Saturday, July 16, 2011

Mousse au Chocolat

It sounds fancier in french, doesn't it? Or, does it just make me sound pretentious as hell? I can't help myself. It stems from my french blood. Laissez moi tranquille.

The recipe comes from this great book full of classic french bistro recipes. It's not of the caliber of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", but it's a good resource.
This is a surprisingly easy dessert to make.

1. In a saucepan, heat 7.5 ounces dark chocolate (Ghirardelli 60% cocoa works great - but if you have Valrhona in the house, use that) and 1/2 cup of light cream until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and beat in 3 egg yolks.
2. Secretly dip your finger in the warm, gooey deliciousness.
3. Beat 5 egg whites until stiff. Add 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of sugar, gradually. I cut the sugar back to just less than 3 tablespoons to intensify the chocolate flavor.

4. Delicately stir the meringue mixture into the chocolate.
5. Poor into 4 dessert bowls or, better yet, martini glasses (Fancy Nancy would be proud).
6. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

I doubled the recipe and it came out great. I had enough to fill a large bowl for the book club group, plus, three servings for the kids and their favorite babysitter.
Serve with milk. Or, if you're feeling extra pretentious, with champagne.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011