Monday, April 16, 2007

Hey Hey It's Donna Day #11 - Mousse


mousse
[MOOS]
A French term meaning "froth" or "foam," mousse is a rich, airy dish that can be either sweet or savory and hot or cold. Cold dessert mousses are usually made with fruit puree or a flavoring such as chocolate. Their fluffiness is due to the addition of whipped cream or beaten egg whites and they're often fortified with gelatin. Savory mousses can be made from meat, fish, shellfish

Some people,like me, are squicked out by the thought of eating raw eggs and some
people, like me, are put off at the thought of working with gelatine for fear of ending with something that feels like rubber. So when Helen of Tartlette named mousse as the theme for Hey Hey It's Donna Day #11 I had a wee challenge ahead of me - to find an eggless, gelatineless mousse recipe.

I now present to you the easiest lemon mousse you will ever make. No seriously! It is dead easy and takes just minutes to prepare. No eggs, no gelatin and only three ingredients. The recipe is courtesy of my mum and she can't remember where she first saw it but has been making it for years and receives rave reviews. It's an ideal recipe to remember if you get caught and have to make a dessert at the last minute. As long as you can run to the store for some cream, if you have lemons in the fruitbowl and a can of condensed milk in your pantry you are good to go.

The Easiest Lemon Mousse You'll Ever Make

Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk - not lite
150-300 mls cream (less will give you a thicker end result)
Juice of 4 lisbon lemons - this recipe does not work with meyers and I can't vouch for any other varieties
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons


Method
In a medium sized bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form
In another bowl mix together the condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest
Fold the cream into the lemon mixture until combined
Pour into your chosen serving dish/dishes and refrigerate until ready to serve
The mixture will thicken up on standing and will be quite stable for several days
It is particularly nice served in a brandy snap basket or as a filling for brandy snaps themselves. The brandy snaps will melt if left too long so it's best to fill them just before serving

For a recipe to make your own brandy snaps check out the Chelsea Sugar website here. Or, for a brandy snap basket recipe see here.

15 comments:

Deb R said...

That looks yummy!! And when I saw that first pic, I thought "I bet those are brandy snap baskets"...are you proud? :-)

But I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between a lisbon lemon and a meyer lemon.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Lemon...just can't beat it on great flavor! This looks excellent. The Brandy Snap Baskets looks so fun.
Because of the comment above I googled lisbon lemon and found this fascinating
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/lemons.html
Great Moos!!

Brilynn said...

Who would have thought you could make it with condensed milk? Looks good.

Helene said...

Looks delicious! and lemon...yum!!
Don't forget to email me your entry with a pic attached!

Lis said...

Looks and sounds wonderful.. inside the snaps would be the way I'd go.. I heart crunchedy on the outside, creamy on the inside..

Now forgive me.. but what the hell are you lemons sporting Sunkist labels for when you've got a giant tree outside?

xoxo

Peabody said...

I think you may be right...that does look pretty easy...and pretty tasty.

Freya said...

Yum, I like the idea of a fast and tasty mousse! I wish we had different types of lemons here, we just have waxed or unwaxed!

Barbara said...

Lemon mousse and brandy snap baskets - what a perfect combination. Thanks for participating.

Bron said...

Oh this is a classic combination!
Love it!

Anonymous said...

When you beat raw egg whites with sugar, enough heat is generated through friction that it actually "cooks" it. That is what allows proteins to denature enough to hold stiff peaks.
Don't shy away from "raw" egg whites, since they aren't really raw.

Unknown said...

Looks beautiful and sounds simple. Great job!

Dolores said...

I'm always looking for quick and simple dessert recipes, and this looks like a winner -- full of flavor and eye-appeal without hours of effort. Thanks for sharing!

So So Simple said...

Hi

I love the thought of this mousse. We have a grandson who is allergic to eggs and I am frequently trying to find any food without eggs.
I will make this for the next family dinner.
Thanks Morven

Jasmine said...

I made this mousse for Mother's day and it was a success! Everyone was wondering how I created such a wonderful texture and taste... Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe!

manoulaDuoMikrwn said...

I made this mousse the other day and we loved it... I couldn't get hold of lisbon lemons, so it had an extra taste of lemon, but we do love lemons in the family!!!