Special/festive dessert which won't stress me out?

[notamumyetbutoneday]

We have friends coming over on Christmas eve for dinner and I would like to do a special dessert. However the catch is this lengthy list of requirements:

1. It must be able to be made the day before as Im at work until 5pm on Christmas Eve (bah humbug)

2. It can't have mincemeat/sultanas etc in as the guests dont like that, so that rules out mince pie/Christmas pud type desserts

3. I would rather it didnt cost a blinking fortune to make as everyhting else I seem to make does. [Does anyone else get disheartened that it costs an arm and a leg to cook from scratch but I could buy a cheesecake from asda for £1. I digress.]

4. Nigellas anglo-italian trifle, bannoffee pie, various cheesecakes, chocolate mousse and chocolate fondue are all out as I have made these previously for them.

5. I would like it to look like Ive gone to loads of trouble but it to be actually very easy.

Not difficult then.

I was considering perhaps

a) Meringues with cream, fruit etc or
b) Roulade of some descriotion

But as ive never made either of these before, is that asking for trouble? Would they be really difficult and if not which is easiest?

Thank you if you've managed to read to the end of this!

Sorry for the bossy itemised lists-I'm in work mode!

Pavlova is easy and very lovely.

There is a foolproof recpie for meringues in Nigella's feast (welll I made them and they worked). Fill with double cream and rasberries and blueberries. Mmmmmmm

Or how about just a basic trifle. Tastes nicer if it is made the day before.

Profiteroles are dead easy and look impressive if you stack them up. Store them in an airtight container overnight. Just need to be filled with cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce on the day.

Delia's Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding is dead easy to make, can (and in fact should) be made 24 / 48 hours ahead and is quite cheap (bread, cream and chocolate essentially - not calorie free though).
Just make ahead and then cook it the evening you wish to eat it.
Delicious

Second the chocolate B&B pudding, it is lovely. Pavlova is good as you can buy cases and fill up yourself.

or a modern take on the traditional trifle? Use chocolate and tia maria or fruit and pudding wine?

You could make a winter fruit strudel type thing:
Stew apples/rhubarb/any fruit you fancy really like you would for a pie or crumble and allow to cool.

Roll out a rectangle of ready made puff pastry and spoon the fruit down one (long) half of the pastry.

Fold the pastry over the fruit and seal.

Cut some slits at intervals down the strudel

Egg or milk wash and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake in the oven at about 200/gas 6 (I think) for about 20-25 mins or until the pastry is golden brown & crispy

self saucing hot chocolate pudding, baked in a nice oven to table dish, served with good vanilla icecream and berry sauce? (blendered fruit of the forrest and sugar)
whole thing takes about 5 minutes to make and 40 minutes to cook, and is fine cooked the day before and reheated

Thank you for all your suggestions, Im definitely leaning towards a pavlova of some description as i think this will be a lighter end to th meal given everyone will be pigging out the next day.

I think I might make a pavlova this weekend and scoff it as a test purely for research and development purposes of course.

Pavlova would be ideal. I have made the meringue shell up to a week ahead, it keeps fine stored in an airtight container (I use a large casserole dish!)

I would go for the fantastic mumsnet lemon classic. It takes 1 minute to make. Tastes as if you spent at least an hour. Looks fantastic and festive, and you can try it out in advance. Oh, and its pretty cheap too.

So

Basically layers of lemon curd and a creamy greek yoghurt in a posh glass topped with a sprinkling of muscovado sugar. And a sprig of mint or something if you like that sort of thing.

My DH was but absolutely adored it and we now often serve it to guests who ask for the recipe. I lie .

ooh, can we have your pavlova recipe chewy?

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forgotten pudding sounds perfect. i like the idea of whacking it in the oven adn forgeting about it.

Ooh that forgotten pudding sounds ideal!!! It looks so festive as well with the coloured berries!!

Ive just a couple of questions- are the timings/quanities etc ok, as Ive heard Nigella can be hit and miss when it comes to this?

Also, I dont have a swiss roll tin, is this essential? Ive googled and it just looks like an oven tray to be honest, could I use an oven tray instead?

Thank you

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Some sort of Lemon tart? Lemon always goes down well after dinner.

Alternatively, Ramsays chocolate and cardamom tart is lovely and a little different.

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The success of our Christmas Eve soiree with friends depends upon you Christiana...

I think I will invest in a swiss roll tin, its probably worth having anyway. Ovenwise I think mine is ok- I havent had any major problems but Ive never made somethign as precise as meringues before. A road test this weekend is a must.

Gah! now Im torn!

lol chirsti-nigel-ana, very thorough! Burden of responsibility duly removed

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Ive seen those pistachio crescents recommended on here before. I don't actually own any of Nigella's books- her recipes always look sooo yummy but Icve been put off by a) the uber-calorificnes of them and b) hearing that timings etc are inexact. I may have to make a quick addition to my Christmas list now though!

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I think I am definitely heading meringue-wards, I am going to do a practice run this weekend I just can't decide between that pavlova and forgotten pudding. The pistachio crescents sound lovely with coffee for another occasion but one of our friends isnt that keen on nuts so not this time.