Smooth and creamy, lightly sweet with a fruity tart finish, this Raspberry Mousse with a Balsamic Reduction is a lovely dessert for Spring. If you wish, you can just as easily use a chocolate sauce in place of the Balsamic Reduction.
Onomatopoeia. That word has to fall into my favorite words category. It’s fun to say and it’s meaning makes me smile. If you’re a little lost on the pronunciation and definition of this word, here’s the low down:
Pronunciation: [on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh] or [on-uh‐mah-tuh‐pee-uh]
Definition: making up a word to represent or imitate a sound — kaboom, meow, hiss, buzz, whir
The old Batman and Robin shows from the 1960’s were probably the most exuberant users of onomatopoeias with their near endless use of fight words. Pow! Sock! Clank! Swish! Krunch! Thunk! Oooff!
….all of these onomatopoeias lead me to think about kitchen associated noise words. Honestly, cooking will probably never be the same for me again. Each experience will play out in my head in a series of colorful cartoon inspired onomatopoeias.
Since blogging is about sharing one’s life, insights, discoveries and knowledge, I have made up some sound visuals for you. I want you, too, to be able to have full, lively cooking experiences. And give your family more reasons to think you are nuts. (insert smirk here).
- Splish — eggs falling into batter
- Ting — metal measuring spoon on side of pot or metal mixing bowl
- Clang — cast iron pan on stove grate
- Sizzle — anything frying
- Tsssss — steak being placed on grill
- Pop — soda can being opened, liquid hitting hot grease
- Bumpf — loud sound of canned biscuits springing open
- Snap — breaking fresh beans or asparagus, wooden spoon cracking
- Hhhhuummmrrrrrrrrrr — stand mixer engaging
- Clingclingcling or tangtangtang — tapping a stirring or mixing utensil on the side of a bowl or pot
- Kunk — heavy pot bumping into whatever
- Schlapschlapshlapschlapschlap… — batter being mixed in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
- Vvvrrrrrip — tearing aluminum foil off of the roll
- Scrape — getting the last bit of food out of or off of various items
- >&#^!@* — expletive uttered in relation to burned dinner, misread recipe, fallen cake, lack of important ingredient that was in the pantry/fridge/freezer/cabinet yesterday but not today, seriously messy boil-over, any other troublesome or frustrating kitchen experience
- Beep beep beep beepbeep beep — inputting settings on microwave (or oven)
- Clink or clinnnnng — thin glass object against other glass object
- Clunng — thicker glass object against other glass object
- Flumpflumpflumpflumpflumpflumpflumpflump — bread dough hitting sides of bowl in stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment
- Whiiiiirrrrr — most excellent sound of my Bosch mixer working some serious magic on bread dough
Okay, that’s enough onomatopoeias. Here’s a recipe. Oooooo, aaaaaaah. Raspberry Mousse with a Balsamic Reduction. I LOVE it!
The raspberry mousse gave me a run for my money, almost from the very beginning. I was dutifully following a recipe I had come across and every single element went wrong. Usually I can point to a single thing that I did wrong in a recipe which caused the recipe to fail. This time, I did pretty much everything wrong, or rather, everything that I did went wrong. Those are two very different concepts and both are applicable in this instance.
As it turned out, the failures were a blessing. Because the initial recipe was problematic, I ended up developing my very own recipe. Cool. I like it when I can whole heartedly claim a recipe as my very own.
I do need to clarify that the resulting recipe is not a true mousse because it does not have egg whites. I wanted it to have them, but I have turned into such a germaphobe that I could not bring myself to use egg whites without first bringing them to a temp of 160° F in a double boiler. I’ve done it in the past with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but could not make them turn out right for this mousse recipe. As I sit here writing, I am fairly certain that I have just figured out what I did wrong with the egg whites. C’est la vie. I’m still calling this recipe Raspberry Mousse with a Balsamic Reduction.
Speaking of the balsamic reduction; in the photos it looks like chocolate. In one’s mouth, there is quite a different experience. A balsamic reduction is thick and sticky, sweet and fruity with a lovely tart finish. The sophistication of the reduction belies the ease with which it is made. Simmer some balsamic vinegar until it has reduced by half. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
As for the raspberries, oh my. I used good quality frozen organic raspberries. They were big, fat beautiful berries and so flavorful! Noooooo, the raspberries on top of the mousse are not frozen; they are fresh. And pricey at this time of year. And clearly not from the United States. And usually I would be PAAAAARticular about that sort of thing, but it’s Spring and I wanted to decorate the raspberry mousse with fresh raspberries. So, I supported a farmer local to somewhere in the world, via my grocery store guys, locally.
I’m excited for you to taste this Raspberry Mousse with a Balsamic Reduction. It is smooth and creamy, sweet with a touch of tart and simply beautiful. If you are unsure of the balsamic reduction, chocolate sauce would be a wonderful replacement, especially if it was a dark chocolate sauce. Or, the mousse could be served simply, adorned only with sweetened whip cream and a few fresh berries.
Raspberry Mousse with a Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin, from a 1 ounce total weight, 4 packet box
- 20 ounces (weight) frozen raspberries, thawed
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar, divided
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 16 fresh raspberries (optional for garnish)
- 8 small mint leaves (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- Add the water to a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and allow to sit for a few a minutes to soften.
- While the gelatin is softening, prepare the raspberries. Place thawed berries and ½ cup white sugar in a blender. Process on medium speed until smooth. Place a fine mesh sieve over a medium-size bowl. Strain berry puree through the sieve, pressing and stirring as needed to separate the berry puree from the seeds. Discard seeds.
- Place the small bowl of gelatin in the microwave. Heat for 10 seconds on 30% power; stir well to dissolve gelatin. Repeat if needed. Add the dissolved gelatin to the raspberry puree. Stir well to incorporate the gelatin into the puree. Cover bowl and refrigerate puree for about 1 hour until chilled and soft set.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the whipping cream, remaining ¼ cup sugar and the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until moderately stiff peaks form. Remove 3/4 cup whipped cream, cover and refrigerate.
- Beat the raspberry puree with the mixer for about 30 seconds. (It is not necessary to wash the beaters between whipping the cream and beating the puree.) Add the puree to the remaining whipped cream. Fold together well. Divide the mousse evenly between 8 dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
- To make the balsamic reduction: In a small sauce pot, over medium heat, bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil. Lower heat and let vinegar simmer until reduced by half (1/4 cup), about 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Watch carefully so that the vinegar does not burn. If the reduction gets too thick, add a small amount of vinegar to thin it out. Cool before serving.
- Finishing: Just prior to serving, top each dessert with a small dollop of the reserved whipped cream, two raspberries and a mint leaf. Drizzle each dessert with 1 ½ teaspoons of the balsamic reduction. Serve immediately.
Notes
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Love your schlump* and flapp* onomatopoeia. I can always count on learning something when I visit your blog ;). Spring hasn’t decided whether or not it wants to begin on our part of the world. Looking so incredibly forward to fresh fruits and veggies being readily available again.
I know what you mean about the availability of fresh fruits and veggies. I am really looking forward to this year’s farmer’s markets. We have several around the valley, plus random roadside stands. As for Spring returning to your area, I am so sorry that you guys have had such a rough winter. We, unfortunately, have had an extremely mild winter. The trees and flowers are at least a month early in their budding and blooming patterns. On the surface it sounds like a lovely way to go, but in reality we are looking towards drought conditions very early this year. We are completely dependent on snow pack for our water supply and there ain’t much snow pack this year. Scary.
Oh dear… August isn’t going to be fun in your little part of the world. Overall, we’ve had a fairly mild winter until the last month or so… kinda nuts… they’re even calling for snow this weekend. Super crazy. The good thing though, it doesn’t last very long. Here today, gone tomorrow.
I don’t think spring will ever happen. We are supposed to have snow (showers) tomorrow!! Can’t wait to try this mousse Your photos are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
As for “onomantopoeia”…memories of jr high English class.
Glad to see a posting. Was starting to get concerned because we haven’t “heard from you” in a while….xoxo
Sad for you on the snow showers. 🙁 In normal years we often are still having snow showers around here, too.
Lucky you on having ‘onomatopoeia’ days in Jr. High. I don’t recall that we ever had that much fun in Jr. High. Then again, my family moved around the country so much that I spent each year of Jr. High in a different state. Maybe I just missed onomatopoeia day or something. (snickering)
I have 3 large bags of raspberries, in my freezer. When we moved into our new home, last summer. We inherited beautiful, raspberry bushes! I need to start using my frozen ones, before the raspberry bushes start producing again! This recipe would be a good start. Beautiful pictures!
I am totally jealous that you have raspberry bushes! Lucky, lucky you! Thanks for the compliment about the pictures; I think that my camera has a definite personality. It loves to take pics of desserts that are pink or red, but goes absolutely spastic over casseroles. It about has heart failure over any kind of meat, but gets all giddy over salads. Oh, and it has come to really like Mexican foods. Hmm…I guess it does best with bright colors. Hadn’t thought about that before now.
What a treat! I could dig into a dish of this right now. I love raspberries and am totally digging the balsamic reduction to go with it. You taught me a new word as well… now I’m excited to know the name of those sound/words. 🙂
Thanks, Ramona! The balsamic reduction goes so well with lots of different fruits. YUM!
PS….flump,flump,flump is my favorite…..I guessed what it was…..xoxox
You’re a genius! lol
What a divine dessert!!
I can just dive into it and not regret one teeny-tiny calorie…..bwhahaha!!
I plan on making this yummy-goodness soon.
I first need to unpack all of my things, moving is such an adventure.
I sort of like that part, the unpacking, because it feels like I’m opening presents.
Great pictures Terri, as always, you are a super-star! 🙂
Pinned!
Dalila, you’re right about unpacking, it does feel like opening presents. It is SO much better than packing! I hope that you are able to get settled quickly in your new place and will enjoy your new surroundings. ~Terri
What a beautiful dessert….the perfect touch of “summer” that I need while still waiting for spring to arrive in earnest and take away all of the snow. I bet that balsamic reduction sends what’s already delicious into another galaxy. I can’t wait to try this.
Onomatopoeia…I think the last time I heard that word, Bob said it after hearing the definition on “Jeopardy”. I LOVE your list of words…and can TOTALLY relate to >&^!@*…..I’ve uttered that one……or 10….words MANY times….in fact I think I’ve even invented NEW words that fit into that definition. 🙂
Carol, I didn’t notice that you had left a comment on this post. Sorry about that! I’m sure that Spring is about to kiss you on the cheek and leave some pretty flowers in your garden. We have had an extraordinarily mild winter and an unbelievably warm Spring, but SNOW is scheduled in the weather report for tomorrow. The temps have been record setting high for months and now suddenly, we are dropping from the 70’s down into the 30’s. That’s just plain silliness.