Mousse Desserts - Avoiding Raw Egg.

acai berry

I love the idea of Mousse for dessert, but never order them when I'm out because I have a bit of a phobia about raw eggs.

Would appreciate any suggestions for mousses using alternative ingredients to raw eggs.

Many thanks in advance!

Shenshen

I've one that's not strictly speaking a mousse, though I always found the texture similar.
I usually make it around christmas, using crumbed lebkuchen as a flavour, but it would work well with just chocolate, or possibly even white chocolate for something more summery.

Essentially, I melt some chocolate and let it cool just a little, but keep it liquid. Then I just whip 1 tub of cold (from the fridge) cream in the stand mixer (handheld would work, too, of course) until it goes stiff. It shouldn't be still runny at all, but similar to beaten egg white. I then mix the molten chocolate into the cream. The cold cream will set the chocolate, and the mixture will be stiff, but fluffy.
It doesn't even need to go back on the fridge to set, really.

acai berry

Thanks for that, Shenshen.Will certainly try it out. First time I've heard of this ingredient - lebkuchen

ShooterSF

Dunno much about baking but I work in a bar that serves cocktails with raw egg white in them. We offer vegan substitute using aquafaba (the brine chickpeas come in) which we learnt from vegans using it in cooking to replace egg.

acai berry

ShooterSF wrote: »

Dunno much about baking but I work in a bar that serves cocktails with raw egg white in them. We offer vegan substitute using aquafaba (the brine chickpeas come in) which we learnt from vegans using it in cooking to replace egg.

Great idea, ShooterSF. Thanks for that. Will definitely give it a try.

Alun

I tried that chick pea juice trick once and I could have whisked the stuff for a week and it wouldn't have made any difference. Others seem to have more success so not sure what I was doing wrong.

acai berry

Come to think of it, there is an egg substitute in the form of powder, a vegan product. I should even have a packet of it lurking somewhere at the back of my cupboard. Have not used it much, and certainly not for making mousses. Must give it another look.

kylith

I've made mousse with aquafaba, it's not too bad.

acai berry

kylith wrote: »

I've made mousse with aquafaba, it's not too bad.

Aquafaba! Haven't heard of it before, kylith. Thanks for your suggestion.

Cheshire Cat

You can buy bottles of pasteurised egg white in most supermarkets. That's safe to use.

I've also made this Nigella chocolate mousse made with marshmallows a few times:

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/instant-chocolate-mousse

Make sure to use very dark chocolate, otherwise it will be VERY sweet.

acai berry

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

You can buy bottles of pasteurised egg white in most supermarkets. That's safe to use.

I've also made this Nigella chocolate mousse made with marshmallows a few times:

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/instant-chocolate-mousse

Make sure to use very dark chocolate, otherwise it will be VERY sweet.

Thanks, Cheshire Cat. It's the whole idea of raw eggs, pasteurized or not, that puts me off. Thanks for the tip re Nigella's recipe.

th283

Hi op you could use a pate a bombe recipe where you pour sugar at 120oC into egg yolk as you whip them and it cooks them almost instantly. Alternatively try a bavarois, it’s a similar consistency to a mousse but made using custard rather than raw eggs. Or if you are looking for a fruit mousse try a fool which is a whipped cream with fruit purée and sugar

th283

Hi op you could use a pate a bombe recipe where you pour sugar at 120oC into egg yolk as you whip them and it cooks them almost instantly. Alternatively try a bavarois, it’s a similar constancy to a mousse but made using custard rather than raw eggs. Or if you are looking for a fruit mousse try a fool which is a whipped cream with fruit purée and sugar

acai berry

th283 wrote: »

Hi op you could use a pate a bombe recipe where you pour sugar at 120oC into egg yolk as you whip them and it cooks them almost instantly. Alternatively try a bavarois, it’s a similar consistency to a mousse but made using custard rather than raw eggs. Or if you are looking for a fruit mousse try a fool which is a whipped cream with fruit purée and sugar

Good sugestions there, th283! I particulary like the "fool" idea.

kylith

acai berry wrote: »

Aquafaba! Haven't heard of it before, kylith. Thanks for your suggestion.

It's just the water you drain off a tin of chickpeas. It takes a bit of whipping to get it foamed up, so use an electric whisk.

acai berry

kylith wrote: »

It's just the water you drain off a tin of chickpeas. It takes a bit of whipping to get it foamed up, so use an electric whisk.

Thanks for that, kylith. Worth a try, I'd say. Will have to set aside time to experiment with all of the ides here.

Shenshen

acai berry wrote: »

Thanks for that, Shenshen.Will certainly try it out. First time I've heard of this ingredient - lebkuchen

Well, it's not so much an ingredient, it's a type pf German christmas cakey-biscuity thing, But it's nicely spiced, and I always end up with some stale ones, so blitzing them and using them in a desert seemed a good idea

dee_mc

My brother used to work in a quite fancy hotel that made strawberry mousse by mixing a tub of half melted vanilla ice cream (HB type pure white stuff, not your Carte D'Or or anything with vanilla seeds etc) with a pack of jelly made up with as little water as possible - just beat them together and spoon the mixture into little serving glasses etc. You could mix chopped fruit through it too, or just decorate with strawberries etc.
It sounds awful but it was surprisingly nice!

acai berry

dee_mc wrote: »

My brother used to work in a quite fancy hotel that made strawberry mousse by mixing a tub of half melted vanilla ice cream (HB type pure white stuff, not your Carte D'Or or anything with vanilla seeds etc) with a pack of jelly made up with as little water as possible - just beat them together and spoon the mixture into little serving glasses etc. You could mix chopped fruit through it too, or just decorate with strawberries etc.
It sounds awful but it was surprisingly nice!

Sounds like a great idea, dee_mc. I plan on setting aside time to ry out all of the great suggestions people here have contributed. Hoping to being able to report back soon.

RacoonQueen

The Baking Explorer just posted a meringue pie with the chick pea water trick. Looks great so maybe the xantan gum helps when whisking?

Edit: Kat actually does a lot of vegan recipes so you might get a mousse idea there? I've seen a lot of vegan chocolate mousses done with tofu.

acai berry

RacoonQueen wrote: »

The Baking Explorer just posted a meringue pie with the chick pea water trick. Looks great so maybe the xantan gum helps when whisking?

Edit: Kat actually does a lot of vegan recipes so you might get a mousse idea there? I've seen a lot of vegan chocolate mousses done with tofu.

That's a great looking recipe, RacoonQueen. Many thanks! I have bookmarked it for future referrence. I don't have a blow torch, but hopefully the grill can scorch the top.

I have to smile thinking of the water from canned chickpeas. It's taking sonme getting used to the idea that I shouldn't throw that down the sink. LOL! Thanks again, RC!

Alun

RacoonQueen wrote: »

The Baking Explorer just posted a meringue pie with the chick pea water trick. Looks great so maybe the xantan gum helps when whisking?

It would certainly help.

As I said before, and maybe I was just unlucky with the canned chickpeas I used, but I whisked mine on top speed for ages and nothing much happened.

OK, there was some froth generated but it collapsed again within a few seconds of stopping whisking. Possibly the brine was more brine than cooking liquid and if I had used the water used to boil up normal, dried chickpeas in it would have contained more of the magic ingredient, I don't know.

acai berry

Alun wrote: »

It would certainly help.

As I said before, and maybe I was just unlucky with the canned chickpeas I used, but I whisked mine on top speed for ages and nothing much happened.

OK, there was some froth generated but it collapsed again within a few seconds of stopping whisking. Possibly the brine was more brine than cooking liquid and if I had used the water used to boil up normal, dried chickpeas in it would have contained more of the magic ingredient, I don't know.

The "whipping quality" of chickpea liquid may vary from one brand to another. I'm just thinking maybe an added teaspoon of that "egg-replacement powder", I have at the back of my cupboard, might help.

acai berry

http://www.lilvienna.com/genius-two-ingredient-chocolate-mousse-egg-free/

Meanwhile, I found this recipe. Haven't tried it yet, but sounds and looks delish and only uses two ingredients.

jos28

I made an easy peasy one last week with just 4 ingredients and serves 2.
Tin of coconut milk (the solid part only)
2 tablespoons of cocoa
2 tablespoons of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Whip all ingredients together using an electric whisk, put into small glasses and chill. I served it with raspberries and it was very tasty.

acai berry

jos28 wrote: »

I made an easy peasy one last week with just 4 ingredients and serves 2.
Tin of coconut milk (the solid part only)
2 tablespoons of cocoa
2 tablespoons of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Whip all ingredients together using an electric whisk, put into small glasses and chill. I served it with raspberries and it was very tasty.

Many thanks, jos28. Will definitely try that!

jordata

Have you tried Lemon Posset? Not strictly a mousse but similar I think. Just 3 ingredients and yummy with shortbread biscuits.
600ml double cream, 150g caster sugar, 2 lemons - juice and zest.
Place the double cream and the sugar into a large pan over a low heat and bring to the boil slowly. Boil for three minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the lemon juice and zest and whisk well. Pour the mixture into six large serving glasses and refrigerate for three hours.

Cheshire Cat

jordata wrote: »

Have you tried Lemon Posset? Not strictly a mousse but similar I think. Just 3 ingredients and yummy with shortbread biscuits.
600ml double cream, 150g caster sugar, 2 lemons - juice and zest.
Place the double cream and the sugar into a large pan over a low heat and bring to the boil slowly. Boil for three minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the lemon juice and zest and whisk well. Pour the mixture into six large serving glasses and refrigerate for three hours.

Great idea. There's a lovely recipe in the Cooking Club for a Passion Fruit Posset. I've made it several times and it's yummy!

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057426031/1/#post102600366

acai berry

Thank you, jordata and Cheshire Cat! Great ideas there!