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Šnenokle — poached meringues with chilled vanilla custard
Šnenokle are a contrast of two preparations made from the same eggs. The whites become light poached meringues, while the yolks thicken the milk into a vanilla custard. The dessert is familiar in Serbian home cooking and belongs to a wider Central European family of snow-egg and floating-island sweets. Its appeal comes from texture rather than decoration: airy quenelles against a cool, spoon-coating cream.
The meringue needs structure before it enters the milk. Egg whites are first whipped to soft peaks, then sugar is added gradually until the foam becomes glossy and firm. That sequence dissolves the sugar more evenly and gives the bubbles enough stability to survive poaching. Large spoonfuls look dramatic but are difficult to turn, so modest quenelles give a more reliable centre-to-surface balance.
Milk for poaching should steam and show small bubbles around the edge without entering a rolling boil. Hard boiling tears the foam and can make the outside rubbery before the middle has set. The quenelles are turned once, then lifted as soon as their surface is firm enough to hold shape. The milk remains in the pan because it carries the flavour and becomes the base of the custard.
The yolks, sugar and cornstarch are mixed with reserved cold milk before they meet the hot liquid. Tempering matters: a little hot milk is whisked into the yolk mixture first, raising its temperature gradually. The combined custard then returns to low heat and is stirred continuously until it thickens and reaches at least 71 °C. That measured endpoint is the food-safety control; the spoon-coating texture is the culinary cue.
Cooling changes the final character. Warm custard is fluid and the meringues are very soft, while chilling for about 90 minutes gives a clean spoonful in which the cream supports rather than floods the quenelles. Because this is a milk-and-egg dessert, it should move into refrigeration promptly and stay at 4 °C or below until serving.