Peach Mousse

I can’t really call this a mousse. It has no eggs, for one, and has curious ingredients like cream cheese and jam. I was basically putting in stuff that was dangerously close to their expiry. This seems to be the common trend for me, isn't it? The cause for most of my culinary experiments! So, I don’t know what to call it, except it is close to being a mousse due to its creamy, custard-y form. If you can think of a better sounding name, please let me know! :)

Ingredients (yield: 6 small cups)

1. 6 ounces of cream cheese
2. ½ cup of Peach jam (or any jam)
3. 1 cup of whipping cream (heavy cream)
4. 1 tablespoon of sugar
5. 1 peach, finely sliced
6. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
7. 1 teaspoon of orange extract

Preparation:

1. Whip/beat room temperature cream cheese into a fluffy mass
2. Add ½ cup of peach jam (mine was left-over from last year!) and beat it into the cream cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the cream along with sugar, vanilla and orange essence till it turns into a light,airy, frothy cloud of cream. In technical terms, beat the cream till it forms stiff peaks... that is, if you dip a spoon into the cream and take it out, the cream should form a stiff peak at the tip of the spoon.
4. Now gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese + jam mixture. Folding is a technique through which one tries to mix an airy, light entity like whipped cream or egg whites without deflating the air in it. So, gently mix in one direction, starting from the center and folding it over one side. Repeat till everything is almost evenly combined.
5. Spoon the mousse-like substance into small cups and refrigerate for at least one hour. Serve with slices of peach (or any fruit) on top.

 I am addicted to the flavors of peach+orange. This turned out to be a decent dessert when we had company, for you can’t really go wrong with fruit+cream+sugar, can you? :)