Rich white chocolate and juicy strawberries are the perfect combo in these silky white chocolate strawberry mousse bars. – easy to make ahead of time for a gathering and gluten-free!
I’m about to talk your ear off about these mousse bars today, y’all. Blowing your mind is definitely not off the table either.
The facts: mousse made from white chocolate + strawberries and thrown into bars form is a very good summer game plan.
Basically, there’s nothing about these bars that you’re not going to be 100% obsessed with.
Ever since making these chocolate mousse bars last summer, I’ve been obsessed with mousse. I’ve been wanting to make a lighter white chocolate version for SO long now and it finally happened!
Naturally, white chocolate and strawberries was the dream flavor couple, so these summer GEMS were born!
These White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Bars feature…
- A buttery almond crust
- Silky, perfectly creamy white chocolate strawberry mousse filling
- A juicy homemade strawberry sauce draped on top
Making the White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Bars
(scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe!)
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground almonds (keep reading for suggestions on buying!)
- Unsalted butter
- Sugar
- White chocolate
- Milk
- Egg yolks
- Unflavored gelatin
- Strawberries
- Heavy whipping cream
- Vanilla extract
- Cornstarch
- Lemon juice
- Honey
Making the Almond Crust
To keep these bars gluten-free, we will be making a crust from ground almonds (also called almond meal), light brown sugar, melted butter, and a pinch of salt.
You can find ground almonds in most grocery stores next to all the other nuts. Make sure you use ground almonds or almond meal, not almond flour.
What’s the difference? Almond flour is skinless almonds ground into a fine texture, whereas, almond meal contains almonds with the skins ground into a more coarse texture.
For this crust in particular, we want a coarse crumb mixture so it holds its form and has a light, crisp texture. Ground almonds helps us achieve that.
Choosing Your White Chocolate
The quality of your white chocolate definitely makes a difference in these bars!
We recommend a higher quality white chocolate such as Lindt or Ghirardelli for this recipe.
Tips for Perfect Mousse Bars
- Bake crust – the almond crust will require a 10-12 minute bake time. – this helps the bars slice much cleaner without any crumbling.
- Soften the gelatin – the gelatin is what will be helping set the mousse filling. Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and let it bloom in the water around 5 minutes.
- Cook mousse filling base – milk, egg yolks, and just a few tablespoons of sugar are making up the mousse base. This will get cooked on the stove until just slightly thickened.
- Strain milk + egg mixture – don’t skip this step! Straining the mousse base through a fine-mesh sieve will make for a perfectly smooth filling. Once mousse base is strained, whisk in finely-chopped white chocolate and vanilla until melted.
- Cool filling then fold in whipped cream + strawberries – allow the mousse base to cool completely – if you want to speed up the process, stick the bowl in the fridge for awhile. Once cooled completely, gently fold whipped cream and finely chopped strawberries into filling.
- Chill mousse bars at least 2 hours – spread the filling over the almond crust and allow the mousse to set in the fridge at least 2 hours. (we typically make these bars the night before!)
- Top mousse bars with strawberry sauce – a quick homemade strawberry sauce makes a beautiful topping for these bars. When ready to serve bars, spread strawberries on top and slice into squares.
Make Ahead Instructions
These mousse bars are a dream to make ahead of time! You can make the bars and the sauce up to 4 days in advance.
For best results, we recommend storing the bars and sauce separately. When ready to serve, spoon sauce over top.
There’s just no passing up a slice of these mousse bars, guys. It’s almost unreal how creamy and silky the mousse is and the crisp almond crust + juicy strawberry topping just tie the ENTIRE package together.
They’re definitely rich, but also perfectly balanced with a touch of light and airy. So basically they’re not *so* rich that you can rule out having two.
You’re welcome in advance!!
A few more refreshing summer desserts to try next!
White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Bars
This recipe may included paid links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup ground almonds (or almond meal)
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Filling
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 packet (1/4 oz) unflavored gelatin (2-1/2 teaspoons)
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 4 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, finely chopped OR pureed in blender or food processor
Strawberry Topping
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cups fresh (or frozen) strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Mint leaves for topping, optional
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×9 square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine all crust ingredients until crumbly and moistened. Press evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust at 350F 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool crust completely on a wire cooling rack.
White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Filling
- Place water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over top. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes of beating. Heat milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until steaming. (do not let boil) Very slowly drizzle hot milk into egg yolk mixture, a little at a time to temper the egg yolks. Once all the milk has been added to egg yolks, add all back to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture is slightly thickened and at a low simmer.
- Offheat, strain hot milk mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Whisk gelatin mixture, white chocolate, and vanilla into milk mixture until chocolate and gelatin is melted. Let cool completely.
- In a separate medium bowl with a handheld electric mixer OR stand mixer, beat heavy cream to stiff peaks. Very gently fold whipped cream and strawberries into cooled white chocolate mixture.
- Spread filling over cooled crust and smooth top. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate mousse bars 2 hours until set.
Strawberry Topping
- In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch and water together until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture, strawberries, honey, and lemon juice to a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring sauce to a simmer over medium heat, stirring and breaking up strawberries with a wooden spoon and let simmer 5 minutes until strawberries begin to break down and thicken. Remove from heat and cool completely then refrigerate up to 4 days.
- When ready to serve, spoon strawberry topping over chilled mousse bars and garnish with mint leaves if desired. Slice mousse bars into squares and serve immediately. Enjoy!
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