Black sapote mousse with chilli vanilla toffee

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I have been wanting to try black sapote for years. It’s a type of persimmon native to Mexico. I first heard it called chocolate pudding fruit. What’s not to love about that? I nearly had kittens when I saw a basketful of them at The Food Co-Op Shop. I was amazed how much they taste like gluten free chocolate brownies; a little drier than I expected, but amazing. I scooped out some flesh straight from the skin, but it was really amazing with runny cream poured into the cavity. I knew it would make amazing mousse. This is an incredibly simple recipe containing sapote, whipped cream and dissolved gelatine. I thought a shard of chilli vanilla toffee. New Mexico chilli has a great fruity flavour to go with the sapote, and the flavours make a great Mexican combination. If you wanted, you could use Kashmiri chilli or whatever else you have on hand.

Serves 2-4

Sapote mousse

1		black sapote
300	millilitres	whipping cream
5	grams	gelatine powder
¼	cup	boiling water

Chilli vanilla toffee

¼	cup	white sugar
		vanilla paste
2	pinches	New Mexico chilli powder

To make the mousse, scoop the flesh from the black sapote and mash to a puree. Whip the cream to firm peaks. Combine the gelatine and boiling water, stirring to dissolve. Leave it to cool and combine with the sapote puree. Add a third of the whipped cream to the sapote puree, and mix to combine. Fold through the next third of the whipping cream. Lastly, very gently fold through the last of the cream till just combined. Scoop into your serving dishes and refrigerate till set.

To make the toffee, lay a piece of foil or baking paper on a flat, heat proof surface. Spread the sheet with vanilla paste, then sprinkle with chilli powder. Add a little of the sugar to a heavy based saucepan, when it melts, add a little more sugar, when it melts add the last of the sugar. When the sugar is a dark golden colour, pour it over the vanilla and chilli. It will bubble up a bit, that’s ok. Sread the toffee as thinly as possible and leave it to cool.

Remove the mousse from the fridge at least 30 minutes before you want to serve it. Break the toffee into large shards. Garnish each mousse with toffee shards.

Enjoy!