White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

One of my bonus goals is to bake outside of my comfort zone. I doubled up on this challenge in February. How? 1) Using white chocolate and 2) Mousse without egg whites.

White chocolate does not contain any cocoa in it - it comes from the butter of a cocoa bean - and in my mind this disqualifies it from being real chocolate. As a result, I rarely bake with it. Another difficulty is white chocolate melts at a lower temperature than regular chocolate. The biggest challenge I have is melting but not overheating white chocolate. I've learned that overheated white chocolate gets clumpy and doesn't melt at that point.

Mousse. I have made many a mousse in my day, always using whipped egg whites folded into the chocolate mixture. I heard that whipping cream was also an option. Having never tried it I gave it a whirl this month. Turns out (homemade) whipped cream also works well. It gives a much denser and sweeter taste to the mousse.

This recipe makes about 4 large servings.

Ingredients:

1 ½ c heavy cream

2 egg yolks

6 ounces chopped white chocolate

2 tablespoons sugar

6 ounces raspberries

¼ tsp lemon juice

½ c sugar

Directions:

Raspberry Purée:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine raspberries, lemon juice, and sugar. Let sit until raspberries release their juices and are soft. Stir occasionally.

2. Purée can be sealed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days

White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse:

1. Put 6 ounces of white chocolate in a large mixing bowl

2. Using a hand mixer, mix sugar and egg yolks until they are a pale yellow.

3. Bring ½ cup of heavy cream to a boil and then remove from heat. Slowly pour the hot cream into the egg/sugar mixture; slowly mix while adding the cream. Do not over mix.

4. Pour the cream mixture over the white chocolate and stir until smooth. (Optional – pour the hot mixture through a fine mesh sieve directly onto the white chocolate).

5. In a separate bowl, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks begin to form.  Add 3-4 tablespoons of raspberry purée, and continue whipping the cream until stiff peaks begin to form.

6. Fold ⅓ of the whipped cream to the white chocolate mixture. Repeat this process three times or until all the whipped cream is folded into the chocolate. The mousse should be smooth and somewhat runny.

7. Transfer mousse to your choice of serving dish (I used stemless martini glasses). Cover and refrigerate overnight.

7a. (optional) Before transferring mousse to dish pour a small amount of raspberry purée at the bottom of each dish, and then add the mousse.

8. Before serving top the mousse with a drizzle of raspberry purée. Serve chilled.

9. Enjoy!