Fruit zephyr / raspberry or strawberry zefir
The berry zephyr tastes like summer – it's fruity, airy and light. And the best thing about this fruit zephyr recipe is that unlike the classic one, it's very easy, quick and sure to succeed. I made the popular Russian seafoam candy once with raspberries and once with strawberries. But you can also use other fruits of your choice. For example, how about zefir made with apricots, peaches or currants?
Servings 18 pieces
Equipment
- piping bag with star nozzle
Ingredients
- 70 g egg whites (from approx. 2 - 3 eggs)
- 70 g sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
for the berry syrup
- 150 g raspberry or strawberry puree fresh (from approx. 200 g raspberries or strawberries)
- 280 g sugar
- 100 ml water
- 9 g agar agar (preferably gel strength 900)
for dusting
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Separate egg whites from yolks, weigh 70 g egg whites and put them in a large mixing bowl.
- Add lemon juice to egg whites and set aside for now.
- Puree raspberries or strawberries and pass them through a sieve. Weigh 150 g of fruit puree and put it in a saucepan with a thick bottom.
- Add 280 g sugar, water and agar agar to the fruit puree in the saucepan and mix until homogeneous.
- Place the saucepan with the fruit mixture on the stove and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring.
- Once the fruit mixture boils, turn the heat down to low and simmer the berry syrup for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Beat parallel egg whites with lemon juice until foamy, then add 70 g sugar in batches and beat until stiff.
- Immediately after boiling, add the hot berry syrup to the beaten egg whites in a thin stream, without stopping to beat it further.
- After stirring the berry syrup into the beaten egg whites, continue beating it for about 2 minutes until it becomes stiff fruit whites.
- Fill the berry zephyr mixture quickly (The mixture sets very quickly!) into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle, pipe rosettes (two layers in my case) onto a sheet of baking paper and let them dry at room temperature for about 1 hour.
- Take two rosettes at a time and stick them together with the bottom side. Dust the berry zephyr with powdered sugar, shaking off any excess powdered sugar.
Notes
- Instead of raspberries or strawberries, any other berries and fruits will work for the recipe.
- Use good quality fresh agar agar with high gel strength (900 if possible). If the fruit zephyr does not set when dried, you can try using a larger amount of agar agar next time.
- Don't beat the zephyr mixture too long or it may set right in the mixing bowl. I had to beat it for 2 minutes. But the time depends on the power of the food processor or hand mixer.
- Pour the zephyr mixture into the piping bag as quickly as possible and pipe rosettes out of it just as quickly, as the mixture sets very quickly.
- Depending on the room temperature and humidity, the berry zephyr may take a little more or less than 1 hour to dry.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the berry zephyr at the top of the post.