Thursday, December 8, 2011

Chocolate Mousse . . . first attempt!

Although I posted a recipe for this delightful way to eat chocolate a few months ago, I discovered that using cocoa powder just didn't the dessert that chocolate factor I wanted.  I had promised my family a special dessert, last night, but with time escaping me and dinner to make, it looked like I'd have to put off fulfilling my promise. Then I decided to go quickly creative! I had some double-chocolate chips in the freezer and heavy cream in the refrigerator and it got me thinking . . . I put a generous cup of the chocolate chips in a pot along with a tablespoon of butter and a couple of tablespoons of the cream and very gently heated it up in order to turn it into a smooth, chocolate mixtures. Meanwhile, I put two cups of the cream in the mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and beat it until I have a stiff, whipped cream. Wondering how to incorporate the two without a disaster, I decided to put a heaping spoonful of the whipped cream into the chocolate and whisk it in thoroughly. Not only did it cool down the mixture, it seemed to 'sneak' in the new ingredient without seizing up the chocolate into nasty lumps. I did this serveral times until I had all the whipped cream blended into the chocolate. I quickly mixed in a couple tablespoons of coffee liquer, scooped the mixtures into small serving bowls, and put them in the refrigerator. It came out great much to the delight of my husband and son.

When I had time, later, I checked out a few recipes on-line and most of them either went with the cocoa powder or had some complicated way of using egg yolks and such. When we were on our vacation in May,  we had chocolate mousse prepared by a chef at one of our hotel stops and my version was very close to taste and texture as his was so I'm calling my spur-of-the-moment efforts a success! Hey, you never know until you try!

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