Dairy Free Eton Mess

Earlier this week I had a huge punnet of strawberries, I had decided I wanted to try oven dried strawberries and then thought it would be nice to have an Eton Mess, Nate is dairy free so we hit a bit of a wall. So I got thinking what would be a good alternative.

Eton Mess Nate style
Handful of strawberries - chopped
Meringue Nest - crumbled
Tablespoon of Oven dried strawberries
2 Tablespoons of Coconut Cream - tinned version

Make sure you get the coconut cream and not milk, you also don't want to shake it up as you want the thick bit at the top of the can. Add more or less coconut cream to your taste.

Scatter the dry strawberries on top after you have mixed the strawberries, meringue and coconut cream. Eat immediately.

If you want the taste of cream it hasn't quite got it but for someone who hasn't had cream for a while it is a worthy substitute. Nate finished his bowl and then came and helped both of us finish our Eton Mess the finest compliment I think.

To make the over dried strawberries, you need to wash the strawberries, dry them and then chop them into quarters. Lay them on to a baking sheet that has been covered with baking paper or greaseproof paper, make sure they aren't touching.

Strawberries laid out not touching ready for oven drying.

Cook on low (100C) for about an hour and a half and then turn them over and continue cooking for another hour and half. If you like them slightly chewy you will need to adjust the times.

Dried strawberries