Pear Mousse
A light, airy chilled dessert made from a pear cream base folded with whipped egg whites.
Ingredients
Red wine poached pears
3
Canned pears
3
Canned pear syrup
to taste
Red wine
to taste
Gelatin powder (for mousse)
10 g
Water (for soaking gelatin)
40 g
Egg yolks
40 g
Sugar
40 g
Egg whites
40 g
Canned pear syrup (for mousse)
100 g
Milk
100 g
Heavy cream
160 g
Pear liqueur
15 g
Red wine poached pears (for mousse)
1
Red wine poached pears (for garnish)
2
Sponge cake
to taste
Heavy cream (for garnish)
to taste
Mint leaves
to taste
Instructions
1
Prepare pears and gelatin
Simmer the pears in red wine, strain out any impurities, bring back to a boil then turn off the heat immediately. Let cool naturally to room temperature. Once cooled, cut half of the pears into thin slices and the other half into large chunks, set aside. Soak the gelatin powder in water for 10 minutes until fully swollen. Whip the heavy cream with a whisk until foamy.
2
Make custard base
Add 40g of sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until light and foamy. Pour the canned pear syrup and milk into a pot and heat gently, do not stir the mixture. Turn off the heat once small bubbles form along the edge of the pot. Remove from heat, pour into the bowl with the egg yolks, then return the mixture to the pot and heat gently over low or medium heat—never use high heat, as this may cause the mixture to separate. Do not stir during heating. Turn off the heat right before the mixture boils. If separation occurs, whisk briefly to recombine the mixture.
3
Add gelatin and chill
Add the soaked gelatin to the custard and mix until it is completely dissolved, then strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Stir the mixture over an ice bath to cool. Add pear liqueur during this cooling step. The chilled custard should be slightly softer than the whipped heavy cream; if it is too firm, warm it gently over low heat.
4
Fold in heavy cream
Add the whipped heavy cream to the chilled custard and fold gently, taking care not to deflate the cream's foam.
5
Add whipped egg whites
Add 40g of sugar to fresh egg whites and whip until foamy. Pour the whipped egg whites into the mixture from step 4, whisk gently until the foam is stable, then use a spatula to fold from the bottom up until fully combined.
6
Mold and chill
Pour half of the mixture from step 5 into small round molds, add the chopped pear chunks, then pour the remaining mixture over the top. Chill in the refrigerator until fully set.
7
Unmold and garnish
Once the mousse is fully set, run warm water around the outside of the molds to loosen, then remove the mousse from the molds. Arrange the thin pear slices on top as garnish.
