This recipe is simple yet magical. It will make you look like you paid $30,000 for a fancy culinary education when you dip the guava sorbet in it. It must be made right before you are going to use it, or it will set hard in your fridge, and trying to melt it back down and get it back to the perfect temperature will be the bane of your existence—the opposite of setting yourself up for success.

　　

Ingredients

Makes about 150 g (3/4 cup)

　　3 gelatin sheets

　　55 g cream cheese (2 ounces)

　　55 g milk (1/4 cup)

　　55 g heavy cream (1/4 cup)

　　25 g glucose (1 tablespoon)

　　0.5 g kosher salt (1/8 teaspoon)

　　

Step 1

Bloom the gelatin (see page 29).

　　

Step 2

Gently warm the cream cheese and milk in a small saucepan over low heat. When the mixture is very warm to the touch and just beginning to steam, remove it from heat, whisk in the bloomed gelatin, and watch it dissolve fully. Then whisk in the heavy cream, glucose, and salt.

　　

Step 3

Pour the contents of the pan into a deep round container (a plastic pint container works best) and leave it out on the counter while you gather your other elements to plate the dessert.

　　

notes

Step 4

Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use 1 1/2 teaspoons. In a pinch, substitute 9 g (2 teaspoons) corn syrup for the glucose.

　　

Step 5

Instead of a whisk, use a hand blender to mix the cream cheese skin.

　　Reprinted with permission from Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi with Courtney McBroom. Copyright © 2011 by MomoMilk, LLC. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Christina Tosi is the chef and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar, called "one of the most exciting bakeries in the country" by Bon Appètit. As founder of the desserts programs at Momofuku, including Noodle Bar, Ssäat;m Bar, Ko and Má Pêche, Christina was most recently shortlisted for a James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef Award. Christina and her confections have appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and Live! with Regis and Kelly, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her three dogs and eats an unconscionable amount of raw cookie dough every day.