Intimidated by Pavlova? Make a mess of Eton instead

There is something very nice about serving a meringue dessert at Christmas. It is both ceremonial and very casual.

Pavlova is considered a classic dessert for summer celebrations, but Eton’s Mess is a fresher, less fussy option.

Eton mess is a dream to prepare for

• The individual items take some time to prepare, but each benefits from being prepared in advance.
• The meringue has enough time to cool and harden, the passion fruit curd thickens and the strawberries soften.
• Once you’re ready to eat, layer everything and serve in pretty glasses or bowls.

Meringue made the “lazy” way

Rather than beating the egg whites until stiff and then gradually adding the sugar like I do for my classic pavlova recipe, I threw everything into the mixer and went straight from there.

The new “lazy” technique was born out of necessity: powdered sugar is not readily available in the United States (where I live) and regular white sugar granules need a lot of whisking to dissolve properly, so I started using icing sugar as an alternative. which dissolves almost instantly.

The size of the meringues is not prescriptive but I like them smaller which gives more crunch on the outside. I usually put six spoonfuls of baking mounds, but you can easily make them even smaller and use eight spoonfuls.

Published 39 months ago39 minutes agoFri. December 13, 2024 at 9:00 p.m.