Candy Thermometer

This lovely finale is from Dwayne Fortier of La Reserve in Houston. Begin preparing it well before serving, as the mousse needs to freeze for at least six hours.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Meringue Napoleons with Lime Ice Cream and Blackberries .

"Although I’ve been a subscriber for almost ten years, this is the first time I’ve written to request a recipe," writes Danette Laver of Ambler, Pennsylvania. "The honey-garlic dressing on the salad I had at Fork in Philadelphia was so good that I used a chunk of bread to soak up every last drop."

It's important to use an imported chocolate, such as Lindt or Callebaut, for this recipe. The high cocoa-butter content of the imported type produces chocolate eggs that are more flexible and easier to remove from the molds. You can make all the eggs out of white chocolate, all out of bitter-sweet chocolate or a few from each.

Cooking rhubarb to the right consistency is trickier than you might think — it changes from barely tender to falling apart in a matter of seconds. Watch it carefully while it's poaching. In this recipe you’ll need to boil the rhubarb syrup to the "soft-ball stage." To determine this, just drop a small amount of syrup into a cup of cold water. If you can form it into a sticky lump that flattens when pressed, it has reached the right consistency. This technique is especially useful with small amounts of syrup, from which it can be difficult to obtain an accurate temperature reading with a thermometer.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.