I know, mixing cartoons is never a good idea, but I couldn’t resist. Boris Badenov was never successful at deceiving Rocky and Bullwinkle, despite trying every week and oddly, neither Moose nor Squirrel recognized them time after time. The second Squirrel in the title is and a wink to “UP” and a nod to how easy it is to be distracted from what is important.

Originally, I was thinking about making a key-lime mousse, but then saw this recipe for a margarita mouse and pounced like a dog on a chew toy. I saw the raspberry and chocolate moussessess, or meece on GBBO (not their recipes) and decided to add a variety of mousse to my file, and I love raspberries, and chocolate is the universal food so why not?

I wanted to use recipes that do not use gelatin to make the mousse. I try very hard not to use gelatin to keep as much as possible vegetarian. From what I found authentic french mousse does not use gelatin, and neither to I.

Margarita Mousse

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1⁄2 fresh lime, cut into wedges
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
• 3 tablespoons tequila
• 1⁄3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup whipping cream

METHOD

1. Combine sugar with 1 tsp lime zest. Rub the rims of 4-6 margarita glasses with lime wedges to moisten, crunch into granulated sugar mixture, and place in the freezer.
2. In a separate bowl, combine remaining lime zest, condensed milk, Triple Sec, tequila, and 1/3 cup lime juice. Set aside.
3. Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into tequila mixture, working carefully to keep the air in the whipped cream.
4. Spoon into prepared frozen glasses, making sure not to disturb the sugared rims.
5. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm.

Chocolate Mousse

INGREDIENTS

• 200-250g 70%+ cacao chocolate (more is better for stability)
• 400g heavy whipping cream
• 1 egg yolk

METHOD

1. melt chocolate in a baine-marie
2. whip cream
3. whip egg yolk in a baine-marie until fluffy *
4. mix the chocolate into the egg yolk
5. carefully fold the cream into the chocolate
6. refrigerate 3-4 hours

This mousse will set after a few hours in the fridge.

Raspberry Mousse

INGREDIENTS

• 400g fresh raspberries
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 medium egg whites
• 300g heavy whipping cream
• icing sugar to dust

METHOD

1. Reserving some raspberries for decoration, place the remainder in a pan with 50g of the caster sugar and cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring until the fruit collapses.
2. To make a coulis, place a fine sieve over a bowl and pass the fruit through to de-seed. Cool for 10 minutes, then keep in the fridge until needed.
3. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar for 2-3 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
4. Whisk the cream until it forms soft floppy peaks.
5. Add 2-3 tbs of the coulis to the cream and stir very gently until nicely mixed. Once mixed add in the rest of the coulis until well incorporated.
6. With a metal spoon gently fold one large spoon of egg white mixture into the coulis and cream mixture. Mix very gently until all incorporated. Repeat until all egg white is mixed in.
7. Gently divide the mixture between 6 glasses or mugs. Chill for 4-5 hours. To serve, decorate with raspberries, dust with icing sugar.