New Year's Desserts: individual mont blancs

I decided that new year's should be decadent and I should make something new, so I decided to attempt to make a "Mont Blanc" a vaguely French, but very popular in Japan dessert that resembles a snow topped mountain. ("White Mountain.") I had brought some chestnut paste (actually Marron Paste) home with me from France in August, and this just seemed like the time to give it a try.

A Mont Blanc is basically a meringue topped with marron paste and egg white- and sugar-spiked whipped cream so that it looks like a mountain. It's a ton of work. I used a few different recipes to try and get it right. Here's one: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dessertrecipes/r/bldes135.htm

And here is what we ended up with...

some disasters (still tasted great!)


some success! (had to pop them right into the fridge though so that they would firm up a little. That whipped cream is real stiff from a beaten egg white, but still not super stable...)



For extra festiveness they were served either on snoopy xmas plates OR on a silver platter. f.a.n.c.y.

In the fridge...