Last year, I entered the POM Wonderful recipe contest. I'm not entering this year, but the lovely POM people sent me some juice, so I whipped some fabulous pomegranate mousse to go in this batch....so festive! I love pomegranates anytime, but they really remind me of Christmas.A few months ago, I had conference call with Nicole Aloni, a chef I really respect. She told me that she had all kinds of people taste appetizers made with store-bought and homemade pie crusts and no one could tell the difference. Score!:) So, I whipped up these little cups in no time flat....shhhh...it's our little secret. I found these Gold Sprinkles at Sugarcraft.com, if you have a cake supply store near your home, you can probably get them there. They looked so "Christmassy", I couldn't pass them up!
Snowflake Cup Ingredients:
2 Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
Powdered Sugar (for garnish)
3" or 4" snowflake cookie cutter (I got ours at our local kitchen store for 85 cents)
1 1/2 C. POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk (about 14 oz.)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pkg. unflavored gelatin
various sprinkles, optional
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray mini-muffin pan with cooking spray. Unroll pie crust and with a rolling pin, roll it out to a 12" circle (about 1/8" thick). Cut out snowflake shapes with cutter. Lay one snowflake over each opening in the mini-muffin pan and gently press the center of each snowflake until it touches the bottom of the pan. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on baking rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar and cool completely. Re-roll remaining pie crust and repeat directions, you should get 20-30 snowflakes per pie crust.Mousse Directions:
Dissolve 1 package of unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup POM Juice. Bring to a boil another 1/4 POM Juice. Remove from heat and add the dissolved gelatin, stirring until completly dissolved. Set aside.
Beat heavy whipping cream for 2-3 minutes, until thick. Add pomegranate juice and sweetened condensed milk and beat for an additional minute. Pour the dissolved gelatin mixture into the cream mixture and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Place in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. When ready to serve, spoon mousse into a pastry bag or ziploc freezer baggie with one end snipped off. Pipe out a heaping tablespoon into each snowflake cup. Garnish with sprinkles, if desired. Serve immediately.