We love lemon curd and use it with our lemon layer cake served with fresh, sliced strawberries. But, when we brought home a beautiful basket of fresh strawberries a few weeks ago, we had a hankering to make strawberry curd. It was full of fresh, juicy strawberry flavor and delicious all by itself, but then we folded it into whipped cream and beaten egg whites to make a strawberry curd mousse, which all turned out to be a deliciously great experiment. This dessert is light and creamy and makes a beautiful presentation, too. 🍓🍓🍓
If you love strawberries, and it is, after all, strawberry season, this dessert might be just your ticket! This beautiful parfait is made with alternating layers of strawberry curd mousse, strawberry curd, and fresh pureed strawberries. It’s light and fluffy and makes a dreamy dessert. Garnish it with fresh strawberries for extra flavor. Once you make it, it keeps well in the refrigerator for a day or two, so you can make it ahead of time if you’re in a time crunch. Be sure to cover the parfaits with plastic wrap before refrigerating them. Put the final touch of whipped cream and strawberry garnish on at the last minute.
Egg White Alternatives
Usually, mousse calls for beaten egg whites, which when folded together with whipped cream create the perfect, fluffy texture. But, if you are a bit nervous about eating raw egg whites like we are, don’t worry … you have several options. Since we are not huge fans of using raw egg whites, we use meringue powder or egg white powder instead. If you mix the powder with water and sugar, they whip up to stiff peaks beautifully and you don’t have to worry about the possible effects of eating raw egg whites. This meringue is perfect for your mousse. You could also use liquid egg whites, whipped with 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per egg white, which is about 2 tablespoons of eggs whites. This works really, really well and makes amazing meringue! Or, you can pasteurize the raw egg whites, for peace of mind, And, finally, you can simply use this strawberry curd folded into whipped cream and forget about the eggs all together!
Any way you stack it, strawberry mousse layered with strawberry curd and puréed strawberries is going to taste really, really divine!
Strawberry Curd
Note* This recipe makes enough for both the mousse and to have enough to layer by itself in the parfaits.
(Yields about 1 1/2 cups)
Strawberry Curd Mousse Parfaits
Ingredients
- 1 lb. strawberries 3 cups chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 6 whole eggs beaten
Strawberry Curd Mousse
- 1 cup strawberry curd save the remaining curd to layer in the parfaits
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- *2 egg whites or the equivalent – see notes above
- *2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Remove stems from strawberries and coarsely chop.
- Add strawberries to a medium saucepan, along with the granulated sugar and fresh lemon juice. Stir well with a whisk to blend. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and syrupy, approximately 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and mash the pulp through a sieve to separate the pulp and the liquid. Discard the pulp and cool the strawberry syrup to room temperature.
- Whisk together the cooled strawberry mixture with beaten eggs and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often with a wire whisk, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. This will take about 4-5 minutes. The curd should be smooth and the stirring helps keep it that way, and yet somehow the pesky lumps can still form. But don’t worry about that too much.
- Simply strain the curd through a mesh sieve while it’s still hot and discard the lumps.
- Cool the curd to room temperature. If making ahead of time, refrigerate until you're ready to make the mousse.
Strawberry Curd Mousse
- In a mixing bowl, beat heavy cream to stiff peaks with an electric beater. Reserve 1/4 cup of the whipped cream for garnish on top of mousse parfaits.
- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks. (Or, if using meringue powder, follow these directions.)
- Gently fold beaten egg whites, whipped cream, and strawberry curd together.
Fresh Strawberry Purée
- 1 lb. fresh strawberries, stems removed. Set aside 2-3 strawberries for garnish and purée the rest of the berries in the food processor until smooth. Set aside and refrigerate until ready to use. (This part gives the dessert the beautiful red color.)
Assembling the Mousse Parfaits
- In your favorite glasses, spoon a layer of strawberry curd mousse at the bottom of each glass. Next, spoon a layer of plain strawberry curd, followed by a layer of puréed strawberries.
- Repeat the process until you’ve used up all of the ingredients, ending with pureed strawberries on top, if possible.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. When serving, spoon a dollop of the reserved whipped cream on top of each parfait and garnish with a slice of strawberry.
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