Sweet treat – Cherry Eton Mess … assembly and photo guide

Set your stall out :

the rubble

the trickle

the truffle should be the size of a walnut

40g/1½oz

the dollop

and the crush

Now we're ready to assemble!

Speed sweet – Cherry Eton Mess – short cuts or not?

I said earlier that you could short cut two elements or even all four!

The short cuts

Amaretti biscuits

Good quality Amaretti biscuits are a great product – they have a long shelf life which I why I buy mine. Keep your eyes peeled for deals – you get what you pay for these days and these biscuits are not cheap.

Buy ready made chocolate truffles

Buy a drum of ready made meringue kisses

Buy ready made compote in either jars or sachets

Each of the above products is an excellent “emergency” store cupboard ingredient – a speed sweet at your fingertips!

Or not!

I stand by why I said – I buy my Amaretti biscuits, you can make your own but in this instance I want a stash of biscuits in my store cupboard and home made will not last – delicious though they'll be!

Making your own ganache

There are 3 options :

Equal parts chocolate and cream

While still warm this ganache is pourable and can be used to drizzle chocolate ribbons or glaze cookies or cakes. It can also be used as a cake filling. As it starts to cool it thickens and takes on a more spreadable consistency.

Two parts chocolate to one part cream

Increasing the percentage of chocolate makes for a thicker ganache. This ratio is used for truffles. Can also be used as a glaze or piped frosting.

Two parts cream to one part chocolate

A ganache with more cream than chocolate is runny – warm and mousse like at room temp. When warm it can be poured over a cake to give a glaze.

I used equal parts of chocolate and cream – i.e. 300ml of double cream to 300g of plain chocolate drops. I find semi-sweet 50% ish cocoa solids hits the “middle for diddle” and gives a rich truffle texture and flavour.

To make your own meringue kisses

see Sweet week – take 2 25/2/17 Let the meringues begin for all the meringue stuff including hints and tips and a complete photo guide

To make your own compote

see What to serve with Desserts 17/2/19

There's a step by step assembly and photo guide coming next!

Speed sweet … the translation

rubble – crushed Amaretti biscuits

dollop – hidden truffle centre

crush – crushed meringue kisses

trickle – cherry compote

For those who'd like clarification a dollop is about a heaped tablespoon. There are other explanations that say it should be a small amount. Personally I think it depends on the size of your dish or glass and is probably somewhere in the middle. For the small sundae pot my dollop of chocolate truffle was approximately a dessert spoonful.

Bear in mind that if you're filling a sundae glass it should be a larger amount and it should be circular or even ovoid in shape. A small tip – use an ice cream scoop dipped in boiling water for your ganache, it'll help you get the initial shape. Use gloved hands to mould the shape that suits.

I chose a small sundae pot for this demo, measuring 8.5cmsx7cms/3½”x2¾”. Perfect to make ahead and stash in the fridge to do its magic and they have lids. The tall sundae glass measures 18cmsx7cms/7”x3”.

The short and the tall of it :

This speed sweet is perfect to pull from your treasure trove, whether freezer or store cupboard - pantry if you're posh – back in the day it used to be the other way around!

Speed sweet – rubble, dollop, crush and trickle

Here's my latest concoction … remember when I said that I had something else, “cherry-wise” up my sleeve – here it is.

Before I begin with chapter and verse I should say that this sweet is to go with your “slob” night, nay weekend sweet treat. It fits the bill because it's simple and easy and you can make it as fancy as you like or as messy as you like!

I would make one suggestion – the same as always – set your stall out before you begin. There are four elements – two to make and two to “short cut” if you wish. Actually you could short cut all four if you prefer - none are difficult.

The clue is in the text :

Cherry Chocolate Eton Mess

One serving

6 Amaretti biscuits, crushed to rubble, not dust!

A dollop of chocolate truffle (aka ganache)

3 meringue kisses crushed to a rubble, uneven

sizes even better

100g Cherry compote to trickle

This is definitely in the “fly by the seat of your dessert pants” category. It's good fun to get creative. Decide on the glass or dish you're using to serve your mess. Here's a thought … for a slob night or for an informal supper you could make these in tall sundae glasses and serve one between two guests, it might be an idea to make sure they know one another or may be not!

Read on ...

The brutal truth … the calzone and the bread sticks

I served the bread sticks as an appetiser, the traditional way, with bowls of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil – if you don't hear anything other than silence – I know that sounds really strange but you know what I mean, then all's well!

Then came the calzone … more silence, later the comment was “loved it, layers of lusciousness!”

Hold the front page – there's another version of the dough :

wholemeal – yippee!

I've not finished yet … watch this space.

The divine dough – breadsticks photo guide

cut your dough into eight pieces – in this

case four!

roll between your hands into a sausage

shape

leave your breadsticks to rest and

then brush with melted butter and add

garlic salt and finely grated Parmesan

the breadsticks – fresh from the oven

Tempted?!

Whilst I'm on the subject of divine dough …

Bread Sticks

Using my favourite new product – pizza dough from The Northern Dough Co. - here's another idea and it's not pizza. The fastest bread sticks ever.

One dough ball

15g finely grated Parmesan

30g of unsalted butter

garlic powder or garlic salt to sprinkle

Take one dough ball and defrost in your fridge.

When defrosted lightly flour a baking tray and your working surface - cut the dough into 8 similar sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough between your hands to create a sausage shape. As a guide I rolled out each piece to 12cms in length (4½”) making sure to leave space between each piece. Cover the bread sticks with cling film until you're ready to garnish and bake.

Leave at room temperature for your bread sticks to prove – in other words to “rest”. I left mine for an hour.

When you're ready pre-heat your oven as high as it will go – in my case 220fan/240c/Gas 9.

Melt the butter and brush each bread stick, sprinkle with garlic powder or garlic salt if you prefer and finish with finely grated Parmesan.

Bake on high for 4 minutes.

Serve with pesto, or, my personal favourite the classic mixture of Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and turn it into a help yourself starter with Italian meats and cheeses – yum! You could try a little fusion and serve with a baked Camembert.

Photos coming up ...