I would be lying if I said this was my first Swablu dessert. That being said, compared to my first one, these cookies definitely captured the color of Swablu a LOT better. When it came to the flavors, I wanted to go with something a little more tropical-leaning as an homage to Swablu, since it is a Pokemon originating from the Hoenn region, which is a tropical climate, so I went with coconut and Calpico. And to contrast that, I used salted duck egg, which might sound weird, but in Southeast Asian countries, salt and coconut pair beautifully together in a lot of desserts, so I figured that plus the mildly citrus-y notes of Calpico would be a winner! When it came to my components, I went with a salted duck egg custard center, a blue Calpico mousse, a white chocolate mousse, a coconut cookie as the base, and tempered white chocolate curls for the little head feathers. What I love about Swablu is that it is a cute but simply designed Pokemon, being a little round blue bird with clouds for wings. Replicating it in dessert form is always so fun because of that, since all you really need to do is settle on the medium you’re recreating it with! Last time, it was a sundae, this time, it’s a mousse decorating a cookie!

For the components, we have a salted duck egg custard filling, enrobed by a Calpico mousse, sitting on top of a coconut cookie, and adorned with whipped coconut-white chocolate ganache, white chocolate curls that are dyed blue with spirulina, and little eyes dotted on with edible marker. The salted duck egg custard is probably the most time-sensitive component to make, since that needs to freeze solid before it can be placed into the mousse, which is a close second in the time-sensitive contest here. The mousse then needs to freeze solid before you can unmold it and use it as Swablu’s body. I wouldn’t say either component is hard to make, per se, so long as you don’t scramble the custard or overwhip the cream for the mousse. The ganache, on the otherhand, can be fickle. It can split, it can get oily, and it may take whipping it with water to get the various fats in the white chocolate, coconut milk, butter, and cream to emulsify. But when you get it there, the end result is this creamy, silky, light as a feather cream that is to die for. And for the tempered curls, fortunately with white chocolate, it is really easy to temper it since it is basically just cocoa butter, so while tempering chocolate can be tricky, white chocolate is usually very unproblematic. Overall, not a terribly difficult dessert to make, but a bit time consuming with all of the freezing that will need to be done first, but that is also something you might come to expect with 99.9% of my mousse-based desserts and recipes here on this site!

Makes 4 Swablu:
For the salted duck egg custard filling:
1/4 cup whole milk
1 salted duck egg yolk
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a blender, puree the whole milk with the duck egg yolk first. Then pour the liquid into a pot and bring up to a simmer on low heat. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, cornstarch, and sugar. Pour half of the duck egg milk over that while whisking. Then add that, plus the butter, back into the pot and whisk on medium heat until it begins to thicken. Pass everything through a sieve to remove any lumps and mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the custard into 1/4-inch silicone half sphere molds and freeze solid, at least 2 hours. While the half spheres are still frozen, press two together to form a full sphere for the mousse inserts.

For the Calpico mousse:
2oz Calpico concentrate
2oz white chocolate chips
2oz whole milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp gelatin powder
a pinch of salt
1 drop blue food coloring
8oz heavy cream

In a pot, heat up the Calpico, white chocolate, whole milk, cornstarch, gelatin, and salt until everything is dissolved and reaches a simmer. Pass the liquid through a sieve then add to that the food coloring to tint the mousse base a blue color. Allow the mousse base to cool down to room temperature. In another bowl, whisk the cream to stiff peaks. Then fold the cream into the mousse base. Pour the base into silicone full sphere molds and place into the center of each the frozen custard fillings before sealing off the molds and freezing the spheres solid(3-4 hours).

For the coconut cookie base:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
4 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined into a dough. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes before rolling it out on a slightly floured surface until about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 3-inch disks and transfer to a lined sheet tray. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.

For the white chocolate ganache:
175g coconut milk
265g white chocolate
1g salt
113g unsalted butter
100g heavy cream, in two parts

In a pot, heat up the coconut milk on medium heat until the liquid reduces by 3/4’s. Add to that the white chocolate, salt, butter, and one part of the cream, and cook on low until everything is melted together. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Then whip into the mixture the heavy cream to form a smooth, spreadable white chocolate ganache.

Should your ganache split, try whisking in warm water, 10g at a time, until it becomes smooth and homogenous again.

Transfer to a piping bag with a round tip. To start with initial assembly, pipe a small bit of the ganache onto the cookies to form the little feet on Swablu and to provide a base for the mousses to adhere to. Place the mousses onto the cookie, then pipe dollops of the ganache around it to form the wings and the beak.

For garnish:
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 tsp blue spirulina powder
Edible black marker

In a double boiler, melt 3/4 of the white chocolate down with the blue spirulina. Take the chocolate off heat and stir in the rest until that is fully melted in as well. Pour onto a strip of acetate and spread in a thin, even layer. Using a fork, scrape down on the chocolate to form defined lines. Then roll up the acetate and refrigerate until set. Uncurl the acetate to release the set white chocolate curls to use as a garnish on top of the Swablu. Use the edible market to dot the eyes on the surface of the Calpico mousses.