Mousse

This has become a Staplehouse all-star. We simplified it a bit, setting it in jars rather than the buttery pastry crust it’s served in at the restaurant. Don’t worry: We didn’t mess with the shamelessly high ratio of butter and cream to liver.

Serve this creamy mousse with gingersnaps instead of spoons.

Your blender does most of the work for you to make this decadent mousse: no eggs, no double boiler, no extra fuss. It's the perfect make-ahead dessert for an impressive holiday meal.

Who knew chocolate mousse could be so simple and so fast? Once you have the ingredients on hand, you can put this decadent dessert together in a flash.

If you like something a little sweet but appreciate that the processed fat-free yogurts in the supermarket do you no good at all, then try this alternative dessert. Light, fruity and all natural—it's a mousse to soothe the senses. Go on - indulge yourself.

Mousse au Chocolat au Beurre Salé There's not much I can say about this. One bite will leave you just as speechless.

Kosher Status: Pareve I first learned about using fruity, high-quality olive oil in desserts—specifically in chocolate mousse—from executive chef Laura Frankel of Wolfgang Puck Kosher Catering. Just love the flavor and smooth, creamy texture it imparts. Note that this mousse contains raw eggs. If you're concerned about the risks of eating raw eggs, you can use pasteurized eggs without affecting the results.

Most chocolate mousses are high in calories, but it's quite easy to make a delicious chocolate mousse that contains a fraction of the original calories and fat. The secret is to use high-quality bittersweet chocolate. It packs a strong, lively chocolate flavor and makes up for the fact that the mousse doesn’t have a quart of whipped cream in it.

This yogurt mousse is an exercise in nostalgia for me, evocative of two different memories. The first is recent: cold lassi spiked with cardamom, a favorite drink at Indian restaurants. The musky flavor of cardamom just plays well with the tangy, refreshing taste of yogurt. And so does honey, which brings me to my second memory. My mother often served me and my siblings big bowls of plain yogurt with honey swirled in—it was a favorite summer lunch. I remember how the honey laced the yogurt in thick ropes of sweetness. This is a plain yet comforting dish, the two flavors marrying perfectly. I bring these three tastes together here in this dish, and finish it all off with fresh summer apricots. Top the finished mousse with apricot slices, or get fancy and pipe the chilled, set mousse into apricot halves and garnish with mint.

Dark chocolate and espresso add the slightly bitter notes needed to balance this dessert. Remember, the higher the cacao percentage, the less sweet the chocolate.

Hazelnut and chocolate have long been dessert partners, and it’s easy to see why. They bring out the best in each other, as in this mousse, from Epicurious member Derrinl. If you don’t have Frangelico, you can substitute Amaretto.

This recipe makes two kinds of mousse: bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate.

For perfectly smooth slices, cut the layered cake with a hot serrated knife. The cake can be wrapped well in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to 3 weeks.

This mousse can be made up to 3 days before serving. Ring molds may be purchased at specialty cookware stores. You can also use an 8-inch springform pan.

Homemade citrus curd—a mixture of eggs, sugar, butter, and orange and lime juices—adds tangy flavor to this mousse.

Chocolate mousses were of this general type before the popularity of chocolate ganache (page 102), and the ganache is far quicker and easier, being only melted chocolate and heavy cream. You can make a ganache even more attractive when you fold in beaten egg whites, and you go to even greater heights when you blend in Italian meringue (page 102). However, the following smooth, rich, velvety classic continues to be my favorite of all chocolate mousses.

One afternoon, I was craving chocolate mousse, but didn’t want to mess with eggs. I came up with this super-easy version. Temperature is key here: The cream should be thick and very cold when you whisk in the slightly cooled liquid chocolate. If the cream isn’t cold enough and the chocolate’s too hot, the mixture will melt. If the cream is too cold and the chocolate has cooled too much, the chocolate will solidify. You also want to avoid overwhipping the cream to keep this dessert luscious and creamy. Even if you don’t nail the texture the first time, it’ll still be delicious. What’s not to love about chocolate and cream?

Beverly Bennett, also known as the Vegan Chef (veganchef.com), is a talented and creative cook. A number of her desserts are the ones most requested by my sons. When strawberries are lush and ripe, this is an easy way to create a light and healthy dessert in a flash. Please use ripe, juicy strawberries for this; it just isn’t the same if they’re rock-hard and barely red. Make this before dinner, and it will be ready by the time you want dessert.

Prepare the mousse at least four hours or up to two days in advance. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap.

An Italian semifreddo is a frozen mousse, lighter than ice cream and made without churning. You can vary it according to season, incorporating flavors from raspberry to pear to chestnut. We like to make it with chopped toasted almonds and Marshall’s Farm wildflower honey, collected from hives in one of our vineyards. The result tastes like frozen nougat. Serve with a thin, crisp cookie.

The richest, most elegant dessert you can make with so little work.