Chocolate Mousse
When I was living in the canyonlands of Southwestern Colorado, there worked with us quite a high end chef, who had left the Michelin world of Dominique Cren to find a better way to live, cook, and farm. One day, we were planning dessert for a wine paired dinner and he introduced me to the wonders of chocolate mousse. The simplest of desserts, made by hand or with mechanical aid, is bold enough to stand alone, or to accompany cakes, brownies, ice cream, and anything in between.
Ingredients - 6 Servings
Serves X
6
ounces of half semi sweet chocolate, half dark chocolate
4
eggs
3
tsp confectioners sugar
1
shot of espresso
1
oz of spiced rum
1
cup of heavy whipping cream
very cold metal mixing bowl
Instructions
- To keep this recipe organized, I like to whip everything first, so as to avoid the mess of a handheld mixer.
- Create a Bain Marie using the method shown on this video. Melt the chocolate in it, and turn the heat off when melted.
- Separate the egg whites and yolks. Combine the yolks with the sugar and beat until they become pale yellow and creamy. Then, add the chocolate, coffee and rum.
- Put the egg whites into a very clean bowl. I mean immaculately clean, any grease will inhibit the egg whites from forming the stiff peaks you are looking for. Whip the egg whites until you get stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Take the bowl out of the freezer and put the heavy whipping cream on it with a dash of sugar. Beat until you form stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Once evenly folded, mix ¾ of the whipped cream.
- Serve the mousse into individual cups and refrigerate from 3 hours to overnight.
- When ready to serve, decorate with the rest of the whipping cream and fresh berries.
- This recipe is inspired recipes from this book: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.