Easy Eaton Mess

If you are coming to my place for dinner chances are you will most likely be served an Eaton Mess. This is my go-to dessert because it doesn’t require many ingredients or cooking, can be prepared in advance, and always tastes divine. It is insanely simple. (Except I admit whipping the cream by hand is not that much fun for me.) I serve this beautiful layered treat in the glass pots I save from the grocery store yogurts.

Easy Eaton Mess
makes 4 small cups

Ingredients
4 cups (600 grams) of strawberries, hulled and chopped
Meringues, vanilla or plain, from the store or your local pastry shop
1.5 cups of  whipping cream  (or 33cl of crème liquide)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 teaspoons sugar

Method

1. Add half of your chopped strawberries to a small saucepan with two teaspoons of sugar over medium high heat.
2. Mash the strawberries with a fork (or potato masher) to smoosh some of them and get the juice out of them. But no need to mash everything to pulp. Once the strawberries start to boil give them a stir and turn the fire down. Let them simmer for about 5 minutes until they are syrupy and sweet. After five minutes remove them from the heat and let them cool completely.
3. Pour the cream into a bowl and add a few drops of vanilla extract. (You can add more later to suit your taste.) Working  with an electric mixer or by hand, whisk the cream until you have soft peaks.
4. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar (again you can always add more later) and continue whipping until you have hard peaks. Hard is if you turn the bowl upside down nothing slides out.  If you aren’t ready to serve immediately, put the cream (now it’s officially chantilly) in the refrigerator with the bowls of cooked and raw strawberries.
5. When you are ready to serve, layer the chantilly, cooked strawberries, and crumbled meringue in any order you like. Top each cup with the raw strawberries and sprinkle with meringue crumbs.

A Little Manna from Paris…

– In place of vanilla extract, vanilla sugar or pure vanilla works.

– You can use crystal sugar or icing sugar once you have soft peaks.

– A note about making chantilly: The higher fat content in the cream, the easier to whip. At the grocery store look  for a crème liquide, crème fouttée, or a crème entière with 30-35% de matière grasse (that’s fat).  If you choose to mix by hand, as I foolishly do sometimes, make sure you tilt your bowl to let in air while you whip. Cold cream mixed with air makes perfect chantilly. But if you over-whip, things go yellow and you get butter!

– For more about creams (in French) you can check out this article.

Image by Ajiri Aki