Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream

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The BEST light and flavorful Strawberry Mousse recipe.

 

Fresh and lightly sweet, this is the perfect spring or summer dessert!

This recipe for Creamy Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream was adapted from my favorite recipe resource, Cook’s Illustrated. Their magazines are the only ones that I don’t recycle after removing the interesting recipes. I hang on to each and every one.

The entire recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Therefore this dessert is not overly sweet and the strawberry flavor really shines.

How to get the most flavor out of your strawberries.

The May / June 2014 issue of Cook’s Illustrated features an article about how to coax the most flavor out of grocery store strawberries. This recipe involves several steps but each is designed to extract as much flavor as possible.

As you may know it’s often difficult to find consistently juicy, sweet and flavorful strawberries, especially from the grocery store.

When shopping for strawberries I inspect the packages throughly before taking them home. I look for strawberries that are red all the way to the top of the fruit. If the top of the strawberries are white, then the middle of the berry will be too. Red strawberries yield the best flavor.

The seeds should be light in color and preferably the stems and leaves not dried out.

Don’t feel like you have to use the very best strawberries ever grown. This foolproof method will extract plenty of strawberry flavor for the perfect dessert!

Ingredients needed to make Strawberry Mousse:

For the strawberry mousse:

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries. Once you clean the strawberries and remove the hulls, you’ll have about 1 3/4 pounds.
• granulated sugar
• salt
• unflavored gelatin
• cream cheese
• heavy whipping cream

For the lemon whipped cream:

• heavy whipping cream
• granulated sugar
• lemon zest
• lemon juice

How to make Strawberry Mousse:

Don’t over-process the strawberries.

Place the processed strawberries in a medium mixing bowl and toss with 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover and allow the strawberries to rest for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don’t wash the food processor yet – you’ll need it again in a minute.

Extract the strawberry juice.

Strain the strawberries through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of juice.

Add gelatin to the strawberry juice.

Remove 3 tablespoons of the juice to a small bowl. Sprinkle unflavored gelatin on top and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Simmer the remaining strawberry juice.

Pour the remaining juice in a small saucepan. Heat on medium-high and cook until the juice is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. This should take about 10 minutes. Now you have intensely flavored strawberry juice with most of the liquid removed.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the softened gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved then pour the gelatin mixture to a large bowl. Add the cream cheese and whisk until fully incorporated.

Strain the remaining strawberries.

While the juice is cooking down, pour the strained strawberries back into the food processor and pulse until smooth. Strain through the fine mesh sieve using a spoon to press the solids and extract the juice. Once all the pulp and juice is extracted, discard the seeds and solids.

Beautiful flavorful strawberry puree.

Add the strawberry puree to the bowl with the gelatin and cream cheese mixture.

Finish the mousse with whipped cream.

Whisk the strawberry mixture until smooth. In a separate bowl beat 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup of sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Gently whisk the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until fully incorporated.

Pour the prepared mousse into pretty glasses, bowls or ramekins.

Divide the strawberry mousse into serving dishes or stemware. Cover with a small piece of plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

When ready to serve, garnish with a spoonful of diced strawberries and a dollop of lemon whipped cream.

This Strawberry Mousse recipe delivers intense strawberry flavor.

The mousse is full of strawberry flavor and the small amount of cream cheese creates a wonderfully creamy consistency.

Don’t skip the lemon whipped cream!

The zing from the tart lemon juice really works in this dessert. Lemon and strawberries are great companions anyway so the added freshness is phenomenal.

Make ahead for your next party!

We love to serve this Strawberry Mousse in pretty stemware or dessert glasses. It can also be used as a layer in a trifle, or spooned into plastic cups for outdoor picnics. Enjoy!

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Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream

Prep Time: 1 hour hr

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 5 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Yield: 8

Course: Dessert

Author: Tricia

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5 from 9 votes

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Creamy, fresh and lightly sweet, a perfectly lovely spring or summer dessert.

Ingredients

For the mousse:

• 2 pounds strawberries plus more for garnish (about 1 cup chopped)
• ½ cup granulated sugar divided
• pinch of salt
• 1 ¾ teaspoons unflavored gelatin (1 package)
• 4 ounces cream cheese cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream

For the lemon whipped cream:

• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

To prepare the mousse:

• Clean 2 pounds of strawberries and remove the hulls. You should have about 1 ¾ pounds.
• Process ½ of the strawberries in a food processor until most pieces are ¼ to ½ inch thick. This takes about 10 short pulses. Remoe the strawberries to a medium mixing bowl. Repeat with the remaining strawberries. Be careful not to over-process.
• Toss the processed strawberries with ¼ cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover and allow the strawberries to rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Don’t wash the food processor yet – you’ll need it again in a minute.
• Strain the strawberries through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have about ¾ cup of juice. Remove 3 tablespoons of the juice into a small bowl. Sprinkle unflavored gelatin on top and let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the remaining juice in a small saucepan. Heat on medium-high heat and cook until the juice is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. This takes about 10 minutes.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the softened gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Pour the gelatin mixture to a large bowl and add the cream cheese. Whisk until the cream cheese is fully incorporated.
• While the juice is cooking down, take the strained strawberries back to the food processor and pulse until smooth. Strain through the fine mesh sieve using a spoon to press the solids and extract all the juice. Once all the pulp and juice is extracted, discard the seeds and solids. Add the strawberry puree into the bowl with the gelatin and cream cheese mixture. Whisk until smooth.
• In a clean bowl, beat ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Gently whisk the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until fully incorporated. Divide the strawberry mousse into serving dishes or stemware. Cover with a small piece of plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Garnish with diced strawberries and lemon whipped cream.

To prepare the lemon whipped cream:

• Pour the whipped cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the cream on medium-low until foamy. Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Whip on medium-high until soft peaks form. Serve with the strawberry mousse.

Recipe Notes

• Recipe adapted from the May/June 2014 Edition of Cook’s Illustrated

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 60mg | Potassium: 218mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 642IU | Vitamin C: 68mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 1mg

There’s no doubt we love strawberries here at SRFD. If you do too, check out a few more of our favorite recipes featuring this amazing fruit!

• Homemade Strawberry PopTarts
• Easy Small-Batch Strawberry Jam
• Strawberry Breakfast Cake
• Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

If you still need more inspiration here’s a roundup with 103 Strawberry Recipes that just about covers everything!

Finally, here are a few more strawberry recipes from some of our favorite bloggers:

• Lemon Strawberry Trifle
• Strawberry Wine Slushies
• Healthy Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Originally published April 2015, updated July 2021

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