Eton Mess Cookies

Fact: Strawberries take a slot in my top 3 favourite fruits - first place goes to mangoes (Thai), second goes to watermelon (preferably the yellow variety...) and third is strawberries but even then I'm a bit picky. I prefer Scottish varieties, such as Sonata, which is only available around June time. I think Scottish strawberries generally just taste sweeter and the flesh is a bit softer and the overall fruit a rounder looking in appearance. 

The fruitiness of strawberries I really love in desserts (particularly cheesecake!) so imagine my interest when I recently eyed up a bag of eton mess cookies at my local Co-Op supermarket. It was nice but it could be better. So after aquiring a few bottles of meringue drops and a bag of freeze dried strawberries, I set out to make my own version of eton mess cookies. I based the cookies on my favourite cookie recipe, but swapped out the chocolate add ins for white chocolate, meringue drops and chopped freeze dried strawberries. The meringue drops and white chocolate are quite sweet already so I've reduced the sugar by a smigeon in the cookie dough to try offset the sweetness.

And I was going to take some decent photos on my SLR but unsurprisingly the battery was dead and I've misplaced the memory card somewhere. Just proves how long it's been since I blogged anything decent! These have been taken on my phone which lacks a little depth but it'll do for now! 

ETON MESS COOKIES
Recipe based on NY Times Cookie
Yields around 15 large cookies

Browned Butter

250g unsalted butter

Cookie Dough

120g plain flour
120g strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch
70g browned butter
70g salted butter
120g soft light brown sugar
120g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use Neilsen Massey)
50g white chocolate, chopped into chunks (mine were approx 0.75- 1cm cube sized)
40g freeze dried strawberries, chopped (mine were approx 0.5cm square size ish)
40g Meringue drops (can omit if you can't get hold of these- I used PME Meringue Drop Spinkles)

1. Make the browned butter. In a light coloured, medium sized saucepan- melt the butter over a medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it turns a pale golden brown and the milk solids turn into flecks of reddy brown colour. The butter at this stage will smell lovely with a nutty aroma. Be careful not to heat the butter too long as it can burn quite easily in a matter of seconds. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
2. Sift the flours, bicarb of soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt into a bowl and set aside. 
3. Cream the sugars, browned butter and salted butter using a stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
4. Pour the sifted dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on low until just incorporated. Add the chocolate chunks, strawberries and meringue drops and mix on low until evenly dispersed.
5. Line a baking tin using baking parchment/ greaseproof paper and press the cookie dough into the tray roughly to around 1inch high. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a few baking trays with baking parchment. Cut the chilled dough into 1.5 inch cubes. Bake using the middle shelf of the oven for around 10minutes for a softer gooey cookie. 10-12 minutes for firmer, slightly more crisp cookie. Cool on the tray for 10minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

NOTES:

• If you don't have a baking tray to press the dough into - roll out a sheet of clingfilm and pressing the dough into a 1.5 inch thick slab also works. Wrap up with clingfilm and chill as per instructions.
• If using browned butter that has been made in advance i.e. it has solidified - use as regular butter and cream with the sugars as you would do normally. 
• I prefer to cut my cookie dough into cubes as it's much easier and less messy than rolling into balls. It might give slightly neater looking cookies using the ball rolling method but the cubing method gives a more rustic look, which I like! The cubes melt into pretty neat circular shapes anyway...
• Baking times may vary depending on your oven- the times I've listed above is according to my oven. The cookies should be light golden all over with the edges being slightly darker.