Right now, I’m sitting in front of my screen, cozied up in a comfy shawl and getting ready for an extended stroll through the “Jormag Rising” Chapter of the current Living Story of Guild Wars 2, and having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that just a week ago, while this year’s 35°C+ Hell Weeks were still in full swing, the thought of turning my PC on for longer than 10 mins would have made me pass out with a heat stroke right then and there.

It’s not “cold” yet per se but… you know. Mother Nature’s wardrobe shifting into the red & orange spectrum. Air moving with a momentum that almost resembles “wind” rather than the stale and humid “hover” it’s been stuck in for weeks. Finally getting to sleep through a night without having a 10-round fight with soaked bedsheets… All surefire signs for Autumn’s slow but steady approach. Normally this would be the time for hubby and me to pack our bags and hop on a plane to prolog Sommer in the best way possible, but… well, you know.
Now what could a foodie with one foot stuck in a small kitchen on planet Earth and one firmly planted in Tyria’s own Culinary Guild possibly do to bring “Vacation” to the table and draw out the good sides of Summer for juuuuuust a little longer? Right! Maaaaybe take this…

…and turn it into this!

Seeing as I haven’t spent a second longer than absolutely necessary in the kitchen during these past few weeks, I’ll file that under “Prolonging Summer” and apply “Quick Fix” Stickers to this little recipe here, too! If you still find yourself in an uncomfortable-heat situation, you could even leave the fridge door open between taking out the cream and putting in the bowl to chill through. If anyone asks, opening/closing/opening the fridge door that many times in such a short time would generate too much heat! Tee~hee. Here we go!

The Tropical Fruit Mousse
200ml Low Fat Coconut Milk
1 Passionfruit, pulp scraped out
250ml Low Fat Cream
50g Toasted Coconut Flakes
Alt: 50g Freshly grated Coconut – if you’re lucky enough to have that delicious luxury in easy reach’
2 ½ Leaves of Gelatine
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar or Light Muscovado
4 Very fresh, Organic Eggs, Size M
½ Large (or 1 small) Ripe Banana
1 Lime, Juice and Zest
1 Stalk of Lemongrass, very finely grated

1) Separate the eggs into two bowls – a large’ish one for the whites, a small “parking” bowls for the yolks.
2) Grab an electrical whisk and whip the eggwhites into stiff peaks.
3) Crumble the banana into a second mixing bowl and work it into a smooth purée with the help of a fork. Immediately drizzle the purée with the lime juice to keep it from turning to an unsightly brown.
4) Place a small pot on medium heat, add the coconut milk, flakes, passionfruit pulp, brown sugar, lime zest, lemongrass and allow the lot to heat through while you take care of the rest. Just have half an eye on the mixture and wriggle the pot from time to time to keep it from boiling up.
5) Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water to soak.
6) Pick up the whisk again, turn the speed to slow and slowly incorporate the egg yolks into the banana-lime purée.
7) As soon as the two are well combined, turn the speed of the whisks to high and have at it until the mixture turns smooth and creamy.

8) Grab yet another bowl and whip up the cream into stiff peaks.
9) Take the infused coconut milk off the stove and give ot a couple of rounds with a spoon to help it cool down just a little. If you want your mousse to be on the very smooth side of things, consider either straining it through a sieve to get rid of the coconutty and passionfruity bits (and: a good chunk of aroma! Remember to taste and adjust the mix if you’re going down that road!) or whizzing the bits into the finest grains possible with the help of your trusty stick blender.
10) Retrieve the gelatine leaves and squeeze out every last drop of water.
11) Pop the leaves into the coconut-passionfruit mixture and stir the lot until the leaves have dissolved completely.
12) Now to bring everything together: fold the banana-lime & egg mix into the gelatined coconut-passionfruit mix.
13) Once the two are perfectly blended into eachother, gently fold in the cream in slow but steady stokes as not to break up the fluff in the process.
14) Transfer the resulting fruity, cloudy substance into smaller dessert bowls, sealable jars, champagne flutes, one large center-piece bowl or any other container you’d like to serve it in.
15) Place the mousse-containers in your fridge for 4-5 hours or until the dinner bell rings~

Enjoy~!

♥