Charlotte

Well it's that time where school begins and the summer ends. I'm packing up and getting ready to head back to Charlotte to start my very last year of college (finally!) and I'm super excited to see my three roommates and finally be done with living in a nasty dorm room and be upgraded to an apartment equipped with a kitchen (YES!!). So to celebrate this I thought that I would make Charlottes! I've always wanted to make these and I thought it was a great opportunity hence that they are called Charlottes and I'm going to Charlotte.

These are fairly easy to make. They just involve the ladyfinger cookies and some delicious and airy mousse of really any flavor you want. I wanted to go on a fruity route to kick-off the end of the summer. I decided to go with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries and add in a little white chocolate to give it a little something sweet.

I'm making three mainly because I just bought a mini spring-form pan set of 3 made by Wilton. They are super tiny and make the cutest Charlottes ever!

To make these little guys you can either make your own ladyfingers or you can buy them from your local grocery store. I decided to make my own and they ended up being fantastic! They are light, soft, and delectable and they pair very well with the fruit and white chocolate mousse.

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Charlottes (Makes about 4 mini)

Ladyfingers (via Chef Eddy recipe split in half)

1/2 cup flour
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites
1/4 cup minus 1/2 tbsp sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting
1/2-1 cup white chocolate (optional)

Put oven on 400*F. Sift the flour twice. Whisk the egg yolks and the vanilla until thick ribbons form and is pale, about 8 minutes. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form. Put the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture and gently fold in, but not completely. Add in the flour and continue to fold in until well incorporated. Put into a piping bag and pipe out disks (make sure it's about a 1/2 inch less then the bottom of your pan) and fingers. Let bake for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how big you piped the cookies, or until lightly golden.

OPTIONAL: melt the white chocolate and spread onto the disks and dip one side of the ladyfingers into the white chocolate and let set.

Fruit Mousse

2 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream, separated
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted
3 tsp gelatin
1/2 cup plus 3 tsp sugar

Puree the fruit separately and in each batch add a teaspoon of sugar. Take 1/4 cup of the cream and place in a saucepan with the gelatin. Put on low heat and mix until the gelatin is melted. Put the rest of the cream, the gelatin mixture, and the 1/2 cup sugar into a bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment and whip until stiff peaks appear. Split the whipped cream in 4 parts, one part each into a fruit puree and the melted white chocolate. Gently fold the cream into the purees. Put the mousse into a piping bag and pipe into the pans. Put into the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.