Bringing My Favorite British Dessert Home | Baking Eton Mess

Hiya lovely reader! As some of you will know, last spring I spent some time in London. I absolutely loved it there and miss it so much! Before going I had various people "warn me" that the food is not the best, to which I was taken aback as it is one of the most culturally diverse places ever which would in turn translate to the food. Needless to say those people were wrong and I let them know. The options in London are endless and everything I had was great! From traditional pub fare to Mediterranean style food and Italian. One of the first nights I was there we went to dinner at a place called Hush in High Holborn and it was there that I was enlightened. For dessert I wanted to try something different, something I had never heard of or had, that ladies and gentleman was Eton Mess. This delight consists of berries, cream, and meringue and is so light and airy you float away. So fast forward five months and ever since being back, I have been trying to incorporate some of my favorite British dishes into my life, looking for recipes and cookbooks to learn from and searching for stores that carry some of the brands I came to love. One of the cookbooks I came across was "An American Girl in London" by Marissa Hermer. As a fan of Ladies of London I was familiar with Marissa and her story and eager to check out her book. So when I saw she had an Eton Mess recipe I had to give it a go!

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is quite simple. The trickiest part is making the meringues and after that you are just putting everything together! 
For the Meringues you will need:
-3 large egg whites at room temperature
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
-1 tablespoon strawberry jam
-Stand Mixer

So to make the meringues, 
-Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F & place parchment paper on 2 baking trays
-Next place the egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk until soft peaks start forming. Then slowly add the sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time and then add the cream of tartar. Continue whisking until the mixture has stiff peaks and is glossy and smooth, around 5 or 6 minutes. (I must say I felt very Great British Bakeoff OG while making the meringue. I'd like to think Paul and Mary would approve of my gloss)
-Once you've got your stiff peaks, carefully fold in the strawberry jam. (Marissa suggests taking out 1/4 of the meringue and folding it through that and then through the rest of it. She also added 4 drops of red food coloring to make the meringues pink which I chose to leave out.)

-Next, take 2 tablespoons and place six to eight 1/2-cup scoops of meringue onto the parchment paper and swirl each scoop to give it a peak. They will grow as they bake so leave space between them.

-Bake for 2 hours and then turn off the oven. Do not open it! As tempting as it may be, let them completely cool in the oven, otherwise they will crack. 

Now for the Eton Mess you will need: 
-1 cup whipping cream
-1 cup plain Greek yogurt
-1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (can also use vanilla extract)
-1 teaspoon rose water (optional)
-1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
-2 cups strawberries

To make the Eton Mess,
-Whisk the cream until thickened in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the yogurt until it is smooth and then fold through the whipped cream, vanilla, and icing sugar.
-Roughly chop the strawberries, saving a few for garnish

Now to put it all together,
-Break up the pieces of meringue and start layering the cream, strawberries, and meringue in bowls or glasses. If you have clear glasses, it can look really nice to see the layers!
-Repeat the layering as much as you want and then enjoy!

Have you ever made Eton Mess? Xx