don't need to discuss much
After I made the lemon olive oil cake on Saturday, I still had a container of freshly-squeezed (by my own hands!) lemon juice left, even after I made myself some tasty lemonade. So I was seized with the notion to make lemon mousse of some sort. I could use my new ramekins! I could store it in the freezer! I could have something sweet for dessert to stop me from eating the awesome chocolate cupcakes so I can have them for breakfast for the rest of the week!
I sorted through a few recipes online and decided I would make a crumb crust for the bottom of the ramekins, and I would use this recipe, even though that is technically for topping.
Then I found this easy lemon mousse recipe and I was ready to go. I altered some things here and there, which I'll note below.
First, I made the crumbs. I did not have a pastry blender, so I used a fork.
Ingredients
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 6 tbsp butter, diced
I added a pinch of ground ginger, which was probably too much, even though it smelled really good.
Directions
In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork or stand mixer just until the topping is crumbly. Press into bottom of greased ramekins and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
This makes a lot of crumb topping (or should I say bottoming? sorry! I can't resist sometimes!) - I made four ramekins:
and still easily covered the bottom of an 8x8 cake pan. (Which was good, because I ended up with a ridiculously large amount of mousse. more on that anon.) I also turned the oven off and left everything in it, to save space. This was a bad idea, because the crumbs kept cooking and were therefore hard as a rock when I finally got around to trying to eat them. Otherwise, I think the idea is sound - they add a nice texture to the really smooth mousse, if you like that sort of thing - but I don't think it's necessary. (The mousse recipe I used suggested using crushed nilla wafers as a crust, which would also work, and probably be easier. And already cooked. *snerk*)
Then I started on the mousse itself.
Lemon Velvet Mousse
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. & 1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 c. heavy cream
6 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. salt
zest of 1 lemon (I added this, because I wanted a more intense lemon flavor, and I'm not sure it worked - it definitely didn't blend as well as I'd hoped.)
Directions:
Dissolve sugar in lemon juice and stir.
Whip cream and refrigerate.
This is when I knew I was making a lot more mousse than I had originally anticipated (I had mostly gone on the amount of lemon juice, comparing it to what I had available, and it was only when I was measuring out 3 cups of heavy cream that I went, um, oops?).
Beat egg yolks slightly with salt. Add to lemon mixture and beat thoroughly until thick.
(I couldn't get a picture of this that didn't look really awful.)
Fold in whipped cream.
Beat whites until stiff but not dry,
and fold into mixture until thoroughly combined.
please note: this is a 5 quart mixing bowl.
Pour into pan. Top with remaining crumbs. (as you can see, I skipped that step)
Wrap and freeze. Remove from freezer, unwrap, place on serving platter (this originally calls for a springform pan, which I didn't use) and refrigerate 2 1/2 to 3 hours before serving. Any leftover mousse can be frozen again, but return to the freezer before it loses its shape.
Aside from it making way more than I expected (I filled four 6 oz. ramekins and 2 8x8" pans, only one of which fit in the freezer), it tastes REALLY GOOD (as long as you don't freak out about the raw eggs, which I do occasionally, but then I remember how good it tastes, and I stop). And I expect it will be even better after more than the 40 minutes refrigeration I allowed last night before I tore into one of the ramekins. It has a very light, mellow lemon flavor - I was hoping for something sharper and more lemony, so I may cut down on the sugar next time. And cut the whole recipe in half, because wow, that is a lot of lemon mousse. And skip the crumbs, because eh, they're not necessary, imo. But it's very, very tasty, and it's definitely velvety smooth, zest notwithstanding.
This was another recipe that required a lot of bowls and utensils, so the washing up was extensive, but I'll have dessert for a few weeks. *snerk*
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/128255.html.
people have commented there.
I sorted through a few recipes online and decided I would make a crumb crust for the bottom of the ramekins, and I would use this recipe, even though that is technically for topping.
Then I found this easy lemon mousse recipe and I was ready to go. I altered some things here and there, which I'll note below.
First, I made the crumbs. I did not have a pastry blender, so I used a fork.
Ingredients
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 6 tbsp butter, diced
I added a pinch of ground ginger, which was probably too much, even though it smelled really good.
Directions
In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork or stand mixer just until the topping is crumbly. Press into bottom of greased ramekins and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
This makes a lot of crumb topping (or should I say bottoming? sorry! I can't resist sometimes!) - I made four ramekins:
and still easily covered the bottom of an 8x8 cake pan. (Which was good, because I ended up with a ridiculously large amount of mousse. more on that anon.) I also turned the oven off and left everything in it, to save space. This was a bad idea, because the crumbs kept cooking and were therefore hard as a rock when I finally got around to trying to eat them. Otherwise, I think the idea is sound - they add a nice texture to the really smooth mousse, if you like that sort of thing - but I don't think it's necessary. (The mousse recipe I used suggested using crushed nilla wafers as a crust, which would also work, and probably be easier. And already cooked. *snerk*)
Then I started on the mousse itself.
Lemon Velvet Mousse
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. & 1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 c. heavy cream
6 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. salt
zest of 1 lemon (I added this, because I wanted a more intense lemon flavor, and I'm not sure it worked - it definitely didn't blend as well as I'd hoped.)
Directions:
Dissolve sugar in lemon juice and stir.
Whip cream and refrigerate.
This is when I knew I was making a lot more mousse than I had originally anticipated (I had mostly gone on the amount of lemon juice, comparing it to what I had available, and it was only when I was measuring out 3 cups of heavy cream that I went, um, oops?).
Beat egg yolks slightly with salt. Add to lemon mixture and beat thoroughly until thick.
(I couldn't get a picture of this that didn't look really awful.)
Fold in whipped cream.
Beat whites until stiff but not dry,
and fold into mixture until thoroughly combined.
please note: this is a 5 quart mixing bowl.
Pour into pan. Top with remaining crumbs. (as you can see, I skipped that step)
Wrap and freeze. Remove from freezer, unwrap, place on serving platter (this originally calls for a springform pan, which I didn't use) and refrigerate 2 1/2 to 3 hours before serving. Any leftover mousse can be frozen again, but return to the freezer before it loses its shape.
Aside from it making way more than I expected (I filled four 6 oz. ramekins and 2 8x8" pans, only one of which fit in the freezer), it tastes REALLY GOOD (as long as you don't freak out about the raw eggs, which I do occasionally, but then I remember how good it tastes, and I stop). And I expect it will be even better after more than the 40 minutes refrigeration I allowed last night before I tore into one of the ramekins. It has a very light, mellow lemon flavor - I was hoping for something sharper and more lemony, so I may cut down on the sugar next time. And cut the whole recipe in half, because wow, that is a lot of lemon mousse. And skip the crumbs, because eh, they're not necessary, imo. But it's very, very tasty, and it's definitely velvety smooth, zest notwithstanding.
This was another recipe that required a lot of bowls and utensils, so the washing up was extensive, but I'll have dessert for a few weeks. *snerk*
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/128255.html.
people have commented there.