How to Make Blancmange

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One of Martha’s all-time favorite gelatin desserts, blancmange is like a large-format panna cotta. In French, ‘blanc’ means white and ‘manger’ means to eat. Martha ups the ante by making hers with cinnamon-steeped almond milk and just the right amount of cream.

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Recipe Summary

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread almonds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Heat 4 cups whole milk, 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan over medium until hot but not bubbling. Stir in almonds. Transfer to a liquid-measuring cup and let steep, covered, in refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days. (The longer the mixture steeps, the more flavor the blancmange will have.)

Fill a 4- to 4 1/2-cup or two 2- to 2 1/2-cup molds with ice water. Rinse a large piece of heavy-duty cheesecloth (if thin, use a double layer) in hot water; wring as dry as possible. Place a sieve over a bowl, line sieve with prepared cheesecloth, and pour in almond mixture. Let almond milk drip through 30 minutes, then carefully gather up ends of cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Almond milk should be smooth; if any pieces of almond pass through, strain through a very fine sieve. Discard cinnamon sticks. Pour almond milk into a large liquid-measuring cup (you should have at least 3 cups) and add enough of the remaining 1 cup whole milk to make 4 cups liquid.

In a medium saucepan, combine cream and 1 cup almond milk. Sprinkle gelatin over top; let stand until softened, 5 minutes. Heat almond-milk mixture over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until gelatin is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir gelatin mixture into remaining almond milk in measuring cup. Remove ice water from mold but do not dry mold (this will make the blancmange easier to unmold later). Strain almond-milk mixture through a sieve into mold to fill. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until firm, about 6 hours or overnight.

To unmold, quickly dip mold into a hot-water bath to loosen pudding from mold, or use a hot wet towel that has been wrung out. Place a serving platter over mold and quickly invert. Jiggle to loosen; remove mold. Serve with currants, if desired.

Chocolate pudding refined [Photograph: Yvonne Ruperti]

When un-molded, this creamy egg-less chocolate pudding has a barely set consistency. Served plated with cream and fresh berries, it makes an outstanding dinner party dessert.

Note: After filling the ramekins, cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

What’s New On Serious Eats

• Yield: serves 6
• Active time: 5 minutes
• Total time: 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Whipped cream for garnish
• Fresh sweet cherries for garnish

Directions

In small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and cocoa powder; set aside.

In medium saucepan, combine the milk, cornstarch mixture, and chocolate. Heat over medium heat, gently whisking constantly, until mixture comes to boil.

Whisk in vanilla and pour into ramekins. Chill until set, at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream and fresh cherries.

Special Equipment

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Yvonne Ruperti is a food writer, recipe developer, former bakery owner, and author of the new cookbook One Bowl Baking: Simple From Scratch Recipes for Delicious Desserts (Running Press, October 2013), and available at Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Powell’s, The Book Depository. Watch her culinary stylings on the America’s Test Kitchen television show. Follow her Chocoholic, Chicken Dinners, Singapore Stories and One Bowl Baking columns on Serious Eats. Follow Yvonne on Twitter as she explores Singapore.

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Blancmange. Poor, maligned blancmange. The slimy, over-set staple of children’s birthday parties and school dinners, destined to be pushed around a plate and loathed for life. Blancmange has become shorthand for an age of blandness: the dessert equivalent of Chris de Burgh. Even its name sounds heavy on the English tongue.

But we do the blancmange a grave disservice. It is, after all, essentially a panna cotta. Shouldn’t a milk jelly by any other name taste as sweet? It is slightly lighter than its Italian counterpart, yes, but that’s all to its credit.

So why the bad reputation? The culprit, I think, is packet blancmange. No amount of careful preparation can mask the cornflour. In theory, English blancmange is set with cornflour and French with gelatine. But we’ve used all kinds of setting agents, from boiled chicken to ground almonds (there’s been plenty of time to experiment: this dish is name-checked in the Canter-bury Tales). Using gelatine prevents the dreaded cornflour sliminess; instead, the blancmange melts slowly in the mouth, thanks to its near body-temperature melting point.

These days, talk of blancmange elicits blank faces; a whole generation have missed out. I didn’t taste my first until 2009. It was the day before my 22nd birthday and I’d just moved to London. We sat on rickety chairs watching a TV that had seen better days. My flatmate darted up and down tending to a steaming pot on the stove. I didn’t think much about it until the next morning, when, on the kitchen table, I found a vase of roses, and a gently swaying work of art: an ivory jelly infused with saffron and rose. If this was the beginning of being a grown-up, it was as delicious as it was surprising.

Because here’s the thing: blancmange, despite appearances, is terribly grown-up. It never really belonged at children’s parties. It’s more subtle than its more lurid cousin, the jelly. That doesn’t mean it can’t pack a flavour punch. In fact, its creaminess perfectly tempers strong, aromatic, grown-up flavours. Flavours that would otherwise be soapy, like rose or earl grey, become sweetly floral. Those that tend to overpower, like chai, saffron or cardamom, become delicate. Black pepper or coffee are mellowed and smoothed. I make it one afternoon in my kitchen, as the sun shines. It slips effortlessly out of its mould and stands proudly, its wobble more understated than the brash jelly jiggle. This is what Nigella might call an ‘inner-thigh wobble’. My spoon sinks into it smoothly. It is perfect — I dance around the kitchen with delight.

And joy of joys, it’s so simple to make. For this version, I choose bold flavours: saffron and cardamom, sweetened with dark muscovado sugar. It is the easiest and most pleasing pudding I have made in an age.

Saffron, cardamom and muscovado blancmange

1. Pour the cream and milk into a pan. Add the saffron and cardamom, bring very slowly to just under the boil. As soon as bubbles rise, whip the pan off the heat, cover with a tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.

2. Add the gelatine and sugar to your infused milk and cream. Heat slowly, stirring continuously, until the gelatine has almost all dissolved. Don’t let the mixture boil, and don’t worry about any lumps.

3. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a clean container. Gently bang the container two or three times to release any trapped air bubbles.

4. Decant the mixture gently into your mould(s). Place in the fridge covered with kitchen roll or a clean cloth and chill for at least four hours.

5. Run the outside of the mould under a warm tap for 10–15 seconds, but don’t dribble water on the blancmange. Remove any coverings or lids, place a plate over the base of the mould and, in one confident movement, invert. If necessary, give the mould a bit of a jiggle; the blancmange should slip out.

6. Serve with soft seasonal fruit, cooked long enough to be sticky and slightly caramelised. Peaches, cherries and apricots are coming into season: I would roast them in honey, with a splash of pudding wine, a dab of butter, and just a touch of vanilla or cinnamon.

EQUIPMENT

SIEVE
MEDIUM-SIZED PAN
JELLY MOULD
1 large (800ml) jelly mould or six individual (130ml) moulds

INGREDIENTS

600ml MILK
200ml DOUBLE CREAM
HALF-TSP SAFFRON
QUARTER-TSP GROUND CARDAMOM
20g GRLATINE (OR 8 LEAVES)
70g DARK BROWN MUSCOVADO SUGAR
If you can’t get hold of ground cardamom, use 8 lightly crushed green cardamom pods

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Based on a retro classic, this blancmange is a far cry from its wobbly 1970s’ reputation – it’s a light and creamy raspberry and almond dessert, here served with buttery langues de chat biscuits.

• Ingredients
• Method

Ingredients

For the blancmange:

8 gelatine leaves

50ml raspberry liqueur

300ml whole milk

150g caster sugar

40g ground almonds

1 tsp almond extract

450ml double cream

crystallised rose petals, to decorate

For the langues de chat:

40g unsalted butter, softened

40g icing sugar

¼ tsp almond extract

1 large egg white

40g plain flour

150g good-quality white chocolate, melted

green cocoa butter

Equipment

You will also need:

1.4-litre ring or jelly mould

medium piping bag

9mm round nozzle

baking sheet lined with baking paper

small disposable piping bag

medium star nozzle

Buy the book

This is a recipe from The Great British Bake Off: Get Baking for Friends and Family. For more like it, buy the book.

Method

Step 1
Soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of chilled water for 5 minutes.

Step 2
Tip the raspberries into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to a fine purée. Pass through a sieve into a clean bowl, discarding the pips, then stir in the raspberry liqueur.

Step 3
Mix the cornflour with a little of the milk in a medium pan. Add the remaining milk, along with the sugar and ground almonds. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 3–5 minutes, to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat.

Step 4
Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatine leaves, then add them to the pan, stirring continuously until dissolved. Add the almond extract.

Step 5
Stir in 300ml of the double cream and all the raspberry purée, combine thoroughly, then pour into the mould. Leave to set for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Step 6
To make the langues de chat, beat the butter and icing sugar until pale and smooth. Stir in the almond extract. Whisk the egg white with a fork to break it up, then gradually beat it into the mixture.

Step 7
Sift the flour with the salt over the top of the mixture, then fold in. Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 9mm round nozzle. Pipe 12 fingers, each 8cm long, onto the baking sheet, leaving a 3.5cm space between each biscuit.

Step 8
Tap the baking sheet on the underside to release any air bubbles in the dough, then chill for 15 minutes, until the dough is firm to the touch. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.

Step 9
Bake the biscuits for 8–10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and pale in the middle. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 10
Spoon about 50g of the melted white chocolate into a small disposable piping bag and set aside.

Step 11
Gently melt the green cocoa butter in the microwave or by placing it in a bowl stood in a jug of hot water. Add a small amount of green cocoa butter to the remaining melted chocolate to colour it mint green.

Step 12
Dip 1 cooled langue de chat into the chocolate, lengthways on the diagonal. Allow the excess to run off, then place on a sheet of baking paper to set. Repeat with the remaining biscuits, until all 12 biscuits are half-coated in chocolate.

Step 13
Snip the end of the piping bag and drizzle the white chocolate in lines from side to side across the langues de chat. Leave to set.

Step 14
To serve, lightly whip the remaining 150ml of cream to soft peaks, then spoon into a medium piping bag fitted with a medium star nozzle.

Step 15
Remove the mould from the fridge and quickly dip it into a bowl of hot water to loosen the blancmange. Invert the mould onto a serving plate to turn out the blancmange.

Step 16
Pipe the cream around the base of the blancmange, then decorate with crystallised rose petals. Serve immediately with the langues de chat on the side.

Set creamy homemade jelly in a retro rabbit mould and present on a playful lime ‘grass’ – a kids’ party classic

Nutrition: per serving

Highlight	Nutrient	Unit
kcal	286
fat	15 g
saturates	9.2 g
carbs	32 g
sugars	31 g
fibre	0 g
protein	5.6 g
low in	salt	0.1 g

Ingredients

• 135g tablet lime jelly
• 4 sheets leaf gelatine (6g)
• 15g cornflour
• 250ml full fat milk
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250ml single cream
• 200g white chocolate , chopped

Method

• STEP 1

Break the lime jelly into cubes and then dissolve in 400ml boiling water. Pour into a small bowl and when cool place in the fridge to set.

Place the leaf gelatine in a small bowl of cold water and leave to soften.

Put the cornflour into a small saucepan and add a little of the milk and mix until smooth. Stir in the remaining milk, sugar, vanilla extract and cream. Place over a medium heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring continuously.

Remove the sauce from the heat. Remove the softened gelatine from the water and add to the sauce, stirring until it has dissolved. Add the white chocolate and stir until it has melted.

Pour the mixture into a 600–700ml jelly mould. When cool, place in the fridge to set.

To remove the blancmange, gently loosen the edge from the mould. Then lower the mould into a bowl of very hot water and hold for a few seconds. (Glass and ceramic moulds will need longer than plastic, and metal moulds need very little time.) Lift out and place the serving dish over the mould. Quickly invert and give a couple of gentle shakes until you feel the blancmange coming away.

Break up the lime jelly with a fork and spoon around the bunny blancmange to serve.

Like I learnt in high school

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Ingredients

1. • 3-4 level tbsps (60 ml) cornflour
   • 568 ml (1 pint) milk
   • 2 oz (50 g) melted chocolate (or 4 tblspn of cocoa powder)
   • 3 tbsp (45 ml) sugar
   • 1 tspn vanilla

Preparation

1. 1. 1. Blend the cornflour to a smooth paste with 30 ml (2 tbsp) of the milk. 2. Boil the remaining milk and add itto the paste, stirring well. 3. Return the mixture to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add sugar and chocolate to taste. 4. Pour into a 600 ml (1 pint) dampened jelly mould and leave for several hours until set. Turn out to serve with fresh fruit.

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Soft silken Tofu Pudding (Blancmange) dessert made with tofu, honey, gelatin, and soy milk. Topped with a sweet-tart strawberry sauce, this pudding makes a delightful low-caloric dessert.

Growing up in Japan, when I go the dessert and snack aisle in the supermarket, there are endless choices to pick from. One of my favorite dessert is pudding or flan. The smooth silky texture topped with a bit of caramel sauce is irresistible. Besides the traditional pudding that uses eggs and milk, the Japanese also make pudding out of tofu. Today I want to introduce you to this delicious and delicate Tofu Pudding!

Tofu is a pretty common ingredient in Japan, enjoyed by itself or used in savory and sweet dishes. If you haven’t tried tofu dessert, I hope today’s recipe will help you discover a new way to enjoy nutritious tofu!

Watch How To Make Tofu Pudding (Blancmange) 豆腐プリン（ブラマンジェ）の作り方

Melt in your mouth silky Tofu Pudding (Blancmange) made with tofu, soy milk, top with a delightful strawberry sauce.

What is Tofu Pudding ?

Tofu pudding, or sometimes called Tofu Blancmange, has a silky melt-in-your-mouth texture. It’s made with simple ingredients: silken tofu, soy milk, almond extract, and a sweetener such as honey. I recommend to make a simple fruit sauce to go with the tofu pudding to improve both the visual and the taste of the dish. For today’s recipe, I made a delightful strawberry sauce, but feel free to try your own sauce and let me know what works!

What kind of tofu to use for Tofu Pudding?

To get the best texture for this dessert, please use silken tofu. Silken tofu is undrained, unpressed tofu that contains the highest moisture content of all fresh tofu. Silken tofu is available in several consistencies, including “soft”, “light firm” and “firm”, but all silken tofu is more delicate than regular firm tofu. For this recipe, I’ve used Mori-Nu silken tofu .

I recently saw Mori-Nu tofu in the vegetarian section of an American grocery store near my house and I was intrigued, because it’s by Morinaga, a Japanese food company with over 110 years of history. It’s unusual to see their products on the shelf. I did a bit of research on the product and learned that Morinaga Milk Industry Inc. developed the package technology where tofu can be stored without refrigeration over 40 years ago. In addition to no refrigeration required, it has a long shelf life without preservatives .

Knowing this, I now always keep a few packages of Mori-Nu silken tofu in my kitchen pantry so that I can make tofu miso soup anytime.

Plus, all of Mori-Nu silken tofu is made with non-GMO soy. Tofu is a great source of protein and is a versatile, reliable substitute for dairy and eggs. It is also gluten free so you can use in your gluten free recipes.

If you want to test out their products, make sure to enter the sweepstakes hosted by Mori-Nu at the end of the recipe.

Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for the FREE Just One Cookbook newsletter delivered to your inbox! And stay in touch on Facebook , Google+ , Pinterest , and Instagram for all the latest updates. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, that was certainly the case when I gave blancmange a go. Blancmange has always been one of my favourite deserts, it always reminds me of being little. I can’t remember where I had it, but I have a vague childhood memory of eating blancmange and literally thinking it was the best thing ever. A few years ago while feeling nostalgic I picked up a kit to make one from the supermarket. I don’t know what particularly was wrong with it, but it was literally disgusting and up until last week I had been put off trying it again for life!

While looking for vintage recipes I came across quite a few blancmange recipes, but I was really put off by the idea of using cornflour as is traditionally used as I don’t think it tastes very nice. I them came across this recipe which I adapted to make my own raspberry version. This uses ground almonds to thicken out the mix and it’s absolutely delicious.

As you’ll see from my pictures I made a big mistake on my first attempt, but the actual recipe is perfection so don’t be put off!

Ingredients:

300ml milk (I actually used skimmed as that’s what I had in the fridge at the time)

600g raspberries (I used frozen ones from Tesco as they are much cheaper)

100g caster sugar

50g ground almonds

5 gelatine leaves

300ml double cream

whipped cream to decorate (if you want to!)

Method:

1. Blend your raspberries in a food processor and then push through a sieve to form a smooth puree.

2. Bring your milk to the boil and add your sugar and ground almonds. Let it simmer for 5 minutes before removing from the heat.

3. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. Before squeezing out the excess water and dissolving them into the warm milk mixture.

4. Add the cream and raspberry puree to the mixture and stir until completely mixed.

5. Pour into your moulds and leave to set over night.

6. Turn out onto a plate and serve with cream.

At the turning out stage I made a horrible mistake. To loosen the blancmange from the mould you need to dip it into hot water for a few seconds. Then turn it onto a plate. I got distracted and left it in the hot water too long and ended up melting it! So my first attempt in my pretty glass jelly mould was a disaster! Luckily I had made two more, in my heart-shaped bowls from tiger, so I saved the situation by using one of these. And at least it looks great for valentines! We ate the melted one anyway and it tasted delicious, but it definitely wasn’t so good for blog photos! I probably would have made the whole thing again, but sometimes too much blancmange can be a bad thing!

The heart shaped ones came out perfectly as I only popped them in the warm water for a few seconds and they all tasted absolutely amazing however they looked!

some ‘milk in a can’ apparently!

Would it be evaporated or condensed do you think?

evap, but It isn’t blancmange

Its evap and the dessert is called “Jelly whip”

It is absolutely delish!

Use normal milk for milk jelly.Yumm!

oh is it just milky jelly?

I’ve never had blamange, just thought it sounded fun to do with the kids!

Does she work in an old people’s home, perchance?

she said to use any flavour jelly.. but I’d imagine strawberry or raspberry would be best? Can’t see a citrus going down too well.

If you really whip the evap, then stir in (cooled) jelly and stir – leave to set

Blancmange is a flavoured custard (If I am remembering right)

colditz – no lol she’s a CM like me

Blancmange is cornflour, milk, flavouring and colours – ie lemon juice, or strawberries whizzed up

Most people don’t really like it

You can get packet mixes of blancmange but dread to think what’s in them. I used to make milk jelly using strawberry or blackcurrant and normal milk – the kids loved it.

melt jelly in 1/4 to 1/2 pint of boiling water, then whisk in can of evap milk. – my mum would tell you that the whisking is very important!

I haven’t had this since I was a child. yummy yummy. My mum used to make it, bottom half normal jelly, top half made with tinned milk..

Agree not blancmange, as don’t need tinned milk, although equally yummy.

yes we used to call it fluff

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Description

This section is from the book “Three Meals A Day”, by Maud C. Cooke. Also available from Amazon: Three Meals a Day.

Rules used in the cooking of custards will be found applicable to the preparation of blancmange.

Blanc-mange is -made of a great variety of materials such as arrow-root, gelatine, farina, corn-starch, etc., and may be served with cream, or various sauces, preserves, or diluted fruit jellies. Whipped cream is a very delicious accompaniment. Boiled custard is preferred as sauce by many, Cream and sugar with plum jelly is extra nice. Plum jelly is always nice for blanc-mange or cornstarch.

Molds of various kinds are used. One of the most ornamental is a grooved cake tin with a tube in the center. Whipped cream or ornamental froth can be filled in this opening and heaped around the outer edge. Molds where gelatine is used should be dipped in hot water before using and not wiped, that the contents may turn out easily. For corn-starch this is not necessary.

Ornamental Froth For Blanc-Mange Or Creams

Beat the whites of four eggs to a froth with 1 tablespoonful of sugar. Stir in 1/2 pound of preserved raspberries, strawberries or cranberries. Beat well together and turn around blanc-mange or creams.

Gelatine Blanc-Mange

1 quart of rich milk or cream.

1 ounce gelatine dissolved in enough warm water to cover it. 1/3 cupful white sugar.

Put over the fire and stir until thoroughly mixed and melted. Let come to boiling point. Flavor with 1 teaspoonful lemon or vanilla. Turn in a bowl and stir until almost cold. Pour into a mold and put in a cool place. Turn from this and serve with any blanc-mange dressing.

Arrow-Root Blanc-Mange

2 tablespoonful arrow-root. 2 eggs. 1 quart sweet milk.

Sweeten the milk to taste, scald and stir in the eggs and arrow-root beaten together, flavor with orange syrup, vanilla or lemon. Let boil up a minute stirring continually. Pour into a mold or molds to cool. Serve with any of the sauces given for Blanc-mange.

Isin-Glass Blanc-Mange

1 ounce white isin-glass, soaked an hour or two in milk enough to cover. Scald 1 quart of milk and add the soaked isin-glass, stir constantly until it is dissolved; a double boiler, or its substitute, a pail set in a kettle of boiling water, should he used. Sweeten to the taste with loaf sugar and flavor with stick cinnamon, broken, or a vanilla bean; these can be removed; if extracts are used add when the blanc-mange is partly cool. Let boil up, stirring constantly. Pour into molds and set away to harden, or use a grooved cake pan with a tube in the center for a mold. Serve with cream and sugar and plum jelly, or with fruit juice, etc. – See hints at head of chapter.

Calf’s Foot Blanc-Mange

Boil 4 feet, previously cleaned. in 5 quarts of water without any salt. When the liquor is reduced to 1 quart, strain and mix with 1 quart milk, flavor with stick of cinnamon, broken, or a vanilla bean. Boil in ten minutes. Sweeten to the taste with white sugar, remove the spice and fill the molds. Set away to cool. Nutritious for invalids.

2 – Didn’t like it

A cookbook published in 1669 called The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened inspired Dennis Leary to make blancmange, a creamy gelatin pudding that translates as “white food.” Leary pairs this cool, almond-flavored, panna cotta-like dessert with white nectarines for a clean, monochromatic look. More Fruit Desserts

Gallery

Recipe Summary

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly oil six 4-ounce ramekins. On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the almonds until golden, about 7 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

In a small saucepan, warm the half-and-half. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Pour the mixture into a blender, add the almonds and blend until the mixture is very thick and smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer set over a medium stainless steel bowl, pressing hard on the solids with a rubber spatula. You should have about 1 1/2 cups liquids. Stir in the almond extract.

In a small saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Set the saucepan over low heat and when the water is warm, remove from the heat and swirl the pan to dissolve the gelatin. Scrape the gelatin into the almond milk. Set the stainless steel bowl over an ice water bath and stir the mixture often until it begins to thicken, about 10 minutes. In a large, stainless steel bowl, beat the heavy cream until softly whipped. Fold the whipped cream into the almond mixture and spoon it into the prepared ramekins. Cover and refrigerate until the blancmanges are set, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Set an ice water bath next to the stove. Using a sharp paring knife, make an X on the bottom of each nectarine. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil and add the peaches. After 10 seconds, transfer the peaches to the ice water until they are cool enough to handle. Rub off the skins then pit and quarter the nectarines. Wipe out the saucepan.

In the saucepan, combine the Sauternes, water and sugar and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the nectarines and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3 to 8 minutes, depending on the ripeness of the fruit. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Run a small knife around the edge of each ramekin, and loosen the blancmanges by dipping the bottoms of the ramekins into a bowl of hot water. Unmold the blancmanges onto plates. Spoon the nectarines and Sauternes syrup around each blancmange and serve.

Make Ahead

The blancmanges can be refrigerated in their ramekins for up to 2 days. The poached nectarines can be refrigerated overnight. Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature.