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Congratulations! You've made it to the final recipe in our Learn-to-Cook series!

So you get a treat: another dessert recipe. But you're still going to learn some new things, most notably how to whip cream (no, not how to buy the can that's already whipped!) and how to "fold" two things together (no, it's not like doing laundry).

Whipping cream is really easy, and homemade whipped cream is so much better than the stuff in the red and white can. You'll learn how to do it and how to recognize when it's over beaten (and how to avoid doing that).

"Folding" is something you'll see a lot, especially in dessert recipes, so it's good to know what it is and how to do it. It really is a basic technique for pastry cooks. It's called "folding" because, basically, you fold one thing over another. You do this by using a large rubber spatula to gently lift and turn to gently mix one thing into another. You don't want to stir. The key is to NOT deflate the whipped item (like whipped cream or beaten egg whites), or at least to minimize the amount of deflating.

The "mousse" here isn't technically, really, mousse. A real "mousse" (like chocolate mousse) consists of a cooked, cooled base that contains egg yolks and flavoring (like chocolate); you then fold whipped cream and beaten egg whites into it. Here, we're using beaten cream cheese as the base, and no egg whites, but the folding technique is the same as for a real mousse.

You're also going to learn how convenient frozen puff pastry is to use for desserts, and how to hull and slice strawberries. We actually have quite a few strawberry recipes on the site so this is useful to know.

This recipe also tells you how you can do parts of it ahead. Pay attention to how we're breaking things up into pieces. Being able to read a recipe and visualize how to break it up into do-ahead steps is especially important for when you're entertaining and want to get as much of the prep done as possible before guests arrive.

What next?

You've learned some good, basic skills. Maybe not what professional chefs would teach you, but skills that I think are useful for home cooks. Along the way you've prepared some pretty cool recipes and you've been introduced to some new ingredients.

Now try some recipes on your own. You can go to the Quick Search page and search for what interests you. Use the illustrated step-by-step instructions to continue to develop your cooking skills.

Be sure that you are signed up for our weekly emails. You'll get ideas for what to cook each week (the "weekly meal plan") and easy links to all that's new. We introduce new recipes almost every week, and every month we have a feature that also includes new recipes. Click on "MEMBERS AREA" at the top of this page, then click on the "My Information" button on the left side of the screen to check/change your email preference.

And let us know what you thought of this Learn-to-Cook series. Thanks for going through it!

At-Home Safe Food Handling *

* with permission from Kansas State University Research & Extension