Blancmange

Blancmange after Edna Lewis

Instructions

(This clipping gives the ingredients within the numbered steps.)

1. Drop 1 cup almonds with skins into boiling water and let them stand for a few minutes off the heat. The almonds will then slip easily out of their skins.
2. Put the skinned almonds, about ¼ cup at a time, into a blender with ⅓ cup cold water each time (you will use 1⅓ cups water altogether) and grind the mixture until it is smooth. Transfer each batch to a bowl to make room for the next, but put everything back into the blender at the end and blend the purée one more time until it is as smooth as possible.
3. In a bowl combine ½ cup milk, ½ cup heavy cream, and ⅔ cup sugar (or less, to your taste: I use a very scant ⅔ cup). Add this to the almond purée, blend the mixture well, and strain it in batches through a very fine sieve into a bowl. Strain the mixture in batches again into a saucepan. (Again, smoothness is the aim: Don't press on the solids as you go, and discard them between batches.) There should be about 2 cups.
4. Dissolve 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin in ¼ cup cold water, add the mixture to the pan, and heat the mixture to just under boiling. Stir in ¼ teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla, pour the pudding into a 2-cup mold, and chill it, covered, overnight. Run a knife around the edge of the pudding, dip the mold in warm water for 10 seconds, and turn the pudding out onto a plate. Serve the pudding with fresh raspberries.

This blancmange will change forever the way you feel about anything made with gelatin. It is sublime. Besides, there are few things nicer or more convenient than a dessert that is child- and adult-friendly at the same time.