However dear I hold dessert, it is rarely on my mind as Sunday lunch draws to a close. I usually quit after the main dish and grab a piece of cheese, a square of thin, dark chocolate or a peach. More fun, I think, is to wait a couple of hours then bring out something sweet, when it will get the attention it deserves. On a roasting summer’s afternoon this could be ice-cream held prisoner between two homemade wafers or soft, sugar-dusted cookies; halves of apricots filled with sweetened ricotta; or a little tart filled with cloud of lemon mousse.
When the sun is at its height, I might sandwich lemon water ice between a pair of slim shortbreads, stuff strawberry ice-cream into crisp, thin almond biscuits or spread chocolate chip ice-cream between two thick and crunchy peanut cookies. You can roll the sandwiched ices in coarse, pastel-coloured sugar or crushed cookie crumbs if you wish, but I prefer a more impromptu affair where the ice-cream is allowed to peep, teasingly, from its shell.
A citrus mousse also appeals on a summer’s afternoon, perhaps with a pot of lemon verbena tea, but I want something crisp with it, too, a ginger biscuit or sweet rice cake. Better still, that crisp element crushed to crumbs and used to form a tartlet case for the lemony fluff. A sweet nothing with which to while away what remains of the afternoon.
Lemon mousse tarts
Handed a dessert menu, I will always head for the citrus offerings rather than the chocolate. (I have never quite understood how anyone can end a meal with a chocolate pudding.) Lemon desserts come and go – possets, syllabubs or a classic lemon tart. But the one that always beckons is the classic lemon mousse, either as a stand-alone dish or as the filling for a tart.
The biscuit crust here is delicate, which is why I suggest using nonstick tartlet tins. It is a good idea to loosen the crumb cases in their tins before you fill them, they will be easier to remove later. I sometimes swap some of the ginger biscuits for sweet rice cakes (Clearspring make a good version with black sesame seeds). The wafers make the crust lighter, though somewhat more fragile.
Makes 6 tarts
For the crust:
butter 120g
ginger biscuits 300g
For the mousse:
eggs 3
caster sugar 70g
gelatine 2 leaves
lemons 2, large
double cream 200ml
You will also need six 10cm nonstick, loose-bottomed tartlet tins
Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside. Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and stir them into the melted butter. Divide the crumb mixture between the tartlet cases, pressing the crumbs firmly into the base and up the sides of the tins with a teaspoon. Place the cases on a tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes until set.
Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks and sugar to a thick, pale cream using a food mixer. Soften the leaves of gelatine in a bowl of cold water. Finely grate the zest of one of the lemons, then halve and squeeze both. Add the zest to the yolks and sugar mixture.
Warm the lemon juice in a small saucepan, without letting it boil. Lift the softened mass of gelatine from the water and add to the warm juice, stirring until it has dissolved. Pour the juice slowly into the yolk and sugar mixture with the paddle turning then remove the bowl from its stand. Lightly beat the cream until thick, stir into the mousse mixture, then refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Beat the egg whites until stiff then fold into the lemon-cream mixture with a large metal spoon, making sure that all the whites are incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the tartlet cases and return to the fridge and leave to set for 4 hours before serving.
Peanut ice-cream wafers
Once filled and sandwiched together, these ice-cream wafers keep well in the freezer and can be brought out as an afternoon treat or cut into quarters with a heavy kitchen knife and served with coffee. Vanilla, chocolate chip and chocolate are the ice-cream flavours probably most at home with the peanut cookies.
Makes 9 filled wafers
butter 120g
muscovado sugar 120g
egg yolk 1
porridge oats 120g
peanut butter 2 heaped tbsp (smooth or crunchy)
salted roasted peanuts 160g
vanilla or chocolate chip ice-cream 1 litre
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the egg yolk, then stir in the porridge oats and peanut butter. Roughly crush half the peanuts and stir them all in.
Break the dough into 18 pieces and roll into balls. Place the balls on the lined baking sheet, allowing plenty of space between them, then press each down with the back of floured spoon and bake for 15 minutes or until golden and lightly firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to settle before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
When they are completely cold, divide the ice-cream between half of the biscuits and, working quickly, spread it evenly out to the edges. Place a second biscuit on top of each and smooth the edges with a palette knife. Place each filled wafer in the freezer as you go. They can be stored for a few days in an airtight freezer box.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@NigelSlater
