And now, last but not least of my variations on mousse.

My friend Ginny gets credit for this idea.  🙂  We made this up the day before my brother’s birthday party and served it for dessert; one of our friends told us, “This is so good, you should do this every day.”  So if you’ve ever wanted mousse, but you want to move away from chocolate completely, just leave the chocolate topping off this and you’re set!

I used Cool Whip to top the mousse, but if you didn’t have Cool Whip handy you could sweeten and whip some cream similar to how I did it in my deconstructed s’mores post; I’d suggest leaving out the corn syrup, though.  I also sprinkled some chopped-up chocolate on top, but my sister (who doesn’t like chocolate) had it without, and said it was still fantastic.  So, you have some options how to finish this dish off once the mousse itself is made.  And yes, like my other mousse posts, this recipe uses raw eggs, so you take the risk upon yourself.  Jocelyn talks about how to get pasteurized egg whites here.

Let’s get started.  🙂

Butterscotch-Almond Mousse

Yield:  3 glasses’ worth / servings

Ingredients:

• 7/8 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites
• 3 oz butterscotch chips
• 1 1/2 T agave nectar
• 1/64 tsp almond extract (or, if you have a dropper instead of Pourfect measuring spoons, 1 drop)
• about 3-4 oz Cool Whip
• about 1 1/2 oz chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  First, to make the mousse itself.  Melt the butterscotch chips over low heat in a small saucepan, stirring constantly, till just melted; set aside to let cool slightly.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whip together the cream, agave nectar, vanilla, salt, and almond extract.  Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

3.  Next, in a separate bowl, beat the egg whites till still peaks form.   (Nowadays I pull this off by having two whisk attachments and two bowls for my stand mixer, you can just move the cream mixture out of the bowl if you don’t, or use an immersion blender with a whisk attachment.)

4.  Check the temperature of the melted butterscotch; it should still be very liquid, but cool enough that you can comfortably rest a finger in the hot mixture.  Gently mix the melted butterscotch into the egg whites and whisk together until fully combined.

5.  Slowly add the egg white mixture to the cream mixture, and whisk until fully combined.  Evenly divide the mixture into your three serving dishes (I use wine glasses, you can use whatever you like), cover with plastic wrap, and set them in the fridge to set at least an hour.

6.  When the mousse has set, take it out the fridge, uncover it, and gently top each glass of mousse with some Cool Whip (or whatever it is you’re using).  Chop up the chocolate chips and sprinkle them over the Cool Whip.  Re-cover the glasses and put them back in the fridge until it’s time to serve (preferably at least overnight).  Enjoy!  😀