Pumpkin Mousse & Salted Caramels

Whew! I'm officially done with Halloween until next year. It was fun, but time to move onto bigger and better things...Holiday foods! Here's an easy and elegant favorite: Pumpkin Mousse!

...maybe add some made-in-the-microwave salted caramels, a little belgian chocolate & caramel sauce? That's what I'm talkin' about!;) The flavor combination of all these things is AMAZING, not to mention an impressive dessert for entertaining.

Pumpkin Mousse from Dave Lieberman
Ingredients:
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine pumpkin, 1 cup cream, sugar and spice in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Cool fully.
Whip remaining heavy cream and vanilla to soft peaks and fold into cooled pumpkin mixture.
Serve in store-bought chocolate cups, or you can make your own easy chocolate balloon bowls.
For the spun-sugar garnish, I made this recipe for microwave hard candy, drizzled it on a cookie sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray, and broke it into pieces once hardened.

To assemble dessert, put some melted chocolate into a ziploc baggie (I used Cacao Barry Dark Chocolate), snip off one end of bag and swirl on plate. When set, carefully spoon in a small amount of caramel sauce into several swirls. Add various cups of mousse and a couple salted caramels (recipe below).

Salted Microwave Caramels adapted from Bakespace
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Light Karo Syrup (not dark-doesn't set right)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup SWEETENED CONDENSED milk
1 t. vanilla
Sea Salt (I used a pink sea salt)
melted chocolate (optional)
Buttered 8x8 baking dish

Directions:
Melt butter in large microwave bowl. Stir in Karo syrup, both sugars and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until dissolved. Microwave on high 3-1/2 minutes. Stir down and scrape sides of bowl. Microwave on high 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into buttered dish and refrigerate until set. When set, remove from fridge and cut into squares. Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt on each piece and drizzle chocolate on top (optional).