If suave and hipster-hot is your idea of a dessert, you've just found it. These chile-ginger-mint jellies are an almost academic study in the contrasting sensations of hot and cool. The Chinese consider ginger to be hot—it's the source of heat in hot and sour soup—but Americans tend to view ginger more as a fresh, zinging accent of flavor. Add some fresh chile to the ginger and you introduce a new dimension of complexity that's counterbalanced by the cooling aspect of mint. The result? Your taste buds are rewarded with the dynamic duo of fiery hot and icy cold, all in one bite.
Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Fiery Fare. Menu also includes Spicy Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Spicy Sweet-and-Sour Grilled Chicken.
•Because the ginger contributes heat in addition to the chile, some members of the staff found the greater amount of chile a tad too spicy. If you're a chilehead, however, go for the full amount, if not more. If you're chile-shy, then use the lesser amount, and know that the cream will temper the heat.
•The sheet of paper towel placed over the glasses absorbs any condensation that might collect on the plastic, thereby preventing any drips back onto the jellies.
•Jellies can be made 3 days ahead and kept chilled.
Recipe notes
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