Strawberry Mousse Parfait

Mmmmmmm. I think I have blogged about this before. Not here, and not including the recipe, so it is about time I shared it. I have been making this recipe for years. I cut it out of an issue of Gourmet magazine ages ago and find it so festive that I can't help myself sometimes and have been known to go to all the trouble (this was before I had an electric mixer and would whip the cream by hand) to make one serving of this just for me! Here though, is the recipe as I made it tonight to serve six. (To make one serving, cut all ingredients down to a quarter of what is required below and you'll have leftovers.)

Strawberries and Cream
A traditional delight
More complicated!

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of quartered strawberries
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1 1/3 cups well-chilled heavy cream
• 1 cup coarsely crushed butter cookies

1. Mash 4 cups of quartered strawberries with lemon juice and sugar in a bowl. Dice the remaining strawberries and set aside.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan and let sit 1 minute to dissolve. Over low heat, stir the gelatin until completely dissolved. Stir gelatin and water into the mashed strawberries.
3. Place the bowl of mashed strawberries into a larger bowl filled with ice and water and let sit, stirring occasionally until gelatin mixture thickens and a spoonful holds its shape momentarily before returning to the rest of the bowl (about 10 minutes).
4. Whip the cream in another bowl until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold 2 cups of the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture. Fold in most of the remaining strawberries.
5. To build the parfait, in individual cups, or a bowl, as pictured here, layer mousse, cookie crumbs, mousse, cookie crumbs, mousse, remaining whipped cream, and garnish with strawberries.
6. Chill at least 30 minutes and serve!

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