Passion Fruit Mousse--One-Step Dessert for a New Year

There is no passion for cooking without the passion fruit. This interesting fruit, also known as maracuja or passiflora, can make a plain vanilla cream taste intriguing and tangy. I love to use it as a main ingredient or at least for decoration, as you can see on the Pots and Frills title picture, and you should expect to find many more recipes for passion fruit desserts on my blog in the future.

Unfortunately, fresh passion fruits are not available all year round in our area. They are imported seasonally, usually from New Zealand. Whenever available, I buy several of them at once, scoop out their aromatic flesh and freeze it in tiny containers for future use. But the good news is that there are products that can easily be used as substitutes, and for making some desserts they are even more suitable than fresh maracuja. In the Latino food section, or a specialty food store, you can buy a Brazilian passion fruit concentrate, or in the frozen food section, you can buy a frozen passion fruit pulp. Both of them can be used to make this dessert.

Once you try it, I can guarantee you will fall in love with the passion fruit. It is a very simple recipe, but despite its simplicity it could be a wonderful and light coronation of an elegant dinner, which you may wish to try in this New Year.

I serve this mousse often at my dinner parties. It should be made hours ahead and served chilled, but having it prepared in advance also saves time when we are busy readying the warm dishes.

Passion Fruit Mousse
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk,
2 cups heavy whipping cream,
1 and 1/2 cup passion fruit concentrate.

1 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau liquor,
fresh berries or kiwi to decorate,
fresh lady fingers to serve with the mousse.

Preparation:
1. Place all the ingredients in an electric stand mixer and, using the whisk attachment, run it for about 5 minutes, until the mixture becomes thick.
2. Transfer the mousse to 6-8 glass goblets and chill for a minimum of 4 hours.
3. Serve decorated with fruits and biscuits.