Eton Mess

on

Today I'd like to share a recipe for a simple, classic, summer dessert made out of berries, meringue and whipped cream: Eton Mess.


 
If you prepare mini meringues at a time convenient for you, the desserts may be assembled in just a few minutes - and they are well worth the effort, as they are delicious, beautiful and just perfect on a warm day. Cream and berries create a fresh composition, while mini meringues bring a bit of sweetness and crunch. It's no wonder so many people love this dessert!

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.
 
Turn on CC to watch the video.
 
 

List of ingredients

Mini meringues (80 meringues)

  • 4 large egg whites (~150 g)
  • 240 g sugar (~1.2 cup sugar)
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

Eton Mess (4 servings)

  • 300 ml whipping cream
  • 1 tbsp (~15g) icing sugar
  • 12 mini meringues
  • 300 g berries (I'm using 240 g strawberries and 60 g blueberries)

Method

  1. Prepare mini meringues. Use store-bought if you prefer, but it's worth preparing mini meringues at a convenient time, if you have any leftover egg whites, and keeping them in an airtight container. Pour 4 egg whites into a bowl and start beating them with an electric mixer at low speed, until slightly frothy. Once the egg whites look like bath foam, add in 1 tsp lemon juice. Increase mixer speed and beat the egg whites for a few minutes until soft peaks.
  2. Start adding in sugar. Add 240 g caster sugar in batches, 1 tbsp at a time, mixing each time until fully incorporated. As you add in sugar, the meringue will increase in volume and thicken up. Ready meringue should be stiff enough that it won't fall out of the bowl once you rotate it upside down. 
  3. Put meringue into a piping bag fitted with an appropriate tip. I'm using a star shaped tip, 1 cm in diameter. Pipe mini meringues onto a baking tin lined with baking paper, 1.5 cm apart. I ended up with 80 mini meringues - I'll keep most of them for another occasion.
  4. Bake mini meringues in a conventional oven preheated to 100 deg C for about 90 minutes. They are ready when it's easy to take them off the baking paper. After 90 minutes turn off the oven and wedge the oven door open. Keep the meringues in until they cool down to room temperature.
  5. Divide 240 g of strawberries into two batches: 100 g and 140 g. Blend 100 g of strawberries until smooth. Slice the rest of strawberries into bite size pieces.
  6. Pour 300 ml of cold cream into a bowl and add in 1 tbsp icing sugar. Beat the cream with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff and keep it in the fridge as you assemble the desserts.
  7. To assemble, you'll need 4 glasses, each ~250 ml in volume. There is no one official way - the name itself indicates that the bigger the chaos in the glass, the better! I start by crumbling one mini meringue and putting 5-6 slices of strawberries on top of it. I add in a few blueberries, too, for some extra colour and flavour. I cover the fruit with 1 tbsp of cold, freshly whipped cream and pour some strawberry sauce on top. Don't worry if a tad of it trickles down to the bottom - it will add a bit of charm. I crumble another meringue and repeat all the layers: berries, whipped cream, strawberry sauce. I decorate the top with some more berries. 
  8. I crumble one last meringue to finish off the dessert and I serve it immediately, before meringues get soggy. 
  9. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

1 serving 

  • 358 kcal
  • Carbs: 22 g 
  • Fat: 29 g
  • Protein: 3 g
  • Fibre: 2 g

Comments

Post a Comment