Lemon White Chocolate Mousse: Going Swimmingly

Yesterday was yet another day dedicated to the sport I truly love: synchronized swimming. We had a meet for the most advanced athletes in the DC/MD/VA region, which took most of the day, but was a blast. And it was really great because our senior swimmers swept every event they entered - one of our swimmers even won four gold medals.

For the record, swimmers can only enter four events. So winning four gold medals is the best a swimmer can possibly do at one meet.

Now the important thing: These meets mean that I have a chance to unload baked goods and other chocolate treats on my fellow officials and coaches. Yesterday was no exception, and I was able to share a dessert based on a lemon white chocolate mousse that offered a bit of tart, a bit of sweet, and a lot of cream.

Lemon White Chocolate Mouse Ingredients (as inspired by Betty Crocker)

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

3 ¼ cup cream, divided

2 tablespoons dried lemon peel

10 ounces white chocolate, chopped (Callebaut)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix lemon peel and 1 ¼ cup of cream, set aside. Beat egg yolks until light and fluffy, then slowly beat in the sugar.

Heat cream and lemon peel in a saucepan over medium heat until just hot. Remove from heat, stir half of this mixture into the yolk mixture, then recombine with remaining cream mixture in saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in white chocolate until smooth, then stir in lemon juice.

Refrigerate mixture at least two hours. Once mixture is chilled, beat until slightly fluffy, then separately whip remaining 2 cups of cream in a chilled bowl until stiff peaks form.

Fold half the cream into the white chocolate mixture, then fold this mixture into the remaining cream.

While this mousse is perfectly wonderful on its own given the contrast of the sweet white chocolate and the tart lemon, I wanted to add another flavor to the mix, so I whipped up a quick raspberry sauce to serve along with it.

Creamy Raspberry Sauce Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons cream

¼ c pureed and strained raspberries

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, and heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Serve a dollop of mousse with a drizzle of raspberry sauce.

Wonderful flavor contrasts carried by a super-creamy mousse. Just incredible.

Have you made mousse before? How did it turn out?