I wondered about the authenticity of this very-western dessert, but according to a comment on the page where I found the recipe, this is just like the puddings eaten in Sri Lanka. As Sri Lankan cuisine has been influenced by the cuisines of colonizers and traders, I'm accepting its Ceylonese origins at face value. Indeed, I found the Marie cookies at our local Indian market, so they must be used in the sub-continent.

The dessert produced by this recipe is quite good. I loved the very light mousse and the crunchiness of the nuts. The cookies provided a good tempering base for the very sweet mousse. Still, my kids found the dish too sweet (imagine that!), so if I was to make it again, I'd reduce the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup.

As usual, I did make a couple of changes in the recipe. First, I misread it, and I added 1 tsp. of salt instead of a pinch. I found the mousse a bit salty, though still very good, and nobody else seemed to notice. Still, only use a pinch. Secondly, the original recipe asked for 10 oz of Marie cookies. Alas, I didn't realize until it was too late that the package I had weighed only 7 oz. I think more cookies would have been better. Finally, I also didn't realize until the last minute that the cashews I bought (the original recipe asked for cashews) were salted. If there was something this dish did not need was more salt, so I substituted them for walnuts. I can't imagine it made much of a difference.

As much as I liked this dish, I wouldn't make it again. It was a pain to have to wash and dry the mixing bowl thrice (I only have one bowl for my electric mixer): once for the whipped cream, another for the egg whites and another for the egg yolks.

---

Ceylonese Biscuit Pudding Ingredients 8 oz chocolate chips 1/4 cup water 1 tsp. vanilla 8 oz butter, at room temperature 3 eggs, whites and yolks separated 1 pinch salt. 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar 1 cup whipped cream 1 pckg. Marie/Maria cookies milk 1 cup nuts, chopped Instructions Put chocolate chips, water and vanilla in a small, heavy pot. Place on the stove, over very low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is all melted and combined with the water. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Once the chocolate is cooled, whisk in the butter until combined. Set aside. Put the egg whites, salt and 1 Tbsp. sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the whisking tool, beat on high speed until the egg whites are firm. Pour egg whites into another bowl, and wash and dry the mixing bowl you just used. Put the egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in the mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until the mixture has a pale yellow color. Reduce speed to low and pour in the chocolate. Mix until well combined. Remove bowl from the mixer. Whisk in 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites and fold carefully with a rubber spatula. Fold in the whipped cream. Lightly soak the cookies in the milk. Place a layer of cookies at the bottom of a square pan. Cover with a layer of the chocolate mixture and sprinkle nuts over the chocolate. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up, finishing with a chocolate/nut layer. Cool for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Adapted from a recipe Recipe Zaar