Creamy junket is an English classic you don’t often see anymore, but junkets are so easy to make. I serve this version with macaroons, sandwiched together with a rich coffee ganache, to give a little texture and depth to the dessert. I sometimes serve these with crème fraîche on the side, too. Leftover macaroons will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days.
Serves 4 (makes about 40 filled macaroons)
600ml full-fat milk
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon rennet
2 teaspoons dark rum
1 nutmeg, to decorate
For the coffee macaroons
75g ground almonds
75g icing sugar
1 teaspoon ground instant coffee
80g egg whites (approximately 3 eggs’ worth)
125g caster sugar
30ml water
For the coffee ganache
100g milk chocolate, broken
100g double cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee
To make the coffee meringues, line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and leave to one side. Sift the ground almonds, icing sugar and instant coffee through a fine sieve into a bowl. Pour half of the egg whites on top and just fold together gently, then set aside.
Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and boil until it reaches to 118°C on an instant-read thermometer. Place the remaining egg whites in the bowl of a freestanding mixer and beat until soft peaks form. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the hot sugar mix and continue mixing until the meringue is cool. Fold the cooled meringue into the almond and coffee mix, trying not to knock too much air out. Put the mix into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe blobs the size of 10-pence pieces on to the baking sheet. Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to let the mix form a skin.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2. After the meringues have formed their skin, put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 10–15 minutes until they have a crisp shell on the outside, but are still sticky in the middle. Remove the meringues from the baking sheet and cool them on a wire rack. At this stage you can freeze them for up to a month.
To make the coffee ganache, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl that fits over a saucepan of simmering water without the bottom of the bowl touching the water and melt, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the pan and tip out the water. Bring the cream and instant coffee to the boil in the pan, then stir the coffee-flavoured cream into the melted chocolate. Pour the mix into a piping bag and leave to cool to a sticky piping consistency that isn’t too runny.
When the meringues are cool, stick them together in pairs, using the coffee ganache. Leave to one side if you are serving soon, or place in the fridge for up to a day.
About 2 hours before you want to serve, make the junket. Place the milk and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and heat until it reaches 37°C on an instant-read thermometer. Pour in the rennet and rum. Pass the junket through a fine sieve into your serving bowls and leave to set at room temperature, which will take about an hour. Freshly grate nutmeg over the tops and put into the fridge for 45 minutes.
Serve the bowls of junket with the macaroons.
Tom’s Tip
You’ll find small bottles of rennet in the baking section of supermarkets.