Chocolate Mousse

Today's post comes to you all from my great friend Tiffany! I really enjoyed how passionately she wrote her post for all of the Hot Dot Food Blog fans, so without further ado, I give you... Tiffany's Chocolate Mousse.

I have to say, the creations and adaptations in Rhea’s kitchen are wonderful and amazing, I get to taste and hear about them often. My boyfriend, (a friend of Rhea’s) loves to cook from the heart too, creating delectable dishes as well, swapping cooking stories with Rhea afterwards. Me on the other hand.…I burn my first batch of cookies every single time….but nevertheless enjoy baking.

Last week at the dentist, my mom gave me the February 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine and said I would enjoy a few of the recipes. As I was flipping through I saw this chocolate mousse picture and started craving it. For the next few days and through various workouts, I fought the urge to make a creamy, fluffy, light, and yummy mousse. But on Saturday morning that toughness melted faster than the chocolate in the mousse. What better to do than to cancel my workout and jog to the store instead….to get ingredients, of course! Needless to say; that day my mousse came out perfect on the first try, and some friends and I, including Rhea, got to indulge in a bit of the deliciousness as a prequel to our Saturday night on the town.

This mouse recipe seems complicated but it took more time to chop up the chocolate by hand than to do everything else combined. (Hint: use a food processor for the chocolate, and a standing or hand mixer to fluff the separated eggs) I added a few tips to the ingredients list – ENJOY the mousse experience, thank you for letting me be your guest and sharing Bon Appetite’s recipe.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream, divided
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup espresso or strong coffee, room temperature
  • Next time as a variation to the espresso, I want to try a raspberry liquor, like Chambord, or even fresh orange juice, maybe mint flavoring, or caramel…the possibilities are endless when it comes to chocolate, haha
• 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (60-72% cacao), chopped
  • I didn’t get enough semi-sweet chocolate so here I substituted in about 2 oz of white chocolate
• 2 large egg whites

Beat 1/2 cup cream in medium bowl until stiff peaks form; cover and chill.

Combine egg yolks, espresso, salt, and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a large metal bowl. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (do not allow bowl to touch water). Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is lighter in color and almost doubled in volume and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the mixture registers 160 degrees, about 1 minute.

Remove bowl from pan. Add chocolate; whisk until melted and smooth. Let stand, whisking occasionally, until room temperature.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg white in another medium bowl on medium speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually beat in remaining 1 Tbsp. sugar. Increase speed to high and beat until firm peaks form.

Fold egg whites into chocolate in 2 additions; fold whipped cream into mixture just to blend.

Divide mousse among six teacups or 4-oz. ramekins. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours. 

DO AHEAD: Mousse can be made 1 day ahead; cover and keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

Before serving, whisk remaining 1/4 cup cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form; dollop over mousse.