Strawberry Eton Mess

By Samantha Seneviratne

Updated July 28, 2021

Strawberry Eton Mess
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
4(736)
Comments
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Eton mess is a classic British dessert made of a mixture of fresh fruit, cream and crushed baked meringue. It’s deliciously simple and perfect for lazy summer days when berries are in season and the less time spent in the kitchen the better. Of course, you could make meringue cookies from scratch, but if you choose to buy them, there will be very little work to do. A little lime zest and juice gives this simple dessert an essential sweet-tart edge, though lemon would do the trick as well.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 5ounces vanilla meringue cookies
  • 1½pounds fresh strawberries
  • 2teaspoons lime zest plus 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 2 to 4tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
  • 2cups cold heavy cream
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

408 calories; 29 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 32 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 42 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Transfer the meringue cookies to a large, resealable plastic bag. Use a rolling pin to lightly crush the cookies. (You should have pieces of varying sizes.)

  2. Step 2

    Trim the berries, discarding the greens. Halve or quarter 1 pound of the strawberries; add to a medium bowl. Blend or mash the remaining ½ pound strawberries until you have a chunky purée. Add the strawberry purée, lime zest, lime juice and 2 to 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar to the chopped strawberries and toss to coat. (The better the strawberries, the less sugar you’ll need.)

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, beat the cream with 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high until whipped cream holds stiff peaks. Fold the crumbled meringue into the whipped cream.

  4. Step 4

    Starting and ending with the strawberry mixture, layer it with the cream mixture in individual serving dishes (preferably clear cups, bowls or jars), creating as many layers as you like. Serve immediately.

Ratings

4 out of 5
736 user ratings
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Comments

dimmerswitch

With respect to contributors who share this is better absent meringue and substituting bits of cookies or cake, that makes it a different dessert and more like a trifle. Eton Mess is always made with meringues. Desserts that are riffs on Eton Mess also named "mess" (which means mixture) use meringues. Like this one from David Tanis. https://approvedpromo.info/recipes/1018779-meringue-mess-with-rhubarb-and-strawberries%3C/a%3E I appreciate that one and this recipe too.

Edwin M.

Eton Mess is always made with meringue and whipped cream and classically with strawberries. In Sag Harbor I served it with frais de bois. I once had it at Bailliol College, Oxford with fresh late spring macerated gooseberries and once served it in Miami with poma rosa also known as rose apple or malabar plum from my tree. Although the fruit may change could the ‘Creatives’ keep the crushed cookies and yogurt out of the recipe unless they are deconstructing a trifle.

Michael

I cut everything in half since there are only two of us. I inadvertently added the whole tablespoon of lime juice but that was a stroke of luck. The lime really made this special. Will repeat this soon.

AC

Wonderful recipe! There were wows all around the table. I gave my guests option to add other berries but I think strawberries were the best. Bought vanilla meringue cookies, picked sweet strawberries from a farm, and added perhaps 1 TBSP of confectioners/ sugar. I am planning to make some more for my neighbors and deliver.

Beverly

Made this for dinner guests this past weekend and it was a great success. Light, great contrast of flavors and textures, delicious. Lesson learned with leftovers: definitely do not make this a day ahead. The strawberries get mushy and the meringues, if already mixed into the whipped cream, get soft and lose the satisfying crunch. Still tasty, but not as good as just made. I made the strawberry mixture a couple hours in advance and refrigerated, and broke up the meringues to have them ready to add. Put my stainless steel mixing bowl and the mixer blades in the freezer. Pulled everything out at dessert time, whipped the cream in no time, and assembled the dessert. Easy peasy. (The “meringue cookies” were a little hard to source, but did track them down to Sprouts store.)

Nicole

This was incredible. I made the chocolate chip merengues recipe also on NYTCooking, sans chocolate chips and cocoa powder, to accompany. The lime juice in the strawberries was the perfect touch! I ate this for dessert every night this week and it held up wonderfully in the fridge.

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