Why This Recipe Works There’s a good reason berry mousse recipes aren’t that prevalent: Berries contain lots of juice, and that can ruin the texture of a delicate mousse, which should be creamy and rich. Plus, the fruit flavor produced by most recipes is too subtle. To tackle these challenges and create a truly bright, flavorful mousse, we started by macerating frozen berries with sugar, lemon zest, and a little salt. This caused the berries to release their liquid, which we strained out. We then mixed 3 tablespoons of the drained juice with gelatin to thicken our mousse. Reducing the rest of the berry liquid in the microwave and adding it to the gelatin mixture boosted the concentrated berry flavor. Next, we fully pureed the juiced berries, which added a lot of fresh berry flavor. Finally, we added cream cheese, an unusual addition for mousse, for a creamier body and half a cup of heavy cream for richness. The whole thing whipped up into a perfectly smooth mousse right in the blender. For an even smoother mousse, you can strain the berry puree in step 3 through a fine-mesh strainer before processing with the remaining ingredients. If you make the mousse more than a day in advance, we recommend letting it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries, if desired.
Combine berries, 3 tablespoons sugar, lemon zest, and salt in bowl and let sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Strain berries through fine-mesh strainer over separate bowl; transfer berries to Ace blender and set aside. Transfer 3 tablespoonsdrained juice into small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over top, and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, microwave remaining juice until reduced to 3 tablespoons, 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk gelatin mixture and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar into reduced juice until dissolved.
Lock blender lid in place, then process berries on Medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add gelatin mixture, heavy cream, and cream cheese to blender, return lid, and process on medium speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Increase speed to High and process until smooth, about 30 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of blender jar as needed.
Portion mousse into 4 individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Serve.
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