Creamy Mango Mousse with Soft Pistachio Cookies

Late last night I returned to Bangkok after two weeks of working in Bangladesh. This morning I had a tearful reunion with my kitchen and got straight to work. No rest for a food obsessive, least of all one who is going to turn her home into a restaurant for the first time next week (more on that later).

It is still mango season in Thailand. And I am still trying to get my head around desserts. So I am taking the plunge into the unchartered (by me) territory of mousse. This is a mango adaptation of a very simple mousse recipe. I have accompanied it with a delicious, light pistachio cookie for texture. Either serve the mousse in big glasses for a large dessert or in shot glasses as a canape or as part of a selection of sweet dishes:

Mousse shots

The cookies are so light and airy that the batch didn’t last long at all.

Tempting cookies on the cooling rack

Time: 30 minutes prep (plus 10 mins cooking time and several hours chilling time)

Rating: Easy

Serves: Makes 12 mousse shots or 3 large servings and 12 cookies

Ingredients

For the mousse:

200g mango puree (about 2 medium sized mangoes)

Juice 1 lime

250ml double cream

25g icing sugar

2 leaves gelatine
A few coursely chopped pistachios to garnish

For the cookies:

75g pistachios

85g caster sugar 

25g plain flour 

2 egg whites

Method

1. Start with the mousse. Place the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water to soften.
2. Whip the cream with the sugar until soft peaks form.
3. Peel the mangoes and puree the flesh in a blender until smooth. Heat the mango purée in a small pan. Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatine and add to the mango purée, stirring until dissolved. Add the lime juice and continue heating for another couple of minutes to firm up the puree and remove excess moisture.
4. Allow the mango mixture to cool and then fold into the whipped cream mixture. Transfer into serving glasses and refrigerate until set. Garnish with a few coarsely chopped pistachios. You can do this several hours in advance, even the night before.
5. Now for the cookies. Preheat the oven to 180°C  and grease a large baking sheet.
6. Finely grind three-quarters of the pistachios in a food processor or mortar and pestle. Coarsely chop the remaining nuts and set aside
7. Transfer the finely ground nuts to a bowl and stir in 45g caster sugar and flour.
8. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, and then add remaining sugar. Then fold in the pistachio mixture.
9. Place heaped teaspoons of the mixture onto the  baking sheet, using a second table spoon to round them. Leave space between them as they will rise and expand.
10. Sprinkle with remaining chopped nuts.
11. Bake for 10minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. If you want perfect rounds, use a small cookie cutter to cut out the middle section of each cookie and discard the rest.