Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Joy of Mousse and Jell-O

While in New York my aunt made such a yummy dessert for my niece's birthday and it was made out of... ready for this? Jell-O. I don't even like Jell-O. But this, this was good.
So, for my godson's namesday I decided to put this dessert, along with some chocolate mousse, on the menu. I have to say though that the Jell-O wasn't as good as  my aunt's, most things aren't as she IS Pinterest. She's never been on it, doesn't know what it is, but she doesn't need to, because she IS Pinterest.  Plus, things just taste better when someone makes them for you.

2 large packages strawberry Jell-O
2 large packages raspberry Jell-O
1 cup cold milk
2 cups boiling water
2 pints heavy cream
5 packages frozen sliced strawberries in sugar (thawed)
(8 cups of liquid total)


-Put Jell-O in bowl
-Add 2 cups boiling water & mix well
-Add 1 cup cold milk
-Take heavy cream and whip stiff
-Mix Jell-O mixture into whipped cream
-Fold in strawberries
-Place mixture into Jell-O mold
-Refrigerate overnight

The recipe called for either raspberry or strawberry Jello-O so I decided to use a little of both. Also I only had one Jell-O mold and this recipe makes more than what could fit in one mold so I used my Bundt cake mold. This worked great except in order to get it out I had to melt it a little and I placed it in warm water for too long.  When I flipped it over it was more melted than anticipated and didn't look so pretty. To make it a little better I got to borrow my in-law's awesome instant whipped cream maker and added some to the top.  This thing is amazing. Somehow I've never seen one before but apparently the rest of the world is very well aware of this gadget.

The chocolate mousse tasted pretty good. I was nervous about the texture at first because of the egg yolks; by the way, had no idea there were egg yolks in mousse. You learn so many things when you start cooking...

4 1/2 oz dark chocolate chopped
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup whipping cream, lightly whipped

-Melt chocolate in bowl over simmering water (do not let bowl touch water)
-Cool slightly
-Lightly beat egg yolks
-Stir yolks into chocolate
-Fold in lightly whipped cream until velvety
-Beat egg whites into soft peaks
-Fold one spoonful of fluffy egg into mixture with metal spoon
-Gently fold in remainder


The recipe said to put the mousse into the fridge overnight in separate containers such as ramekins or wine glasses (covered).  I put everything into a large bowl as I quadrupled the recipe due to the amount of people we were having.  The above recipe serves 6.  My mousse also melted just a tad so it wasn't as firm as it was supposed to be. Our drive was 40 minutes or so in the car. Perhaps that also had something to do with it... Despite the presentation not being the best, I did receive one of the nicest compliments of my life. The complimenter (this should be a real word in the English language) may have been under the influence but in life you should take what you can get.

"I am so happy that you married your husband
so that you could be here today to make me this dessert!"
 
Overall, these desserts were easy, fairly quick, and probably will be repeated in the future.  The call for ramekins in the mousse recipe inspired me to actually use the millions of ramekins that I have (more like 12 but in our tiny cupboards they seems like they are overflowing) for ramekin purposes other than condiment holders on burger night. Perhaps individual servings of real chocolate pudding will be in my in near or perhaps far off future.
 
~What are some of your favorite desserts to bring to a party?~
 

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