vols au vent

I was unfathomably (almost embarrassingly) excited about my second daring baker’s challenge. Possibly more excited, even, than I was about the first. I’d been trying to talk myself into making puff pastry for a while now – and this challenge? Well it was just the kick in the behind that I needed.

          strawberry mousse vols au vent

I was so inspired, in fact, that I ended up doing even more than was asked of me. Having completed the pastry with no dramas (unlike the last challenge – oh. my. goodness!) I decided to push myself just that little bit further and created a little strawberry and mandarin tasting plate, complete with my first batch of macarons and my summery strawberry & mandarin mousse.

  a strawberry tasting plate: puff pastry star with mandarin glaze, strawberry & mandarin macaron, strawberry mousse vols au vent

I plated the lot of it on a strawberry glaze with a bitter mandarin sauce and left it in the piano room for the family to look at while I went to chop up some fresh strawberries to top their mousse with.
I came back to a largely empty plate.

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