Eton Mess ice cream

One of the most satisfying things we can prepare at home during the summer is ice cream. I love all of them... And even more so if they are homemade. Today we are going to see how to make an Eton Mess Ice Cream that, I assure you, will surprise you a lot.

This ice cream is inspired by the classic English dessert, Eton Mess, a preparation that combines, in its traditional format, whipped cream, strawberries and meringue . Sometimes it is also made with bananas or other types of soft fruit.

To make this ice cream, we will prepare a white cream made mostly with milk , although it also includes cream, of course. Then we will mix this cream with strawberry jam, trying to create a zigzag effect, so that when we place a scoop of ice cream we will find the white cream with streaks of jam. To present it, we will prepare some meringue cookies with strawberry coulis that we will use as a sandwich.

Do you remember the famous ice cream cuts? Well, we will try to simulate something similar, only with a slightly more striking appearance.

The result is an ice cream with a texture and consistency closer to gelato than to ice cream. The difference between the two, among other details, is that gelato is made with a greater quantity of milk than cream and, on the contrary, ice cream has a greater quantity of cream in its mix, it contains more fat . The flavours of gelato are much more intense, while the texture of ice cream is much creamier.

To be honest, the white cream ice cream I'm sharing with you reminds me a lot of Mini Milk. Do you remember it? It was an ice cream from our childhood, between the 80s and 90s, very popular among small children. Perhaps our parents bought them for us because they were the perfect size for children (they were quite small) and, for us, it was one of the best ice creams because of its incredible flavour.

When I tried this white cream once it was churned, it totally transported me back to those years. So, if you put the churned mix into ice cream molds or popsicle molds, you will have some incredible homemade Mini Milks ;)

But now we continue with our Eton Mess ice cream.

KitchenAid Revol Rectangular Mold and Ice Cream Scoop

Origin of the famous Eton Mess dessert.

There are many stories surrounding the origin of the famous English dessert. As we can imagine, some of them are real and others fictional, but all of them are wonderful because they allow us to travel back to those times and the way in which they could have been created, allowing us to experience them first-hand. And in many cases, with funny anecdotes.

Of all the stories and origins related to the origin of the Eton Mess, that of the dog and the pavlova is undoubtedly the most widespread.

Legend has it that during the 1920s there was a cricket match taking place at Eton College . A family brought the boys attending the match a surprise treat which they could enjoy after the match, a delicious strawberry pavlova which they carried in a picnic basket . Before the match was over, a Labrador dog which was playing in the area jumped on the basket and crushed the pavlova . This was no problem for the boys, or the family, as they did not care about the minor mishap and decided to eat it anyway. In fact they said that it was absolutely delicious.

It is a very funny story, although it is hardly credible... And the reason is that the Eton Mess had already been mentioned in old documents almost 30 years before this story, around the year 1893.

However, Eton Mess is believed to have first been served at a cricket match between Eton and Harrow and has since continued to be served at this annual match at the famous Lord's Cricket Ground, or simply Lord's, a cricket stadium located in the St. John's Wood district of London.

The word "mess" is believed to refer to its appearance.

Actually, the name of the dessert can have multiple meanings, although none of them have been proven correct. Some say it refers to its chaotic appearance, while others think it comes from the Latin " missum ", which refers to "a portion of food."

For our part, we will give a twist to the dessert, which is certainly a fantastic option for summer, but we will make it more refreshing. In addition, we will change its presentation a little to make it more in line with the ice cream format. But, of course, we can always present the ice cream in a glass or cup, and accompany it with fresh strawberries and dried meringues. I leave it to you!

Ingredients

FOR THE ICE CREAM (1 liter):

• 610 g whole milk
• 165 g liquid whipping cream, 35% fat content
• 39 g skimmed milk powder
• 20 g dextrose
• 140 g sugar
• 20 g inverted sugar (you can see the recipe at: Pumpkin Ice Cream)
• 6 g neutral for creams (can be substituted with yolks, see NOTES section)
• 150-200 g strawberry jam

• 240 g egg white, at room temperature
• 325 g sugar
• Strawberry Coulis (recipe below)

• 100 g strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
• 30 g sugar
• 10 g lemon juice

TO DECORATE:

• Freeze-dried strawberries, chopped (optional)
• Small meringues
• Natural strawberries

Elaboration

WE PREPARE THE MIX FOR THE ICE CREAM

1. Prepare two large bowls. Fill one of them halfway with cold water, preferably from the refrigerator, and ice. Place another bowl inside this one, preferably metal, and set aside while you prepare the mix so that it reaches a cold temperature.
2. In a large pot, add the milk together with the cream.
3. With the mixture cold, without turning on the heat, add the milk powder together with the dextrose. Mix with the help of a whisk to help the mixture integrate evenly.
4. We put it through the blender to make sure there are no small lumps left.
5. Turn on the heat and set to medium temperature.
6. While it is heating up, mix the neutral cream mixture with the sugar. Set aside.
7. Once the mixture reaches 40ºC , add the neutral together with the sugar and the inverted sugar. Beat after each addition.
8. Once all the ingredients have been added, stir constantly until it reaches 85ºC . It is important to use a digital kitchen thermometer in this process.
9. Remove from heat.
10. Pour the mix into the prepared bowl (with cold water and ice) to cool it.
11. Stir constantly to help the mix cool down and thus help it cool down faster. When it reaches 35º-30ºC, we can pour the mix into an airtight container and refrigerate at 4ºC for 6-12 hours. Ideally, we should let it rest for 12 hours.

We buttered

1. Remove the mix from the refrigerator and blend with the blender to homogenize the mixture.
2. Use your ice cream maker, the one you have at home, following its instructions. In my case, I did it with the KitchenAid ice cream maker .
3. Pour the mix into the refrigerator and chill for 20-25 minutes .
4. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and then transfer it to a container suitable for storing ice cream, such as this one from Revol . Spread a layer of ice cream, add a few spoonfuls of strawberry jam and stir to distribute and create swirls. Fill with the rest of the ice cream and repeat the same process with the jam on the top.
5. Cover very well with film, place the lid on and cover the entire container with film again.
6. Store in the freezer for 12-14 hours .

KitchenAid Refrigerator

NOTE: We will have some mix left over if we use the Revol container, we can pour it into another container and store it in the same way.

WE PREPARE THE STRAWBERRY COULIS

1. Wash the strawberries thoroughly, remove the stem and cut them into pieces.
2. Add to a saucepan along with the sugar and lemon juice.
3. Place over medium-low heat and cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The amount of water should reduce considerably, but not excessively. We should obtain a thick consistency.
4. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve.
5. Let it cool to room temperature. If you are not going to use it on the same day, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until the next day.

WE PREPARE THE MERINGUE COOKIES

We assemble the French meringue

1. We add the egg whites to the KitchenAid bowl and begin to beat them.
2. Once it starts to foam, we will begin to add the sugar little by little and beat at the same time.
3. We will continue until we achieve a firm consistency. We will end up with a very shiny meringue.

KitchenAid glass bowl

WE PREPARE THE COOKIES

1. Line a perforated baking sheet with a Teflon sheet or silpat/mat, but make sure it is not perforated .
2. Using an ice cream scoop, place a ball of meringue on the Teflon. It is not necessary to use an ice cream scoop, but it will make it easier to make the meringues the same size. You can use a normal spoon instead.
3. We place a teaspoon of strawberry coulis on the meringue and then, using a toothpick, we make a zigzag pattern.
4. We repeat this same process with the rest of the cookies.
5. With the excess meringue, put it in a pastry bag and pipe small meringues. It is best to use different types of nozzles, if possible. We will need another tray for this step.
6. Place in the oven, previously preheated to 75ºC, and leave the cookies for 4 hours and the meringues for about 2 and a half hours .
7. Ideally, check the small meringues after 2 1/2 hours. If they need to be left longer, just leave them. To know if the cookies are ready, they must be completely dry.
8. Once ready, we take them out and let them rest for a few hours at room temperature. It is important that they are not in a humid place, it should be cool and dry.

WE SERVE ETON MESS ICE CREAM

1. Remove the ice cream and leave it at room temperature for 4-5 minutes. In the meantime, you can decorate the surface with pieces of meringue, fresh strawberries and freeze-dried strawberries.
2. Wet the KitchenAid ice cream scoop by dipping it in a glass of water.
3. We form a ball of ice cream and place it on a meringue cookie.
4. Serve with fresh strawberries, meringues (if desired) and a little strawberry coulis. Serve in a sandwich format or as a ball placed on the biscuit and, if desired, another biscuit on top.
5. We serve immediately.

Grades

• It is important that you do not change the ingredients to obtain an optimal result in the ice cream , both in flavor and in texture and consistency.
• It is very important that you follow all the steps that I detail in the preparation, as well as comply with the specified temperatures so that the results are good.
• If we don't want to use neutral for creams , we can use yolks instead. In fact, this ingredient is used to stabilize the ice cream and to be able to make an ice cream without the presence of egg. If we use egg yolk instead of neutral , the quantities change completely. They would be the following: 592 g whole milk, 83 g cream, 45 g skimmed milk powder, 100 g egg yolk, 140 g sugar, 20 g dextrose and 20 g inverted sugar .
• If you use egg yolks instead of neutral for creams, they should be added at the same time as the neutral. One element replaces the other.
• The churning time may vary , we must obtain a creamy consistency.
• If it is very hot, I recommend freezing the container where you are going to store the ice cream in order to prevent it from melting and, consequently, spoiling the final texture.
• I do not recommend adding natural strawberries to ice cream because they change their texture when frozen , and the end result is not very pleasant. That is why we use strawberry jam. We can also add candied strawberries if we wish.
• In my case, I prefer to add the meringues on top , but you can add them to the mix once the ice cream has been churned. Keep in mind that they will add a lot of sweetness. Ideally, each person should add the amount they want to their ice cream, but you can do so if you wish.
• Meringue cookies are optional , but we can't deny that they are a great way to present ice cream.
• In my case I made them with strawberry coulis, but they can be made with just meringue.
• In my case, I got 8 meringue cookies , all of a good size. If you want, you can make them smaller and get more units. In that case, you will have to adjust the final cooking time. Instead of 4 hours, it will take less time.
• Another option for preparing the meringue cookies is to pipe them into a rosette shape instead of arranging them with a spoon as I show you.
• It can be kept frozen for 3 months , but you should try to avoid defrosting it every time you serve it. This step will cause the ice cream to start forming ice crystals.

You have to try this Eton Mess ice cream ... Incredibly refreshing, slightly sweet and with hints of strawberry jam that combines perfectly with the white cream. Not to mention the meringue with spirals of strawberry coulis that will give us that crunchy touch.

At home we loved this variety of ice cream and the way it was presented, very different from others I have made. I think it is perfect as a dessert or even to accompany a coffee. Anything to beat the heat of this summer in style!

I hope you like it and I look forward to hearing how it went!

Sources: The Runnymede on Thames