Christmas Eton Mess
A sticky meringue filled with chocolate, pistachios, dried cranberries and orange, served with whipped cream and mixed berries
Servings: 12 people
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 200 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 2 oranges, zest only
- 100 g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces I used 78% cocoa
- 100 g dried cranberries I like Market Grocer cranberries
- 100 g shelled, salted pistachios
- 500 mL (2 cups) whipped cream, to serve
- 2 cups mixed berries, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 120°C (100°C fan-forced). Line a baking tray with paper.
- Blitz the pistachios very briefly in a food processor, leaving some large fragments.
- Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites together until soft peaks form.
- Whisk in the sugar a little at a time, and continue to whisk for about 3 minutes at high speed until the mixture is thick and glossy.
- Fold in the remaining ingredients, gently mixing until everything is incorporated.
- Pour the mixture onto the tray, and smear it flat with a spatula if required.
- Turn the oven down to 90°C (70°C fan-forced), and cook for 90 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave it there until the oven is no longer warm (about 2 hours).
- Store in an airtight container until ready to serve. Either cut it into wedges or crumble it into smaller pieces.
- Serve it with whipped cream and fresh berries.
Notes
The meringue will keep for 2 days in an airtight container. It tastes best when it comes out of the oven as the chocolate is still soft and gooey.
An alternative to pure whipped cream is to whip half the amount (1 cup) and fold in 1 cup of Greek yoghurt.