Ease of Preparation: Hard
Time of Preparation: 1 hour
Yield: 6 servings
This fun, unique handheld dessert is guaranteed to wow the guests at your New Year’s soiree. Crunchy meringue, sweet grapes, decadent whipped cream, and one-of-a-kind Champagne Concord Grape Jam are layered in Champagne flutes for a toast-worthy presentation. Toast the New Year in style!
Ingredients:
Champagne Concord Grape Jam:
- 2 pounds (907 g) concord grapes, stemmed
- 2 cups (470 ml) sparkling wine
- ½ cup (120 ml) sugar
- 1 lemon, juice
Eton Mess:
- 2 cups (470 ml) seedless green grapes, halved
- 1 cup (240 ml) whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- Prepared pavlova or meringue cookies, crumbled (about 2 cups)
- Champagne Concord Grape Jam
Special Equipment:
6 champagne flutes
Method:
For the Champagne Concord Grape Jam:
In a saucepan, heat the grapes, sparkling wine, and sugar and cook for 1 hour, until soft.
Remove the pan from heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth and thick.
Refrigerate for 90 minutes.
When cool, whisk in lemon juice until fully combined.
For the Eton Mess:
Whisk the whip cream (or process in a stand mixer) until it forms soft peaks. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat again to just combine.
In the champagne flutes, alternate layers of the whipped cream, chopped meringue, spoonfuls of the grape jam, and grapes, finishing with a layer of chopped meringue. Two layers of each ingredient should fill a champagne flute.
Serve immediately.