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Nicole Simeone
The Grey Stuff: The Sequel
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have had the time to follow through on my plan to improve upon the recently released The Grey Stuff recipe. I would have filed the thought away into the “Some free weekend” pile, otherwise known as the fairytale pile, since no weekend is ever free. Weekends are for cramming fun things into every single minute of the two-day reprieve.
But these are far from normal circumstances. I have plenty of available time on my hands and not enough ways to fill it. There are far worse things I could be thinking about than dessert.
During a morning run, the recipe creators were probably using the Cool Whip and the pudding to create an easy peasy, mousse. My Mom frequently employed this technique to spice up after dinner pudding. A highly effective way to change the menu with minimal effort.
With that in mind, I cobbled together a Grey Stuff recipe using a mousse base.
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, separated into 2 1/4 cups
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 15 Oreos
Like the original run, I opted not to make a full batch of mousse. This time it wasn’t so much a concern for my waistline as it was the amount of available heavy cream in the house. The subsequent pictures will be for a halved recipe as a result.
Step one is to crush the Oreos. A food processor will do the job in a quick minute. But if that’s not one of the gadgets at your disposal, not to worry. A freezer bag and a rolling pin (or wine bottle) can assist. After crushing, see aside for later.
Next, whip egg whites into stiff peaks. Hopefully, you’ve got a stand mixer. If not, and you’re going to be using a hand mixer, I hope it wasn’t arms day. After achieving stiff peaks, beat in a 1/4 cup of sugar and set the bowl aside.
In a separate bowl, whip up the heavy cream with the other 1/4 cup of sugar, cocoa, and vanilla until thick. This will come out looking like whipped cream.
Break out your spatula and fold the whipped egg whites into the whipped cream.
Whenever a recipe calls for something to be folded in, I can’t help but think of Fauna in Sleeping Beauty, literally folding two while eggs into the batter. This scene is also responsible for keeping the tablespoon and teaspoon abbreviations clear for me.
Anyway, different Disney movie and off point.
For this particular folding, the egg whites should be folded gently and in small batches. So, take a small amount of egg white with your spatula, cut through the mixture, and fold over. And repeat until incorporated.
But we aren’t entirely done with the folding, the Oreo crumbles will need to go in the same way.
I didn’t end up folding all of the Oreo crumble. I left about a cookie or so out. But I saved it for the presentation part of this whole thing.
Once all ingredients are incorporated, put plastic wrap over the bowl and put it into the fridge to chill for at least four hours. Mine chilled overnight since I started mixing this up at around eight-thirty at night. I didn’t think piping mousse into a rosette swirl was an activity for one in the morning. At least it isn’t for this girl.
Full disclosure, I wasn’t paying attention when measuring out my halved portion of cocoa powder. I put in a full teaspoon in, making the mousse come out looking too chocolatey. So, I probably have another test run on my hands in terms of looks. Although it wasn’t so terrible in terms of looks:
In terms of taste, I think this is much more pleasing to the palate. The end result is much lighter than its pudding alternative. Without the use of pudding, you don’t have that inherent cloying feel in your mouth with each spoonful. Instead, you get a light, yet decadent deliciousness.
Of course, you do get a few more dishes to clean up with this version, I suppose. That usually doesn’t deter me when it comes to kitchen creations. If I don’t have to clean every dish in my kitchen at least once while baking, it doesn’t seem like a project. But I am going to go out a limb here and say not everyone shared those sentiments.
Really, it’s a matter of preference which way you go with recreating The Grey Stuff because let’s face it, they’re delicious.