Dessert Cosmopolitan
Helene Dujardin
(Senior Editor)
I don’t know what it is with me and lemons or even Cosmos lately. It’s got to be related to this spring/summer weather we’ve been having. I have felt inclined to make me a nice chilled Cosmos on a couple of occasions but wisdom ended up taking over and I had a nice tall glass of lemon water instead.
Well, I played with the notion of a Cosmo for dessert a few nights and I finally came up with this dessert Cosmo. I took the most noticeable flavors of the drink, turned them into mousses and gelees and poured them into nice Martini glasses. I got inspired by the lovely desserts of Mercotte, especially her verrines and other creations.
Here is her recipe for the 'Cremes au Citrons' in French and my interpretation:
La recette : pour 6 à 8 verres selon la tailleLa crème au citron: 8cl de jus de citron, 2 œufs, le zeste d’1 citron ½, 100g de sucre, 100g de beurre, ou un peu moins. Dans un cul de poule mélanger le sucre et les zestes hachés très fin, ajouter le jus des citrons et les œufs. Laisser épaissir le mélange au bain-marie en remuant. Ajouter le beurre au mixer plongeant quand la T° est entre 55 et 60°, sans incorporer d’air.Verser tout de suite dans les verres et laisser refroidir, la crème va prendre très vite.
Variation : she cooks her cream/ curd on top of a water bath, but I eliminated that step and cooked it directly on top of the stove over medium/low heat.
The recipe for 6 to 8 glasses: 80 ml of lemon juice, the zest of 1 1/2 lemon, 2 eggs, 100g sugar, a little less than 100g butter. Put everything in a saucepan and cook over medium low/ medium heat whisking constantly so that you don’t end up with scrambled eggs. Remove from the heat and slowly add the butter. Let cool and when still lukewarm add 3-4 Tb vodka for your Cosmos.
For the cranberry part: boil 2 cups of cranberry juice until reduced to 1 cup. Soften 1 sheet gelatin (or 2 tsp. powdered gelatin) in cold water. Whn soft add to the hot cranberry juice and let cool.
Meanwhile, wash and cut some strawberries and put them on top of each Martini glass.
When the cranberry juice mixture is cooled but not set yet, slowly pour it on top of the strawberries. Cover the glasses with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely set.
It was awesome..I am happy…again!
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