Here’s the first of the interesting ideas for mixing things up with mousse that Jocelyn and I had up in Seattle.  🙂  Our friend Tim tried this version, and told me he’d order this dessert multiple times from a restaurant.  I’m pretty sure you don’t get higher praise than that.  😀  He also suggested serving this with almond lattice cookies and fresh fruit, so if I ever sort out gluten-free almond lattice cookies, I’ll let you know!

Why white chocolate and banana?  I wanted to make a version of mousse my sister would like.  She doesn’t like “normal” chocolate, and doesn’t even like every kind of white chocolate, but she sure loves banana; and because she doesn’t care for chocolate, she’d never had mousse before.  Well obviously I had to fix that.  Change chocolate to white chocolate, find some imitation banana extract, and all is well.  This stuff is so good that even though my sister didn’t like the sound of the concept, she took one bite of the finished product and immediately turned to me and said she was eating her words.

I mean, really.  I’m pretty sure you don’t get higher praise than that!  🙂

(And yes, this recipe has raw eggs in it, which you should eat at your own discretion; Jocelyn goes over ways to get pasteurized eggs in her original post on mousse here.)

White Chocolate Banana Mousse

Yield:  3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 7/8 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/32 tsp imitation banana extract (about 1 drop!)
• 1/8 tsp table salt
• 2 egg whites
• 3 T agave nectar
• 2 1/2 oz white chocolate baking squares

Directions:

1.  Melt the white chocolate over low heat in a small saucepan.  Stir constantly to avoid burning the chocolate; white chocolate is as fickle a creature as its “normal” counterpart.  (If you’re worried about it, you can melt the chocolate in a double boiler, but if you’re paying attention and using a floppy spatula to make sure you scrape everything up when you stir, it should be fine.)  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then move them to another bowl.  As the white chocolate cools to room temperature, stir it into the egg whites.

3.  Quickly clean the stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment, then beat together the whipping cream, agave nectar, salt, vanilla, and imitation banana extract until stiff peaks form.  Be careful measuring out the imitation banana extract! — this stuff has a serious kick, so you don’t want to add too much by accident!

4.  Add the egg-and-chocolate mixture back into the stand mixer bowl and gently whisk it all together until fully combined.  Portion the finished mixture into serving dishes (wine glasses, mugs, bowls, what have you), then cover them with plastic wrap and tuck them in the fridge to chill for a few hours to overnight.  After that, it’s time to dig in.  🙂