It took more than two years, but I’ve finally ventured into the last untouched dessert category – Group 15: Cold Desserts – with 15-1: Lemon Mousse. I’ve experimented with mousse before, both within this project and in my own cooking (here’s one of my desserts from my restaurant days), but I’ve never made this version. It’s simple, refreshing, and a good summer dessert. ?
This recipe is for lemon, but you could probably substitute orange, lime, or something else citrusy that’s similar if you want to get creative/different with it. This freezes/holds well, so you can make it even further in advance of the night before if you want. ❄
Mousse sounds difficult (or like something that isn’t worth the extra time that could be saved by using a pre-packaged mix), but it really isn’t. The hardest part is separating the eggs and whipping the whites, and any marginally-experienced cook has done that a few times by now.
Ingredients. There’s not many to this one–the lemons are from the tree in my parents’ front yard. Note that this recipe uses gelatin, which makes it non-vegetarian. If you’re looking for a vegetarian-friendly mousse recipe (one that doesn’t use gelatin), try 15-2: Chocolate Mousse.
Dissolving the gelatin–I had an interesting experience making mousse with gelatin sheets when working in the restaurant–I’d only ever worked with the powdered kind, like above.
Egg yolks to be creamed with sugar.
After mixing the egg yolk & sugar.
Flopped my blob of dissolved gelatin into the bottom of my saucepan.
Folding the whipped cream into the egg/lemon/sugar mixture.
Whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks using the stand mixer.
Folded the whipped whites into the egg/lemon/cream mixture and put ¾ of it into a big Pyrex container. The other ¼ of it went into a ramekin for fancy picture/plating purposes. I’m the only one that’ll be eating this, so no use in plating up all four.
Here’s that ramekin with some fancy whipped cream and lemon zest garnish. I ate this one, along with the other big container of it, and I regret little about it. It’s a great light dessert, and much easier than you think. My advice: put them in the individual serving dishes before chilling, otherwise it won’t look nice when you serve it later.
Grade: A
