While I do not celebrate Easter in the religious sense, I can still appreciate the fact that the holiday is closely associated with rabbits and eggs. Those are cute things to make desserts from, and the latter if what inspired this dessert! Well, that and marshmallow peeps. Fun fact: I was originally going to do these mini peep pavlovas as a separate recipe entirely, but I found that they would make the cutest garnish on top of these egg-shaped petit gateaus! I did heavily debate on whether or not I wanted to do a crazy colorful glaze on these eggs or not, in honor of actual Easter eggs, but at the risk of me not wanting it to be TOO childish and crazy, I opted for a more muted white glaze, just so that the little yellow peep-lovas on top would stand out more(that and the yellow against the white ties back in with the egg-stetic that I was going for – yes, I will stop the weird word mish-mashes now).

With this recipe, I was testing out these egg petit gateau molds, and I wanted to also use salted duck eggs as well, since I love making desserts with those! The “yolk” in the petit gateau was a custard made from salted duck eggs, while the “white” of the egg was a white sesame mousse. The egg is glazed in a soy milk mirror glaze, and is sitting on top of a hojicha(toasted green tea) sable. And of course on top of that is our little peep, made with baked meringues using black sesame seeds for the eyes, and a little turmeric powder for the bright yellow color! Personally, I debated between whether to flavor the mousse or the sable(cookie) with the sesame or the hojicha respectively, but I opted for the final results just because a hojicha mousse, while delicious, would not look very egg-like in terms of color, whereas the white sesame is more passably white, but if you want to swap the hojicha and sesame around, you are more than welcomed to! These little peep eggs are fun to cut into, just because the mousse and custard together really give them an egg-like appearance, while the peeps on top are just a fun homage to Easter in general!

Makes 3 petit gateau:
For the salted duck egg custard:
2 salted duck egg yolks
1/4 cup soy milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, dissolve the egg yolks into milk with sugar and gelatin first. Bring to a simmer and boil while whisking over low heat until combined. Take the mixture off heat, strain it, and finish with the vanilla. Pour the custard mixture into silicone 1/2-inch half-sphere molds and freeze solid. Press the half-spheres together to form full spheres. Keep frozen for assembly.

For the white sesame mousse:
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup ground white sesame
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped stiff
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, heat up the soy milk, sesame, sugar, gelatin, and salt and bring to a simmer. Once the mixture has reduced to the consistency of unwhipped heavy cream, take off heat and allow it to cool down to room temperature. Fold the heavy cream and vanilla into the sesame-milk mixture to create your mousse.

For initial assembly:
Pipe the mousse into silicone egg molds. Press the still-frozen duck egg custard “yolks” into the mousses and level off the openings so that they are flat. Freeze for at least 2 hours before attempting to unmold and finish with the glaze.

For the hojicha sable:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp hojicha powder
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp cold water
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together to form a dough. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Cut into 3-inch by 1/4-inch disks. Place onto a lined sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool down before using.

For the mini baked meringues:
1 tsp egg white powder
1 tbsp water
1 tsp confectioner’s sugar
a pinch of salt
a dot of yellow gel food coloring or turmeric powder
black sesame seeds

Whip the egg white powder with water first until frothy and white. Then whisk in the sugar and salt and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Finally add in the coloring. Transfer to a piping bag with a small round tip. Pipe the meringues into little bird shapes by piping a tear drop shape as the body then piping a smaller tear drop shape, with the point facing the opposite of the body, to form the head. Carefully place on sesame seeds for the eyes. Bake at 200 degrees F for 2 hours. Store in an airtight container until time to assemble.

For the mirror glaze:
1/2 cup soy milk
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp gelatin powder + 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white chocolate

In a pot, melt down the gelatin and salt into the soy milk first. Take the pot off heat and add in the white chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for at least 1 minute before stirring to combine. Pass through a sieve to remove any lumps.

For final assembly:
Place the eggs onto a small, elevated surface – I used Russian piping tips, but a small cookie cutter would work great for this as well! Pour the still-warm glaze over the still-frozen eggs, allowing the excess to drip off and the remainder to firm up. Transfer the glazed mousses onto the sables. Garnish the top with the meringues to finish.