Raspberry Eton Mess

Guess what? I'm leaving to Finland today! I'm so happy about the start of my summer holiday and I will post something from there for sure. I don't have many plans for the trip, only to eat well and relax. So here's a post to get into the holiday mood.

I too rarely make desserts. I just love savoury food so much that I mostly even forget about sweet dishes. However my partner has a bit of a sweet tooth and always appreciates little cakes or desserts. So now I made this raspberry Eton Mess from the lovely new season raspberries. It was very yummy I must say and doesn't require much preparation. I served the raspberries in two consistencies, as fresh and whole and as a cooked sauce.

Ingredients

300 ml double cream

2 tbsp sugar

400 g raspberries

6 small meringue nests

Method

Add one tablespoon of sugar to the double cream and whip it into whipped cream.

Take about a third of the raspberries and combine them with one tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan. Gently cook the mix until the raspberries have become more liquid. Pour the sauce through a sieve in order to remove the raspberry seeds and let it cool.

Break the meringue nests into pieces. I used a half of a nest per glass.

Layer the components into serving glasses and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Strawberry and cream dessert

I've been quiet for a few days, because I had lovely family members visiting from Finland and I showed them a few nice spots in England. One evening I made this dessert for them and it was very well received.

I thought of this recipe as strawberries are in season, it's summer and it's okay to eat nice desserts, right? I have never eaten the traditional British dessert “Eton mess”, but I've been told that my dessert resembles it. I wasn't trying to copy that dish, but just wanted to combine nice flavours. Surely they don't have patent pending for strawberries and cream in Eton? It would be nice to try the traditional Eton mess one day, though. 

For my recipe I cut a couple of corners again by using ready made meringue. I promise you to make my own some other time. For some additional punch I decided to add some brandy as it does make cream so much better! Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

200 g strawberries (100 g for the sauce and 100 g for the dessert)

3 tsp sugar (1 tsp for the sauce and 2 tsp for the whipping cream)

300 ml whipping cream

2 tsp brandy

4 small meringue nests

Method

Whip the cream with sugar and in the end carefully fold in the brandy.

Cut the half of the strawberries into halves or quarters depending on the size.

Make the strawberry sauce by puréeing the other half of the strawberries with one teaspoon of sugar into a smooth sauce.

Add the strawberry pieces to the whipped brandy cream and mix. Then also crush the meringues into that mix as generous pieces.

Place into serving bowls or glasses and pour the strawberry sauce on the top.

This recipe makes four small desserts, double up for more people.

Enjoy the taste of summer!

Your VegHog

Coffee and brandy dessert

Weekend is here and the sun is shining! I couldn't be happier about that. I hope you all have a brilliant weekend, and maybe you would even like to make this dessert for your loved ones during it?

I remember cutting this recipe out from a Finnish magazine years ago, and I still have it in one of my collected recipe books. I was delighted to find the recipe now online, and decided to give it an update. This is an extremely filling dessert, but so tasty! Have a little break after dinner before eating it, or simply make smaller cups. The original recipe is in Finnish only, but here is my version of it. 

These amounts are enough for four generous dessert glasses.

160g oat biscuits

70g melted butter

300ml whipping cream

5tbsp sugar

4tbsp brandy

100ml dark coffee

100g plain soft cheese

Coffee bean sweets

Crush the oat biscuits finely and add the melted butter to it. Mix them to a buttery oat crumble.

Whip the cream with the sugar, and then carefully fold in the brandy, coffee and soft cheese.

Assemble the glasses by layering the oat biscuit mix with the coffee cream.

Put some coffee bean sweets on the top as decoration.

Let the dessert glasses set in the fridge for at least one hour and serve cool.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog