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If you haven’t discovered Eton Mess now is your chance! Blackberry and Pistachio Ice Cream Eton Mess is simple yet so impressive!
Fans of Eton mess will love this Eton Mess Semifreddo!
Summer should be the season for fresh fruit and cold treats. Sadly the British summer often doesn’t cooperate, giving us the same grey clouds and drizzly days we get in other seasons.
Still it’s our summer and we make the best of it, which brings me to the best of British classics, Eton Mess.
Admittedly, I messed with the original quite a bit. Traditionally Eton Mess is a combination of fresh strawberries, cream and meringue pieces artfully thrown together.
But there are plenty of traditional recipes on the internet, so why write another one! Also, blackberries are fantastic to experiment with and bring something really special to a dessert like this one.
We happen to live a short walk away from a copious amount of wild blackberry bushes and we try to take advantage of them every August. The proof is in all the blackberry recipes on my blog!
We try to make the most of blackberry season and gather enough to keep us going all year long. They freeze very well and are a great addition to so many desserts and drinks.
Blackberries inspired me to make my own version of the classic Eton mess. Although the ingredients are different, it has the same mix of creamy, sweet and summer freshness of the original recipe.
Ice cream Eton mess
This Blackberry and Pistachio Ice Cream Eton Mess is a quick and beautiful dessert idea for that special dinner that calls for a dessert but you just have no time to pull it off!
It’s delicious and impressive but essentially it is a fancy Ice Cream Sunday. I made my own pistachio ice cream but feel free to use a store bought version.
What I absolutely love about Eton Mess is how easy it is to prepare since all the ingredients can be bought. All you have to do is to assemble before serving or better yet present it as a buffet, so everybody can build their own!
Just make sure you don’t make it in advance. If the dessert sits too long the meringue pieces will lose their crunch, so best to assemble right before eating.
Pistachio ice cream
Pistachio ice cream is one of my families favourite flavours. We discovered it on one of our trips to Italy and now buy it every chance we get.
Sadly it is never quite as amazing outside of Italy. Every other time we tried pistachio ice cream it looked the part but its cloying sweet and artificial taste was only sub par.
It turns out it’s not very easy to extract as much flavour from pistachios as Italians seemed to master, so the only way is to cheat. This ice cream recipe is quite possibly the easiest you can find.
It’s no-churn and only has 5 ingredients-whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, Italian pistachio paste, a pinch of salt and chopped pistachios. I bought my pistachio paste at Marks & Spencer but if you don’t live in the UK you can easily find a similar product on Amazon or in Italian delis. It’s wonderfully versatile ingredient jammed with flavour, perfect for treats such as creamy pistachio frosting!
The Eton mess recipe is for two people, but you will have a lot of the pistachio ice cream left over. Store any extra ice cream in an air tight container in your freezer.
More no-bake desserts
- Layered blackberry fool
- Blueberry limoncello trifle
- Pumpkin mousse trifle
- Strawberry meringue cheesecake
Blackberry and Pistachio Ice Cream Eton Mess
Ingredients
For the pistachio ice cream
- 500 ml/ 2 cups double/whipping cream
- 1 x 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
- 100 g/1/3 cup pistachio spread, I used Pariani
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp chopped pistachios
For the blackberry and pistachio ice cream Eton Mess
- 100 g/3/4 cup fresh blackberries plus a few extra for garnish
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 125 ml/1/2 cup creme fraiche or whipping cream
- 4 scoop pistachio ice cream
- 1 broken meringue nest
- 1 tbsp chopped toasted pistachios
Instructions
For the pistachio ice cream
- Toast pistachios on a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant and slightly browned. Remove immediately, chop and set aside.
- In a large bowl whip all the ingredients with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, don’t overbeat, we are not looking for a whipped cream here.
- Pour in a freezer safe container, sprinkle chopped toasted pistachios and gently swirl them in the mixture. Cover with a cling wrap and aluminium foil and freeze for 5-7 hours.
For the blackberry and pistachio ice cream Eton Mess
- In a small bowl mash blackberries with a fork, add sugar and mix. Let sit for a couple of minutes for the sugar to dissolve.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the blackberry mixture and set aside. Swirl the remaining mashed blackberries into creme fraiche or whipped cream and divide the mixture between two serving dishes.
- Top with two scoops of pistachio ice cream each, broken meringue, reserved blackberry mixture and fresh blackberries, sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was more than a dessert. Eating it was an incredible experience. I followed the directions with the exception of two changes: I made my own pistachio paste, and I froze the ice cream in an ice-cream freezer. Absolutely the most fabulous dessert I’ve ever eaten. My guests gave it a 10!
I am so excited to hear you enjoyed this dessert, Joyce! Thank you for sharing this with me.
This is amazingly beautiful, and I can’t wait to try it. I have two questions. How to make meringue nests and can you give the American measurements for all the ingredients?
Hi Joyce, I actually purchase the meringue nests but if they are not available where you live, here is the recipe for meringue, which you can use for the nests. This recipe provides the measurements in cups as well as in weights. They are next to each other in the recipe card.
This was truly the best ice cream I’ve ever had! It was just so dang good!
It’s my husband’s favourite, so I needed to try making it at home! 🙂
Oh my goodness! This ice cream looks fabulous and so yummy! Such a great flavor and very cooling for summer! My husband is going to LOVE this ice cream, so excited!
Such a gorgeous dessert and your pistachio ice cream looks dreamy!
Thanks, Laura! I can’t resist creamy pistachio ice cream in the summer, especially when coupled with blackberries!
Where u get pistachio paste?
I’ve written about it in the post, Diana.
This sounds utterly lovely! We’re really busy picking all the blackberries we can this year too. The rain seems to have brought so many to ripeness all at once and the brambles are suddenly heaving with them. I love the idea of using them for an Eton Mess – yum!
Jennie x
Thanks so much, Jennie! I simply cannot believe the abundance of blackberries this year! So much fun!