Eton Mess with Pimms = British Summertime for sure!! 🇬🇧 ☀️
Seriously, who doesn’t love Eton mess? If you haven’t had it you’ve just got to try it! With the addition of Pimms it is even more addictive. I’m sitting here in 80 F weather just basking in its simple glory! There are many interpretations of how this dessert was created. My favorite (& most realistic I think) is that the cook at Eton college had made a pavlova for the Annual cricket match and on the way out it fell to the floor, creating a royal mess (get it!? 😂). The boys didn’t care, they scooped it up into bowls and enjoyed it just the same and voila, the Eton mess was born!
Smart boys knowing not to waste a classic mixture of strawberries, meringue & deliciously whipped cream! I would have been right there with them.
I have SUCH a strong and vivid memory of making meringues for the first time at home. I was frantically looking for the photo that I know my mother took at the time but alas, I couldn’t find it. (This may have something to do with the numerous moves in recent years!) I was around age 8 or 9. I remember literally sitting/leaning heavily onto the kitchen table (covered in sugar I think) squeezing the meringue mixture out of the piping bag with my sister Sophie and our Dad watching over me very carefully. I remember then staring at the oven watching them bake until I was informed that I could be there for a while. I mean, one hour to an 8/9 year old is FOREVER.. am I right?
The point is, I loved learning to make meringues and I loved eating them just as much. We weren’t really a dessert heavy family. We loved canned peaches or bananas and vanilla ice cream though, I can tell you that much. Probably still some of my favorite flavor combos! So making meringues was a special occasion and that may be why I love them so much, or it may be that amazing crunchy on the outside whilst fluffy and chewy on the inside thing?
Whatever the reason, this dessert is by far my favorite summertime dessert. 💯
Another one of my FAVORITE British Summer fave’s is Pimms (DUH!) I mean I even named our puppy after it 😂😬.
A pitcher of pimms on a warm and sunny day is the best medicine ever. Instantly takes me to family time and sitting on the patio or grass at home with mine. Making Pimms into a syrup for this dessert was a very last minute (and Amazing, I might add) decision. I am so thankful I threw it in because OH BOY what a difference! A Whole other level of wonderful amazingness just entered my life! I don’t think I will ever make eton mess the same again (unless of course kiddos are involved – then I can make them their own syrup…cause I won’t be sacrificing the adult enjoyment!)
Please make this recipe for your next Summer day and let us know how it goes down?? 💚
- 3 large egg whites
- 175g sugar (caster works best)
- 0.5 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/8 cup pimms
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 6 strawberries
- 6 raspberries
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1 pint of strawberries, quartered.
- Preheat your oven to 250 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat/Whisk your egg whites in your kitchen aid or with a hand whisk until pearly white peaks are formed
- Slowly add the sugar whist still whisking all the time - be patient here and it is much easier!
- Whisk until peaks are formed and you would happily hold the bowl upside down over your head.
- Mix in the vanilla extract right at the end.
- Spoon or pipe your mixture into 8 equal rounds on your baking sheets and bake in the oven for 1 hour.
- Place all 4 ingredients into a dish and mash with a potato masher or muddler until combined.
- Use a hand whisk or your kitchen aid and beat cream until stiff and nicely whipped! (Don't add any sugar or vanilla or your final dessert will be too sweet!)
- Layer up your eton mess in glasses or bowls.
- ours were layered by starting with syrup in the bottom, a layer of cream, a layer of meringue and then fresh strawberries, we then repeated this process until we reached the top of our glass.
