Elderflower Sabayon with Berries

This recipe was my excuse to finally break down and buy the coveted St. Germain liqueur that has been on my mind ever since Derek and I made incredible strawberry daiquiris in Vegas this summer using the liqueur as a sweetener of sorts. I've moved on to adding it to bubbly, a classic combination, or gin...vodka...and every time I order it at the bar, I am saying to myself "I need to buy this!!"

With a price tag of around $35 - I always had a good excuse NOT to cave in and buy it, this time I finally had a good excuse to take the plunge.

For a girl's night out dinner party, I was in charge of making the dessert. In order to ensure that it would in fact be a girl's night out rather than a girl's night in - I wanted to make a dessert that wouldn't leave me feeling heavy and ready for sleep. I had fruit on my mind and wanted to jazz it up to make it look like a dessert. Angels started singing when I came across this recipe. It was THE ONE.

Elderflower Sabayon with Berries
original recipe from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup St-Germain liqueur
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 
  
• 2 pounds mixed fresh berries (I used blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and plums)
• 1/3 cup mint leaves, chiffonade
• 1 T. sugar
• 1/8 cup St-Germain liqueur

Directions

1. In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk the egg yolks with the 1/4 cup of sugar, the liqueur and lemon juice over moderate heat until thick and pale and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the mixture registers 155°, about 7 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and let the sabayon cool.
2. In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until firm. Fold the whipped cream into the sabayon and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

In another bowl, toss the berries with the 1 taplespoon of sugar, mint, and St-Germain liqueur and let stand for 10 minutes. Spoon the berries into bowls, top with the sabayon and serve.

I served the dessert with homemade Lavender Sugar Crisps that were made from just a few simple ingredients: eggs, lavender infused sugar, oatmeal, lemon juice, flour (very little), salt...perhaps something else as well. They cooked up nice and crisp and were the perfect compliment to the cool, refreshing dessert.

Lavender Sugar Crisps

No pictures of the final product since I didn't want to be a food geek at the party - but it came out beautiful and was complimented by all. It was light, refreshing, but still impressive and attractive.

And now I have St. Germain at home - it worked out perfectly :)