Do you know what I thought after having the first mouthful of this dessert…. why cant I come up with recipe ideas like this on my own. It's just some yummy, basic, readily available ingredients put together to get this wonderful dessert. There is no time consuming or complicated steps. Yet, I couldn't think of anything like this, why… why?
I was reading a book the other day. In that, the author mentions about a chinese saying “frog in the bottom of a well” (just like the Malayalam saying “pottakinattile thavala”). The frog looks up and sees only a single circle of the sky; he thinks he sees clearly, but “he doesnt know how big the outside world really is”. Sounds familiar? Sometimes I feel, I'm like that frog. I'm stuck in my own little world, thinking that this small circle constitutes the whole world, comfortably resting on my familiar environment. I agree, at times this helps.. but the longer you stay in the bottom of the well, chances are you get stuck there!
Though I'm not a resolution kind of person, this new year, I wanted to do something to expand the horizon of my little world. There is something in particular.. I want to read more about food, different kinds of cooking, different techniques of cooking, learn about new ingredients and those kinda things.. May be, then I'll also be able to come up with something like this, what say ;)?
That reminds me… do you believe in taking new year resolutions? Are you able to keep up with them? So.. what is your resolution for 2013? Please dont tell me, your resolution is to stay away from food blogs ;)
Coming back to the recipe, as I said, it's a very easy one with minimal effort and to top it up, it's a good looking dessert ;) So shall we go and whip this up?
Click below for video recipe:
Melt butter in heavy small skillet/saucepan. Once it is melted, add sugar…
Stir until bubbling, about 1 min. Mix in the biscuit crumbs. Stir until colour deepens, about 3 mins. Turn out onto a plate and let it cool completely…
Stir condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon peel in a large bowl to blend…
Fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture…
Place 1/4 cup of lemon and cream mousse in the serving dish, using a pastry bag. Top each with 1 tbsp crumb mixture, then 1/4 cup of mousse. Top parfait with remaining crumb mixture…
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter (43 gms)
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 cup Graham cracker crumbs (I used Digestive biscuit crumbs)
- 1 tin (395 gms) Condensed milk
- 1/2 cup Fresh lemon juice (refer notes)
- 1 tbsp Grated lemon peel
- 1 cup Chilled whipping cream
Instructions
- Melt butter in heavy small skillet/saucepan. Once it is melted, add sugar and stir until bubbling, about 1 min. Mix in the biscuit crumbs. Stir until colour deepens, about 3 mins. Turn out onto a plate and let it cool completely.
- Stir condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon peel in a large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat whipping cream in a medium bowl until firm peaks form; fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture.
- Place 1/4 cup of lemon and cream mousse in the individual serving dish. Top each with 1 tbsp crumb mixture, then 1/4 cup of mousse. Top parfait with remaining crumb mixture. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Notes
For the coffee version, you can add 1/2 tbsp of instant coffee powder and 1/2 tbsp sugar to 1/4 cup of hot water. Dissolve it and let it cool. Continue with the rest of the recipe as mentioned. However, I havent tried it myself, so it's just a suggestion :)
This dessert has a very strong/sharp lemony flavour. If you dont like that sharp taste, I suggest you reduce the qty of lemon juice to half the qty mentioned in the recipe.
It's originally a Key lime parfait recipe, but I made with lemons. If you like lime, you can try it with that.
I felt the qty of biscuit crumbs was a bit less compared to the mousse qty. However I suggest you make the qty mentioned in the recipe first, but make sure you've the ingredients ready, if you want to make a bit extra. I used a pastry bag with a big plain piping tip to form the cream layer in the serving dish.
Make sure you dont overcook the biscuit crumbs, otherwise it may harden. The number of people that can be served depends on the size of the dish you are serving.
I am planning on making this for a dinner. Can you give me some idea of the no of people this recipe works for.
thanks
Hi Sonali,
If you are using a small – med size individual serving dishes (as shown in the pic), you’ll get around 6 – 8 servings from the above qty.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria..
I made this yesterday..and it turned out great! Well, my butter and sugar did burn a bit and there was a bit too much lemon juice (I had halved the quantities), but after everything was done, I couldn’t believe I did it!!! And it was my first whipped cream experiment with Amul cream and it too was successful (in second attempt :p).. Thankyou for inspiring me to jump out of my pottakkulam :D Adding a pic..
Hi Lisha,
Thank you so much dear for your comment :) I’m really happy that your experiment with whipped cream turned out successful!
The pic looks nice! Thanks for adding it.
Cheers
Maria
By lemon peel u mean lemon zest right?
Yep :)
Hi Maria
Wanted to try out this recipe of ours .. looks so yummy…can i use fresh cream instead of whipping cream? and is lemon , the musambi that we get in India?
Preetha,
I’ve tried this only whipping cream, so I’m not sure whether it will work out with fresh cream. Again, I’m not sure whether musambi will work. You can use the lemon/Lime that you get in India to make this.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria
I made this last day when my aunt visited me. It is easy and no-bake. Moreover with my 2 toddlers running in between, this was an effortless dinner dessert. My aunt, herself a baking buff was quite impressed. When i told her abt this she wanted to see the blog and now quite taken by it.
Thresia Louis
Hi Thresia,
It’s a pleasure to know that your family enjoyed this dish. Yep, it’s so easy to make.
Thanks for the comment and also for introducing my site to your aunt :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Thresia,
It’s a pleasure to know that your family enjoyed this dish. Yep, it’s so easy to make.
Thanks for the comment and also for introducing my site to your aunt :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria
I made this last day when my aunt visited me. It is easy and no-bake. Moreover with my 2 toddlers running in between, this was an effortless dinner dessert. My aunt, herself a baking buff was quite impressed. When i told her abt this she wanted to see the blog and now quite taken by it.
Thresia Louis
Leave a message…
Yummy !
Thanks :)
Yummy !
Hi maria, i accdiently came across ur blog n became a very big fan of ur recipes coz ur recipes never go wrong n they r so yummy. Not only ur recipes i m big fan of ur blah blah too :-) u r such a motor mouth n a very intresting person. Keep it up sweet maria n keep teaching us :-) my regards to jose bhai.
Thanks Shanu :) Great to know that you enjoy the recipes and my write ups too..
Jose says hi to you..
Cheers
Maria
condensed milk..biscuit crumbs in butter and whipped cream…whats not there to like in this? unfortunately my new year resolution is the same as always..eat healthy food with less fat . ;) not that i keep my resolutions ! it sounds easy ..so might give it a try soon.. :)
yeah it’s just a medley of all yummy ingredients :) You keep up your resolution, but you cheat it once in a while ;)