as the milk solids separate due to the heat. Allow it to cool a bit, but not so much that it re-solidifies.

In a clean medium bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the salt. (Note: I used my only blender, a Cuisinart “magic stick”, and it worked beautifully.) Slowly add 6 teaspoons of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until stiff, glossy peaks form.

In a large bowl, beat the cream and vanilla with the remaining confectioner’s sugar just until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the whipped cream. Don’t overmix - it’s okay to stop when there are still some streaks. Add the gelatin and fold just until incorporated. Fold in 2 1/2 cups of the cocounut.

Spoon the mixture into eight 1-cup ramekins. (Here the recipe notes: “If you have fresh coconut shells, use them in place of the ramekins” - I just left it in the bowl as I had neither.) Cover wiwth plastic wrap, then chill until completely set, at least two hours. Toast the remaining 1/2 cup coconut in a wide skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally. Top each pudding with a tablespoon of coconut. Serve chilled.