A(n Eton) Mess of Fruit, Cookies, and Cream

And we are in it.  Into 2018, into bomb cyclones, into post-holiday blues; you name it -- we are there.  You know what I'm into right now?  Or more accurately so NOT into?  This juice cleanse that I committed to when I was plenty more optimistic and well-fed than currently the case.

For future reference? I'm not a juice cleanse girl.
Cream? Of course. Sugar? Heck yeah. Butter? GIVE ME ALL THE BUTTER. 😋😋😋

Raw juices and no chewing? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

It seems that in my post-holiday reset, I may have flipped the switch just a tad too much.  Not hard to imagine, right?  After all, how many of us just needed a break from food after this past month? All the cakes, and cookies, and brownies, and. . . oh, oh, oh I have to stop, or I may start crying at the loved and lost treats of the past.  😭

But really, totally normal to want to dial it down a bit.  So here's my advice.  DON'T do a juice cleanse.  Just take it down a notch.  You don't necessarily have to give up dessert, just do something fruit based instead of pound cake (you know why it's named pound cake, right?) Here, try this little beauty out.  It's easy enough to make that you'll be happy before you eat it, and satisfied, but not out of commission after you eat it.  And trust me, you'll be very, very happy while you're eating it.

Holiday Eaton Mess

This is one of my favorite projects.  And one of the reasons is that it has so many lovely little components, and only two of them need to be hand-made(okay three, if you include the whipped cream, but really people -- whipped cream is easy, yes, yes it is.)  Not even those three honestly, if you're okay using store bought macarons and meringues.  But if you do go the handmade route, even those can be made in advance, so the day you serve this, all you have to do is put the whole "mess" together.

Make the macarons up to a month in advance and freeze individually in double layers of saran wrap.  The day before you need them, defrost in the refrigerator, and then bring to room temperature for a few hours.

Meringues can be made 3-5 days in advance and stored at room temperature in plastic airtight containers.

And then, you know what you need? Some freshly whipped cream and a TON of fruit.  Approximately.  Maybe slightly less than an actual ton, but a LOT.  I got a bunch of red fruit because I wanted to keep the colors in the same family, but you can really do whatever you want.

Rough chop your meringue -- you still want to be able to get a nice crunch, so make sure pieces are on the larger side.

Arrange in a ring shape on an oversized round platter.

Pipe whipped cream over the meringue so that you almost cover the meringue completely.  Trust me when I say pipe this -- if you spoon the whipped cream over the meringue and try to spread it, you will lose that pretty ring shape.  The meringue is too light to stay in place.

Then, top with all of your little goodies.  The little meringues, the macarons, the cherries, pomegranate seeds, and strawberries.   

Let your inner artist sing!

And then behold the beauty.