Quick and Simple No Bake Lemon Mousse

Submitted by DinnerBelle

"This was my mother's recipe. It's a perfect light and refreshing dessert with a lemony zing. Mom made it just the way it is for weeknight dinners, but I like to dress it up with raspberry sauce (frozen raspberries in syrup, pureed and strained) and some fresh raspberries. Looks great in parfait glasses or a glass or crystal bowl for a dinner party. Preparation time includes 5 hour chilling time."

 

• Ready In: 5hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 5
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 2 lemons
• 4 eggs (use pasteurized eggs, as the whites are not cooked in this recipe)
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1 1⁄8 cups sugar
• 1 (1/4 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin

directions

1. Start with eggs at room temperature.
2. Separate eggs, breaking yolks into the bowl of a nonreactive (i.e. stainless steel or ceramic) double boiler.
3. Add sugar to the yolks and beat with an electric or immersion mixer until thick and pale.
4. Grate the rind from one or both lemons and juice them both. Strain the juice.
5. Add the rind and the 1/2 c, water to the sugar/yolk mix. More rind means more lemony flavor; I use it all but you may prefer less.
6. Place the bowl over simmering water and cook, stirring very often, until the foam has mostly disappeared and the mix is thickened to a thin syrup. This takes a while and the foam disappearing is your best clue that it's done. Remove from heat.
7. Mix the gelatin with 11/2 T. cold water and immediately add it to the mix, stirring until the gelatin completely dissolves. Set aside to cool.
8. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites to soft peaks in an electric mixer. Before you start make sure the bowl and whisk are perfectly clean as egg whites will not stiffen well if they touch even a trace of grease.
9. Fold whites carefully into the sugar/yolk/gelatin mix. It can be hard to get all of the yolk mix folded in, so I flip the ingredients into another bowl so I can see and incorporate any remaining liquid.
10. Place into the serving bowl or bowls of your choice. Refrigerate 5 hours or until serving time.

Reviews

[ElizabethKnicely]

I am not sure if I did something wrong, but our "Mousse" came out almost like a lemon meringue. I had everything folded in really well and after setting in the fridge for the 5 hours it separated with the egg whites on top. I am still rating this 5 stars because the taste was just amazing. I love lemon desserts! Thanks DinnerBelle! Made for Zaar Chef Alphabet Soup Tag Spring 2013.