So a fool can refer to a lot of things. It can be somebody who undercooked his filet mignon on national T.V. despite being a trained butcher(whoops), somebody who does not know what 2+2 is, or it could also be a dessert that involves a fruit puree being folded into cream. In the case of this dessert, it would be the third option. Yes, no raw filet mignon or bad math in this post. Anyways, for this actual recipe, I included a fool hybridized with a cheesecake. So we have a yuzu cheesecake mousse with raspberry puree and yuzu curd folded into it. To make it a little more misleading and fun, since it is February aka Valentine’s Month after all, I topped the fool with a tempered white chocolate disk, to make it better blend in with the plate. On top of that, I did a phyllo crisp with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. The idea is to make it appear that the phyllo crisp is all there is to the dessert, when in reality, there is an entire second dessert hiding underneath! Granted, it is only a fool, but still, simple things can be made exciting too!

For the raspberry coulis:
1/2 cup raspberries
1 teaspoon yuzu juice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup water

Cook down the ingredients in a pot on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries are completely broken down into just seeds, and the liquid is cooked out by about 2/3rds. Pass through a sieve and allow the coulis to come down to room temperature. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the coulis for plating and use the rest in the fool.

For the yuzu curd:
2oz yuzu juice
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Whisk all of the ingredients, sans butter, together in a pot first, until all of the lumps have been whisked out. Transfer to medium heat, and whisk for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and begins to cling to your whisk. Whisk into that the butter, off heat, to finish. Keep lukewarm for folding into your mousse.

For the yuzu cheesecake mousse:
8 oz cream cheese
4oz yuzu inspiration
1 teaspoon gelatin powder
1 tablespoon yuzu juice
1/4 cup water
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Raspberry coulis*
Yuzu curd*

Start by creaming the cream cheese in a bowl first to soften it. In another bowl, combine all of the other ingredients besides the vanilla extract, raspberry coulis, and yuzu curd. Pour into a pot and heat them together until those ingredients are fully melted into a singular liquid. Pour the liquid into the cheese and continue to whip until everything is incorporated. Add vanilla to that. Barely fold the coulis and curd into the cheese mixture. Transfer into wide rim bowls and refrigerate.

For the phyllo crisp:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cold water
a pinch of salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk

In a bowl, mix the flour, cold water, and salt to form a dough. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Then divide the dough into 8 even pieces. Roll each piece out to as flat and as circular of a shape as possible. Brush the tops of all but 1 piece with the melted butter and sugar. Then stack your pieces so that the un-brushed piece is on top. Re-roll out the dough as thinly and as widely as possible. It should go really thin at this point. Cut out wedge shapes from the dough and transfer to a parchment or silopat lined baking sheet. Brush egg yolk on top of each piece and sprinkle on about 1 teaspoon more of sugar on top. Bake these wedges at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow them to cool down before using.

For the fresh cream:
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Whip to stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate until time to use.

For the white chocolate disk:
1/2 cup white chocolate
a pinch of salt

Heat your white chocolate and salt together in a double boiler until half-melted. Take off heat and continue stirring until fully melted. Once the white chocolate reaches 88 degrees F, pour and spread it onto acetate in an even and thin layer. Refrigerate for 5 minutes. Then cut out circles of the chocolate in a similar size than the openings of your bowls. Return to the refrigerator for another 10 minutes before releasing from the acetate.

For plating:
Fresh raspberries

Start with piping the cream onto the cooled down phyllo. Pipe the reserved coulis into the cavities of the raspberries and place those onto the cream. Place the disk of white chocolate onto the bowl, and then finish with the phyllo crisp on the side to serve.