Chemical leaveners aren’t always used to create light, fluffy foods. Even dense items need some air to keep them enjoyable.

Even dense items need some air to keep them enjoyable.

In a bowl, mix together with a wooden spoon or electric beater:

• ½ cup (100g) sugar
• 6 tablespoons (80g) butter, softened but not melted
• ½ cup (170g) molasses
• 1 tablespoon (17g) minced ginger (or ginger paste)

In a separate bowl, whisk together:

• 3¼ cups (400g) flour
• 4 teaspoons (12g) ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
• 2 teaspoons (3g) cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon (1g) allspice
• ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
• ½ teaspoon (2g) ground black pepper

Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl with the sugar/butter mixture. (I use a strainer as a sifter.) Work the dry and wet ingredients together using a spoon or, if you don’t mind, your hands. The dough will get to a crumbly, sand-like texture.

Add ½ cup (120g) water and continue mixing until the dough forms a ball. Turn out the dough onto a cutting board coated with a few tablespoons of flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is about ¼″ (0.6 cm) thick.

Cut it into shapes using a cookie cutter or a paring knife and bake them on a cookie sheet in an oven set to 400°F / 200°C until cooked, about eight minutes. The cookies should be slightly puffed up and dry, but not overly dry.

This creates a very light chocolate mousse, almost the complete opposite of the dense chocolate mousse based on agar.

Heat to a temperature hot enough to melt chocolate (130°F / 55°C): 1 cup (250g) heavy cream

Remove from heat and whisk in to melt: 6 tablespoons (60g) bittersweet chocolate ¼ teaspoon (0.6g) cinnamon

Transfer to whipper canister and chill.

Make sure the liquid is completely cold—fridge temp—before using. Otherwise, the cream won’t whip.

Pressurize and dispense into serving glasses or on a plate, as desired. Notes You can dump the canister in a plastic container filled with half ice, half water to chill it quickly.

The cream really does need to be completely chilled. If it’s not, instead of getting a light, airy chocolate mousse foam, you’ll get a jet of chocolate-flavored heavy cream.

Measure out a quarter of the amount of lime juice in water, roughly 125g of water, and create a 10% agar gel, around 12g (this will result in a 2.0% concentration once mixed with the lime juice).

Once the agar has melted, remove from heat and pour the water-agar mixture into the container with the lime juice and let it rest for half hour or so, until set.

Once the lime gel has set, use a whisk to break the gel into pieces. Take the whisk and make zigzag slashing cuts; don’t actually whisk the gel.

Transfer the broken gel to a cheesecloth (real cheesecloth, not the loose mesh stuff) or towel. Fold the cloth up into a ball. Hold the balled cloth above a coffee filter and squeeze it with your other hand, massaging it to force out as much liquid as possible.

(The coffee filter will catch any small chunks of agar that happen to leak through).