Clare College Mush

A lot of you are probably familiar with a popular summertime dessert called Eton Mess . . . a tasty dessert composed of crushed berries, meringues and whipped cream.



I came across this pudding recipe in a National Trust cookery book, entitled Good Old Fashioned Puddings and in the prelude the recipe it claims that the original source for the recipe comes not from Eton, but from Clare College in Cambridge!



A rose by any other name and all that . . . let's not quibble. No matter what you call it . . . it's delicious!



This particular recipe veers somewhat from the traditional in that it uses a mixture of yogurt and whipped cream, with a splash of Raspberry liqueur to fold the fruit and meringues into . . . I kind of like that, and, as you already know, I have rather a lot of yogurt on hand that I need to use up!



You could use store bought pre-prepared meringues for this, but it's not all that hard to make your own from scraatch and they are quite yummy. You just need to plan timewise as they do take 2 hours baking time in the oven.



Also, you should be aware of the fact that this dessert doesn't hold up longer than 2 hours, so you will want to make it and eat it on the same day!



Not a problem. It's so scrummy I can't see anyone wanting to wait longer than a few hours to eat it! Tis also very easy to make in smaller quantities. Some other tasty combinations are raspberries and poached apricots, rhubarb, damsons and plums . . . but hey . . . let your imagination go wild and see what other incredibly scrumdiddly combinations you can come up with!



The world is your oyster . . . or should I say mush!



*Clare College Mush*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

A delicious combination of berries, meringues, cream and yogurt! Do plan ahead as the meringues take several hours to bake. If you don't want to make your own meringues you can buy some very good quality premade ones that work quite well, but do try to make your own! Note - This should be eaten within two hours of creating.

2 large egg whites
50g of caster sugar (1/4 cup)
50g of icing sugar (1/2 cup)
8 ounces fresh strawberries (1/2 pound)
8 ounces fresh raspberries (1/2 pound)
1 TBS (Plus an extra dash) of raspberry liqueur
200ml of double cream (7 fluid ounces)
200ml of natural yogurt (7 fluid ounces)

Preheat the oven to 100*C/200*F/ gas mark 1/4. whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then beat in the caster sugar a bit at a time. Continue whisking for a further 10 minutes until the mixture is smooth and shiny, then sift in the icing sugar. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper. Spoon the egg white mixture onto the paper in about six dollops, and bake in the oven until dry, but with a slightly soft, chewy centre. This should take about 2 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

When ready to put the pudding together, trim and cut the strawberries into halves or quarters, depending on the size. Toss with a splash of raspberry liqueur. Stir in the raspberries, reserving a few to decorate the tops of the desserts.

Lightly whip the cream together with the yogurt and a TBS of the Raspberry liqueur. Break the meringues into bite sized pieces and fold them gently into the cream mixture. Carefully mix in the fruit. You want it to have a bit of a raspberry ripple effect.

Spoon into chilled glasses, garnishing each serving with several raspberries. Keep chilled until you are ready to serve. Must be served within 2 hours of putting together.

It's my birthday today, and I'm treating myself . . . ALL . . . day . . . long!