Eton Mess Cookies

Chunky cookies with white chocolate, freeze dried strawberry and meringue pieces

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cookies

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 12

Chilling time 30

Total Time 1 7

Servings

Calories 261kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ideally using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, caster sugar and light brown soft sugar together until fluffy and paler in colour. This will take 3-5 minutes in an electric mixer (I use speed 3)
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix in
Add the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix them in until just combined
Then mix in the white chocolate chips, freeze dried strawberries and meringue briefly, just to evenly distribute them
Divide the dough into portions, I weighed the dough out to make each cookie an equal size (they were roughly 56g each)
Roll the dough portions into balls using your hands, place them on either a lined baking tray, or into a tupperware container lined with baking paper. Chill them in the fridge for 30 minutes
Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6
After the 30 minutes is up and your oven is pre-heated, place the dough balls onto lined baking trays, leaving space (at least 2") between them to spread. If you don't have enough baking trays, keep the dough in the fridge and bake the cookies in batches
Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking trays before moving to a cooling rack
Enjoy warm, or once fully cooled decorate them with the melted white chocolate and freeze dried strawberry slices
Store in an airtight container and eat within 3 days. They also be frozen

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used unsalted butter for this recipe, a baking spread will work but butter produces a nicer taste.
You can find freeze dried strawberries in the shops (such as Waitrose and Sainsbury's) but I tend to buy them on Amazon because you can get a larger amount for better value. They last quite a while and you can them in so many recipes, or sprinkle them on your cereal for example.
I used ready made meringue nests and broke them up into chunks.
You can use either white chocolate chips or a chopped up white chocolate bar for the cookies.
For the best flavour, use a vanilla extract and not an essence.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.