She made a raspberry puree

There's only one problem with this recipe, besides the price of raspberries and the temptation to nibble on the chocolate chips. I spend the whole time I'm fixing it singing "Raspberry Puree" to the tune of Prince's "Raspberry Beret."

Raspberry puree

the kind you can't find at the grocery store

Raspberry puree

whip it with cream and you only want more...

Even that wouldn't be so bad, except I can't carry a tune and the whole time I'm dancing around the kitchen singing it, my sons are in the next room trying to drown me out with coyote howls.

But other than that, this is a great recipe. In fact, it meets my criteria for being the perfect recipe -- it's easy, it's relatively cheap, there's no baking involved, and it has raspberries and chocolate. The only thing that could make this dessert treat any better would be if Hugh Jackman were serving it to me on a beach in the Caymans ...

A lot of my recipes are adaptations of pre-existing ones, and I'm sure this one is similar to others that are out there. But way back when my best friend Brenda Griffin and I developed it, there was no Food Network, we both ditched Home Ec., and we thought the mac and cheese that came out of the foil packets gooey instead of powdery was the height of haute cuisine. But for some reason, I'm not sure why or how it came about, we invented this dessert. Since then, we've both evolved our own versions and I can't speak for Brenda, but I always try something a little bit different every time I make it.

Which has been twice until now.

The first time, I included the white chocolate by melting a tiny puddle of it on the bottom of the phyllo shell, then put the mousse in one top of it. That was fine until we had to refrigerate the desserts before taking them to our church's valentine breakfast. White chocolate that has been melted then re-cooled in a fridge has the consistency of chewy cement. At least, the really cheap stuff I was using then did. I'm sure Alton Brown could tell me why.

This time, instead of putting the white chocolate on the bottom, I drizzled it on wax paper as a lacy garnish and put it on top. (I also used the good stuff, which is much easier to do when someone else is paying for it.) And because I prefer dark chocolate with raspberries, I also made a lace with some semi-sweet, and some with both. As far as I'm concerned (and my kids, husband and coworkers), the mousse tarts seem to be a success.

Ingredients:

Mousse

1/2 cup raspberry puree

4 oz. cream cheese or mascarpone

2 cups whipped cream (or small tub of whipped topping)

2 boxes of 15-count mini phyllo (or fillo, both pronounced fee-lo) shells

Garnish

1/2 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

waxed paper

1 gal. plastic sealable storage bag (Poor man's pastry bag)

Make the chocolate decorative garnish first because it will need to "set" in the refrigerator. Melt the chocolate chips and white chocolate chips in separate containers, either in the microwave or in a double-boiler. I do not recommend using the microwave for the white chocolate -- it does strange things to the texture.

Take a spoon and drizzle the melted chocolate onto waxed paper. I do some drizzles that are just chocolate, just white chocolate, or a mixture of the two. Don't be afraid to make fine tendrils -- they will be fragile, but look good when placed on the finished treat.

Place the waxed paper in the fridge. I usually just lift the paper with no supporting board beneath it, then drape it across whatever is on the shelf. This lets the chocolate drizzles harden into more 3-D shapes.

To get the raspberry puree, you can buy it -- if you can find it. It's easier to just make. Take about a cup of raspberries (fresh are best, but frozen will do) and mash them in a sieve over a bowl. A fine-mesh sieve will allow some of the pulp to go through, but not the seeds. With a blender, mix the raspberry liquid with the softened cream cheese thoroughly. Depending on how cold the cheese is, it may take several minutes to get a good blend.

Fold in the whipped cream gently. When you've got a good, uniform pink color, spoon the mousse mixture into the plastic bag. Get as much air out of the bag as you can before sealing it. Then snip a small hole in the corner. Use the bag as a pastry bag, squeezing it to pipe the mixture into the phyllo shells. The shells, by the way, can usually be found in the same freezer section as the frozen pie shells and they are much, much cheaper than you'd think. Keep them in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to fill them. If you use fresh raspberries, they will probably cost more than the rest of your ingredients combined.

Wash your hands in very cold water, then pat them as dry as possible. Cold hands will let you work with the chilled chocolate decorations without melting them too much as you place them on the dessert. Peel the chocolate drizzles off the paper and put them in the mousse.

If they aren't going to be served right away, put the mousse cups in the fridge.

For those of you concerned about heart-healthy-- by substituting low-cal and low-fat cream cheese and whipped topping, this can be a very good heart healthy snack. Raspberries are high in iron, potassium, folic acid and pectin (which helps control cholesterol.) They are also the source of several cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Another great aspect of this recipe is its versatility. Don't like raspberries? Use strawberries. I don't recommend blueberries, though, since uncooked blueberries are a little too bland and they turn the mousse mixture that diseased shade of blue-gray that your milk turned after you finished your Boo Berry cereal.

I think for my husband's Valentine's treat I'm going to try making it with chocolate mousse instead.

Sigh.

It's just one of those sacrifices a wife has to make ... I might even save him some.