My Big Fat Greek Mess
Who needs an Eton Mess when there’s a great Greek recipe for a mess -- a mélange of broken meringues, Greek spoon sweets, toasted almonds and tangy Greek-yogurt whipped cream. This easy Greek dessert recipe is adapted from my last book, My Greek Table! Don’t worry about who will clean this mess up…you’ll lick the bowls clean for sure!
Ingredients
- 2 cups chilled heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 ½ cups Greek vyssino sour cherry spoon sweet* and/or 2 cups strawberries macerated for 2 hours with 4 - 6 tablespoons of sugar
- 6 premade meringue rounds about 4 inches in diameter, broken up by hand into small chunks
- 2/3 cup toasted blanched almonds
Instructions
-
Trim and halve the strawberries. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Cover and chill for at least two hours or overnight. Strain out the strawberries and place the juice from the bowl in a small saucepan. Simmer over low heat until reduced by half and syrupy. Set aside and cool.
-
In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment at medium-high speed, whisk the heavy cream until it begins to stiffen. Add the sugar and vanilla or almond extract and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, fold the Greek yogurt into the cream.
-
Assemble the mess: In 6 glass goblets or dessert bowls place a dollop of the cream-yogurt mixture. Place a tablespoon of the sour cherries or a few strawberries on top and drizzle with a little of their respective syrups. Add a few pieces of the broken meringues, then a few toasted almonds, and a little more of the sour cherries/strawberries and their syrup. Continue layering the meringues, cream mixture, sour cherries/strawberries and almonds, finishing with a drizzling of the syrup and a sprinkling of the toasted almonds. Serve immediately.
