Pomegranate Mousse Pie

Ingre­di­ents

• 1 (9 inch) deep-dish gra­ham cracker crust
• 1 1/4 cup POM pome­gran­ate juice, + 2 tablespoons–divided
• 1 enve­lope (1/4 oz. size) unfla­vored gelatin
• 2 cups heavy whip­ping cream + 2 tablespoons–divided
• 3 ounces white chocolate
• 1/4 cups gran­u­lated sugar
• 2–3 drops red gel food coloring
• 3 ounces bit­ter­sweet choco­late, chopped for melting–for the choco­late gar­nish, if desired
• pome­gran­ate arils and extra whip­ping cream, for garnish

Instruc­tions

2. Pour the 2 table­spoons of pome­gran­ate juice into a small, heat­proof bowl. Empty the con­tents of the gelatin packet into the juice. Stir slightly to help it dis­solve and let sit for 5–10 min­utes to soften.
3. Place the white choco­late into a small dou­ble boiler** with the 2 table­spoons of heavy cream. Gen­tly warm until the choco­late is melted and stir to incor­po­rate the cream. Set aside off the heat until it cools to room tem­per­a­ture, but doesn’t start to solid­ify. If it’s too hot, it will clump up when it’s added to the whipped cream.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the rest of the pome­gran­ate juice to a boil. Pour the boil­ing juice over the gelatin mix­ture, and stir until the gelatin dis­solves com­pletely. Allow to cool to room temperature.
5. In a large mix­ing bowl, beat the 2 cups heavy whip­ping cream on high until medium peaks form. Slowly pour in the sugar and melted white chocolate/cream mix­ture. Mix until incorporated.
6. Pour the cooled pome­gran­ate mix­ture into the whipped cream/chocolate mix­ture. It’s pretty spread­able at this point. Beat on medium speed until well combined.
7. Pour as much fill­ing as will nicely, but fully fit into the gra­ham cracker shell. Make some pretty swirls on top with your spat­ula so it looks even more edi­ble. Eat the left­over fill­ing before you try to “just fit it in”. You really don’t want an over-full pie!
8. Let chill in refrig­er­a­tor for at least 3 hours. I don’t cover with plas­tic wrap because it will stick and pull the pretty sur­face off the top of your pie.
9. Whip the extra cream and gar­nish using a pas­try bag and # 2D tip just before serving.
10. Gar­nish with the choco­late fans and pome­gran­ate arils.
11. Choco­late fans for gar­nish: In a dou­ble boiler**, put the bit­ter­sweet choco­late and let melt on very low heat for 10–15 min­utes. Stir to make sure all the bits of choco­late are melted. Pour into a small pas­try bag fit­ted with a #3 writ­ing tip. If the bag feels hot to the touch, let it rest for a few min­utes so your choco­late doesn’t seep out or run out too fast. Spread a piece of parch­ment onto a flat sur­face like a cut­ting board or bak­ing sheet. Trace a pat­tern on the back side of the parch­ment if you need some­thing to fol­low. Oth­er­wise, just pipe out the designs in choco­late on the parch­ment paper. Make more than you need so you can pick the pret­ti­est ones to use. Eat the rest. Set it some­where cold to set for 30 min­utes or so. Out­side is great if it’s cold enough, inside the fridge if there’s nowhere else will do also. When you are ready to gar­nish, care­fully peel back the parch­ment paper to release the dec­o­ra­tion, and place it wher­ever you like on your pie.