Maple Chestnut Cheesecake Mousse

This recipe is inspired by some of the gourmet ingredients I recieved from Qualifirst to review. Namely, the chestnut purée and the maple sugar; both ingredients I had never used before. I thought long and hard about what to make with these ingredients. I turned to google and pinterest, hoping to find something that was gluten free, delicious and didn't require too many difficult techniques. I found chocolate chestnut mousse, pavlova cake, chestnut cheesecake and more, great inspiration but not exactly what I was looking for. I finally realized I would need to create my own recipe. Combining aspects of many recipes I found, I came up with a Maple Chestnut Cheesecake Mousse.

I served it to my family for our Mother's Day dessert and I was surprised at how good it was! I've never had anything like it. It was so much better than the sum of its parts (I think chestnut tastes kinda weird on its own). It's no bake, comes together in 20 mins or less and best of all, naturally gluten free. Everyone adored it! I hope you do too.

*If you can only find sweetened chestnut purée, omit some of the sugar in the recipe. 

Makes 6 good sized servings

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cup Heavy Cream 

     1/4 cup Icing Sugar 

     1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2/3 cup Chestnut Purée (unsweetened)

1/4 cup Maple Syrup (can sub any other natural liquid sweetener- honey, agave, etc)

1/4 cup Icing Sugar (can be omitted or reduced for less sweetness)

1 tsp Maple Extract

1 block Cream Cheese at (or close to) room temp

3 Tbsp Maple Sugar (can substitute other toppings - cookie crumble, skor bits, etc) 

Directions

*Use mixer or hand mixer.

Whip cream, 1/4 cup icing sugar and vanilla to stiff peaks. Set aside in a separate bowl. 

Beat chestnut purée for 20 seconds to break it up.

Add maple syrup, 1/4 cup icing sugar and extract and beat until smooth.

Add in cream cheese and beat until smooth (a couple minutes).

With a rubber spatula, carefully fold in all but roughly 1/2 cup whipped cream into chestnut mixture. 

Spoon mousse into ramekins or cups. Garnish with remaining whipped cream and sprinkle 1/2 Tbsp maple sugar on each serving.

Serve immediately or let chill in fridge for a couple hours before serving.  

Whip cream to stiff peaks

Beat chestnut purée 20 seconds

Add in syrup, maple extract and icing sugar, beat until smooth

Beat in room temp cream cheese until smooth

Fold in whipped cream (reserve 1/2 cup for garnish)

Gently fold until completely combined

Spoon into ramekins or cups and garnish