Feel free to swap out fresh berries for the cherries; hulled and quarter strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries all are good. Toss them in a generous sprinkle of sugar, and perhaps a spoonful of
kirsch. If using berries, you can fold some of them into the cream with the meringues to make a more cohesive “mess.” (But if you fold the cherries into the cream, because they are so juicy, them will make the cream too loose and affect the color.)
To take it easy, you can buy and use pre-made meringues, although since I always seem to have
extra egg whites on hand, I make them myself. Because it’s hard to make meringues with just one egg white, you will have extra meringues left over; extras can crumbled over ice cream or frozen for future use.
Variations: If you’re not a fan of almond flavoring, substitute vanilla extract for the amaretti liqueur in the whipped cream, to taste. For those fortunate to have access to fresh sour cherries, replace some of the sweet cherries in the compote with pitted sour cherries. Similarly, you can add a handful of dried sour cherries to the fresh (sweet) cherries, adding them toward the end of cooking.