These Piña Colada Mousse Cups Are The Dessert Of The Summer
If you love piña coladas (and getting caught in the rain), you’ve got to try these mousse cups. Crispy coconut crumble, pineapple mousse, and boozy whipped cream are layered for a cool and creamy dessert spin on everyone’s favorite beach cocktail.
The mousse:
This mousse is made by folding a pineapple pastry cream that’s been stabilized with gelatin into whipped cream. If the sound of gelatin scares you, I promise it’s not. Here’s a quick walkthrough of the process to help you overcome those gelatin nerves:
Bloom the gelatin. Before adding the gelatin to the hot pastry cream, you’ll need to bloom it by sprinkling it over 1 tablespoon of cold water, stirring gently to combine, and letting it sit for about 5 minutes. During this time, you’ll notice the gelatin dissolve into the water and almost gel-ify it; that’s what’s supposed to be happening.
Dissolve the gelatin into hot (but not boiling!) liquid. To incorporate the gelatin into the pineapple pastry cream, add it to the cream when it’s still hot and stir until dissolved. The pastry cream will have been bubbling, but it’s important to make sure that it’s stopped before adding the gelatin; if the gelatin boils, it will lose some of its strength.
Don’t refrigerate the stabilized pastry cream before folding in the cream. The pastry cream should be cooled to room temperature—otherwise it will melt the whipped cream—but resist the urge to speed up the process by putting it in the refrigerator. You might end up with pastry cream that’s already started to solidify, and that will make it much more difficult to fold the cream in.
The booze:
In honor of its namesake, these piña colada mousse cups have quite a bit of rum added to both the mousse and the whipped cream. If you’d prefer to make them virgin, feel free to leave the rum out; they will be just as delicious.
Storage:
Once the crumble and the mousse is assembled in the glass cups, it should be eaten within 1 day, as the crumble will tend to get soggy with time. I would also avoid whipping the boozy cream until just before serving, since the rum will cause the whipped cream to break down sooner.
If you’d like to make some of this dessert ahead, the crumble can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature. A word of caution, though: it’s pretty irresistible, so you might want to make a double batch to ensure you’ll have enough for the mousse after you’re done snacking on it!
Did you try making this? Let us know how it went in the comments!
Yields: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 4 hours
Ingredients
Coconut Crumble
3
whole graham crackers, finely crushed (about 1/2 c. or 45 g. crumbs)
1/4 c.
(30 g.) all-purpose flour
1/4 c.
(30 g.) sweetened shredded coconut
2 tbsp.
granulated sugar
1/2 tsp.
kosher salt
4 tbsp.
unsalted butter, cold, cubed
Mousse & Assembly
1/2 tsp.
unflavored gelatin
1 c.
canned pineapple juice
1/4 tsp.
kosher salt
8 tbsp.
granulated sugar, divided
4
large egg yolks
2 tbsp.
(20 g.) cornstarch
1/4 c.
dark rum, divided
1 1/2 c.
heavy whipping cream, divided
2 tbsp.
confectioners’ sugar
4
small pineapple wedges
4
maraschino cherries
Directions
Coconut Crumble
In a large bowl, toss crackers, flour, coconut, sugar, and salt. Using clean fingers, rub in butter until incorporated (mixture should form clumps when pressed together). Spread mixture evenly onto a baking sheet and freeze 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°.
Bake crumble until golden brown and smells toasty, about 10 minutes. Stir crumble to break up into smaller pieces and continue to bake until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes more. Let cool.
Mousse & Assembly
In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 tablespoon cold water.
In a small pot over medium-high heat, bring pineapple juice, salt, and 6 tablespoons granulated sugar to a bare simmer.
In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until thickened and light yellow. Whisking constantly, pour hot pineapple juice mixture into egg yolk mixture. Once incorporated, pour back into pot and return to stove. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly and being careful to get in corners of pot to avoid scorching, until bubbling and thickened to a pudding-like consistency, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until slightly reduced and thickened, about 1 minute more.
Remove from heat and add bloomed gelatin, stirring until dissolved. Whisk in 3 tablespoons rum, then pour into another medium heatproof bowl. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
In a medium bowl, using a handheld mixer on medium speed, beat 1 cup cream until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes.
Using a flexible rubber spatula, fold about one-third of whipped cream into pineapple custard until combined. Add remaining whipped cream and gently fold until no streaks remain.
Spoon 1/4 cup crumble mixture into the bottom of 4 glass serving cups; reserve remaining crumble mixture. Divide mousse among cups. Refrigerate cups until chilled and set, 1 to 2 hours.
When ready to serve, in a medium bowl, using handheld mixer on medium speed, beat confectioners’ sugar and remaining 1/2 cup cream and 1 tablespoon rum until soft peaks form. Dollop on top of mousse cups. Sprinkle with reserved crumble mixture. Garnish with pineapple wedges and cherries.
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