Greek Yogurt Mousse with Salted Caramel Sauce

Greek yogurt is the most delicious dairy product in the world. If you have never tasted it, stop reading this right now, get in your car, go to the store and buy some. Yes, I know it's overpriced but I don't want to hear any arguments; it's totally worth it. It's also extremely versatile and can be used IN a lot of recipes or INSTEAD OF a lot of more fattening ingredients (i.e. sour cream).

This dessert is light and creamy-rich at the same time; the salted caramel sauce forms a chewy layer that contrasts nicely with the silky texture of the mousse. I also like that you can make it ahead of time; it actually tastes even better the next day.

Greek Yogurt Mousse
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup heavy cream/whipping cream
1/4 cup + 2 T sugar

Using a hand mixer, blend the yogurt, cream cheese, vanilla, vanilla bean insides (split it and scrape them out) and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Blend well.

Whip the heavy cream and 2 T of sugar in a small bowl; fold into the cream cheese mixture. Put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight (overnight is best) to let it firm up and the flavors meld.

Now, for the salted caramel sauce (from Chow.com), which is so delicious I could eat it with a spoon right out of the pan. It's not hard to make, you just have to keep a close eye on it (I totally burned my first batch).

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup granulated white sugar
1 T water
4 T unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon gray sea salt or kosher salt

Stir together sugar and water in a small saucepan, place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Let boil until amber in color. Immediately add butter and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat, add cream and salt and mix well. Serve immediately or let cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate.

Okay, that sounds easy enough, but here are some pictures so you can kind of see the process.
Starts out like this:

Then looks like this:

Then a bunch of hard lumps form, at which point I panicked but you shouldn't...

...because if you just keep stirring they melt into this:

Then you add the butter, and it does a crazy bubbly thing:

Then you mix in the cream and salt, and it is beautiful!

This mousse is also fabulous with some frozen blackberries

When you mix in the frozen berries, they get coated in the mousse and freeze it a little so it tastes almost like ice cream and looks like this!