Strawberry Mousse

This is a Princess original and one of those recipes that is great for so many different things. Most recently I put it in Krogers mini shortbread tartlet shells. It's also good in cream puffs or eclairs with white chocolate on top or just in a cooked pie crust. My personal favorite is crepes.

I recommend using a star tip is you haven't lost it somewhere in your kitchen..hmmm. And I have 3!! 

Also, to make it less grainy looking make sure you add all the strawberry powder while it is still hot to dissolve it. I tried to add more after I added the strawberry mixture and it didn't work. It still tasted good though.

3/4 c. sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

3/4 c. water

1 (3 oz.) box strawberry jello powder

1 lb bag frozen strawberries, thawed (fresh also works)

1 envelope knox unflavored gelatin

1 tsp. lemon juice

 1 c. heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or to taste)

3 Tbsp powdered sugar (or to taste)

In a blender blend the strawberries until smooth. Blend in the knox gelatin and set aside. Let stand for at least 5 minutes.

Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch and then whisk in the water until no lumps remain. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is clear and very thick. Remove from the heat and whisk in the strawberry jello powder. Keep stirring for one minute. Make sure you whisk it long enough on this step of their will be gelatin lumps in you dessert. Stir in the blended strawberries and gelatin mix and stir another minute. Stir in the lemon juice and them place the mixture in the refrigerator to chill. 

Chill the strawberry mixture until its no longer warm, but not set. Whip the cream with the vanilla and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Whisk a third of the whipped cream into the strawberry mix. when mixed whisk in the remaining whipped cream. Chill until firm to the touch. 

To use remove the mousse from the fridge and whisk once. Let stand for 20 minutes before using. Because its stabilized with gelatin it will look kinda lumpy unless you use a piping bag to fill your tarts or crepes with. If you decide to make a pie out of it whisk the mousse in and chill just until its thick, but not set, and then mound it in a cooked and cooled pastry shell. 

I have also made mixed berry mousse with this same recipe. Just substitute the frozen strawberries with a bag of frozen mixed berries and omit the lemon juice. I still used strawberry gelatin powder but I suspect another berry flavor such as raspberry or blackberry fusion might be good. The final mousse was a medium purple color.

This made enough to fill 5 dozen mini tart shells, about the size of a silver dollar.