Eton Mess-- An English dessert of Meringue, Cream and Strawberries. This quick and easy traditional English dessert is made from a mixture of whipped cream, strawberries, and meringue - either layered as a trifle or mixed together into a delicious mess. Until just recently, meringues haven't exactly been my cup of tea since they were too sweet for my taste as a standalone dessert. Strawberry Mess (also known as Eton Mess) is made with freshly-made meringue cookies, fresh whipped cream and sweetened strawberries.

Traditionally the dish was served at Eton College but how it came to have the name is not clear. One story is a Labrador dog sat on a picnic basket in the back of a car and squashed a strawberry and meringue dessert. One thought was the "mess" was a rather delicious dessert, and the name stuck. You can have Eton Mess-- An English dessert of Meringue, Cream and Strawberries using 16 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Eton Mess-- An English dessert of Meringue, Cream and Strawberries

Prepare 1 of FOR MERINGUE.
You need 3 large of egg whites at room temperature.
Prepare 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.
It's 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.
Prepare 1/8 tsp of salt.
Prepare 1 of FOR BERRIES.
You need 1 lb of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced.
Prepare 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries.
It's 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, divided use, half will be used for the strained strawberries the other half to sweeten the sliced strawberries and blueberries.
It's 1 of FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM.
Prepare 1 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream.
You need 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar.
Prepare 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
You need 1 1/2 tsp of unflavored gelatin.
It's 1 of FOR GARNISH.
Prepare 1/2 cup of chocolate shavings.

Some cooks prefer to simply puree the strawberries with sugar in a food processor. I like the syrup the way Tom Norrington Davies did it in Great British Food — by heating the strawberries and sugar together until the strawberries render juices, the sugar melts and a sticky syrup is formed. Where Eton mess originated is not disputed. The Eton mess, one of England's best-loved and prettiest desserts, is an absolute joy to eat.

Eton Mess-- An English dessert of Meringue, Cream and Strawberries step by step

MAKE MERINGUES.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 275.
In a large bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks, slowly add sugar, and salt and beat until stiff, add vanilla and beat in. Place 4 mounda of meringue on parchment paper. Smooth out into 1/4 inch rounds leaving a bit of space between them. Bake 1 hour, turn off oven keep door closed and leave until oven is cold, at least 2 hours. Remove from oven, cut between parchment keeping parchment attached and store in air tight containers. (keeping the parchment attached will keep the meringues from breaking until needed). This can be done up to 4 days in advance..
MAKE BERRIES.
Place 3/4 of the strawberries in a blender and puree, strain out seeds, add 1/4 cup sugar to them, chill..
Combine remaing sliced strawberries and blueberries in a bowl, add remaing 1/4 cup sugar and let sit to extract juice than chill..
The berries can be prepared a day in advance.
FOR WHIPPED CREAM.
In a small heatproof bowl add 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water, add gelatin, soften 1 minute than place in a pan of simmering water just until dissolved and clear, remove to use while still liquid..
In a chilled bowl, whip cream to soft peaks add confectioners sugar, vanilla and liquid gelatin, beat until stiff..
Add about 1/4 cup of strawberrie puree and fold just to make a streaky look. Chill, because of the gelatin this whipped cream is stable abd should las a day or two..
TO ASSEMBLE ETON MESS.
Right before serving, remive meringue from parchment, break into bite size pieces. Place in serving glass add some of the strawberrie blueberrie mix and some whipped cream and very gently fold, top with a bit more whipped cream, garnish with chocolate shavings and pieces of meringue..

Its sublime proportions of crumbled crisp meringue, softly whipped cream and marinated strawberries don't need further embellishment - the beauty of this delicate dessert is in its simplicity. Eton Mess is a traditional old English dessert combining strawberries, meringue and cream. Apparently, it started out as plain old strawberries (or bananas) and cream; the meringue component being added in much later. If you've never heard of Eton Mess, it's a traditional English dessert, consisting of strawberries, meringues, and whipped cream. Let's run through each of the tree components.