However expensive I hold dessert, it’s rare in my thoughts as Sunday lunch draws near. I end after the principal dish and take hold of some cheese, a rectangular, skinny, darkish chocolate, or a peach. I think attending end for more than one is more amusing than delivering something candy, which’ll get the attention it deserves. On a roasting summer afternoon, this may be ice cream held prisoner among two homemade wafers or soft, sugar-dusted cookies, halves of apricots full of sweetened ricotta, or a little tart packed with a cloud of lemon mousse.
When the sun is at its height, I may sandwich lemon water ice among a pair of slim shortbreads, stuff strawberry ice cream into crisp, skinny almond biscuits, or spread chocolate chip ice cream among two thick and crunchy peanut cookies. You can roll the sandwiched ice in coarse, pastel-colored sugar or beaten cookie crumbs if you want. However, I opt for a more impromptu affair wherein the ice cream is allowed to peep teasingly from its shell.
A citrus mousse also appeals on a summer afternoon, perhaps with a pot of lemon verbena tea; however, I want something crisp with it, too: a ginger biscuit or candy rice cake. Better, nevertheless, that crisp element was beaten to crumbs and used to form a tartlet case for the lemony fluff. A candy, not anything with which to even as away what remains of the afternoon.
Lemon mousse brownies
Handed a dessert menu, I will always head for the citrus services instead of the chocolate. (I have not even understood how all of us could cease a meal with chocolate pudding.) Lemon desserts come and pass – possets, syllabus, or a classic lemon tart. But the only that continually beckons is the conventional lemon mousse, either as a stand-by dish or because of the filling for a pie.
The biscuit crust here is sensitive, so I advocate using nonstick tartlet tins. It is a superb idea to loosen the crumb cases in the tins earlier than you fill them; they’ll be easier to remove later. I sometimes switch to several ginger biscuits for candy rice desserts (Clearspring makes a great model with black sesame seeds). The wafers make the crust lighter, though extremely fragile.
Melt the butter in a small pan and set it aside. Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and stir them into the melted butter. Divide the crumb mixture among the tartlet instances, pressing the crumbs firmly into the bottom and up the tins’ perimeters with a teaspoon. Place the cases on a tray and refrigerate for a half-hour until set.
Separate the eggs. Using a meal mixer, beat the yolks and sugar to a thick, light cream. Soften the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. Finely grate the zest of one of the lemons, then halve and squeeze both. Add the zest to the yolks and sugar mixture.
Warm the lemon juice in a small saucepan without letting it boil. Remove the softened mass of gelatine from the water and add it to the warm juice, stirring until it has dissolved. Slowly pour the juice into the yolk and sugar aggregate with the paddle turning, then remove the bowl from its stand. Lightly beat the cream until thick, stir it into the mousse mixture, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, fold into the lemon-cream combination with a big steel spoon, and ensure all the whites are incorporated. Spoon the combination into the tartlet instances, return to the fridge, and depart to set for 4 hours before serving.