Best Bites: Baked Alaska Citrus
By Donna Erickson
Baked Alaska Citrus
Greet the new year with a showy, wintry dessert your family will ooh and ahh over. It's a take on traditional Baked Alaska that you may have enjoyed at a fancy restaurant. This mini version is much easier, using fresh grapefruit in its own "bowl" instead of cake, but still keeps the wow factor with billowing warm meringue on top and chilly ice cream nestled inside.
PHOTO CREDIT: Donna Erickson
Timing is everything. Do some simple prep work beforehand. Then, as the table is being cleared after your main course, preheat the oven and whip the egg whites while your child spoons fruit into the grapefruit bowls and tops each one with ice cream and mounds of sweet meringue.
GRAPEFRUIT BAKED ALASKA
Makes 6 servings
4 grapefruits
6 scoops vanilla ice cream
3 egg whites (1/2 cup) at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
One hour or more before serving:
1. Prepare grapefruit by cutting evenly in half crosswise. Use a grapefruit knife to cut out fruit sections. Place in a bowl and drain juice (enjoy drinking it for a snack). If grapefruit is rather tart, add some sugar. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Remove and discard membranes in six of the halves to form hollow "bowls," and discard the two remaining grapefruit halves. (You are using 6 halves for the dessert, but the fruit from 4 grapefruits to have ample servings.)
3. Pre-scoop ice cream in six rounds on a tray lined with wax paper or plastic wrap. Place back in freezer.
15 minutes before serving:
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Ask one of your kids to spoon the refrigerated grapefruit pieces evenly into the six grapefruit "bowls" and set them on the baking sheet.
5. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy and foamy with an electric mixer set at low speed. Add the cream of tartar. Increase speed until soft peaks form. Start adding the sugar slowly, a tablespoon at a time. Let your kids watch as the mixture changes and enlarges, and glossy, stiff peaks form.
6. Set an ice-cream round in the center of each fruit-filled bowl. Immediately spoon the glossy, stiff meringue on top and seal edges around the cut grapefruit rim with a butter knife. Bake in the middle of the oven for 5 minutes, or until meringue is golden.
7. Serve immediately on dessert plates.
Tip: For a special occasion such as New Year's Eve, top each one with a birthday candle and light.
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Donna Erickson creates relationships and community through food and fun. Find more to nourish and delight you at www.donnaerickson.com.
(c) 2025 Donna Erickson
Distributed by King Features Synd.