Lemon Mousse in Sugared Phyllo Cups

(I couldn't help this font combination and color. It looks almost exactly like an old Sunset cookook my mom had from the 70's)

Last night I attended a baby shower and was asked to bring a treat. Actually, I was asked to bring a dip but as the conversation carried on somehow "dip" evolved to "treat," which I can embrace fully. This week has been crazy as I just started subbing. After 18 months of looking for work I'm happy to have some bit of income, so I sub in Life Skills classrooms with SPED students. It's a hard transition for me, but I'm embracing it. I miss the energy of my freshmen and being able to teach a content area that I love. One day I'll have that again... hopefully.

But back to baking.

Never in my life have I taken a food item that received so many enthusiastic requests for the recipe. Considering that I made it up on the fly it made my baking heart swell just a little bit. It's a fairly easy recipe, but it does take a couple hours start to finish with chilling times.

Lemon Mousse in Sugared Phyllo Cups

For the lemon mousse: 

3-4 lemons, juiced and zested 

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (one stick)

1 pkg. cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

3 tbsp powdered sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla bean paste (regular vanilla would work)

For the Phyllo Cups:

1/2 pkg. phyllo dough

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar (approximately)

Set Phyllo dough on counter (still in plastic) about 2 hours before you plan on working with it, or according to the package directions. 

Place butter and sugar into bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and cream together. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks and mix for about 1 minute on medium speed. The mixture will look separated but that is ok. Place lemon mixture into metal bowl and place over saucepan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until mixture is light in color and has thickened to coat the back of a spoon. 

Allow mixture to cool, then refrigerate until chilled. (Yes, you can put it in the freezer to speed things up! It still takes about an hour or so though.)

Add cream cheese to lemon mixture and cream together, making sure there are no lumps. In separate bowl, combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla and whip until mixture holds stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into lemon mixture and chill. 

Work with one phyllo sheet at a time while keeping the remaining sheets covered with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. Brush the first sheet of phyllo with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Lay a second phyllo sheet on top, butter lightly and sprinkle with sugar. Continue until you have a stack 6 sheets thick. Cut the phyllo rectangle once lengthwise and twice along the width to create 6 squares. Lightly press each square into a standard muffin cup being careful not to damage the delicate layers. Continue until you have used the entire roll of phyllo dough, which should make 24 cups. 

Bake phyllo cups at 350 for about 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. My oven bakes hot and uneven so keep an eye on them as this temp/time may not work as well in a better oven. 

Allow the cups to cool completely before filling. 

Using a standard cookie scoop, fill center of each phyllo cup with one scoop of lemon mousse then garnish as desired. In this case, with blueberries and additional lemon zest.

Grab one and eat up!! Seriously, the raves when I walked into the party with a platter of these were definitely notable. The raves after people started eating them were indescribable. Eat these. They are yummy.

Seriously though - if you try them I'd love to hear what you think about them.