JC100 - mousseline au chocolat

 It is like a chocolate cloud.
  -Youngest Son

Chocolate Mousse is this week's recipe for the Julia Child celebration.  The recipe was not at all what I expected.  Not a drop of cream in site, although there is certainly enough butter to make up for the lack of cream.

 

Do you know that even the smallest amount of fat will prevent your egg whites from forming nice peaks?  Because I only have one bowl for my mixer ( I know!),  I beat my egg whites first, transferred them to another bowl, and then began back at the beginning of the recipe.

The first step is to beat the egg yolks and sugar.  I was amazed by just how stiff the yolks became.

 

When I moved the bowl from the stand mixer to the stove it was difficult to use a hand held whisk.  As the egg mixture warmed up the whisking became easier.  The warming also helped to dissolve the sugar.  I used super-fine sugar and was worried that I should have used powdered, but it all smoothed out at this stage.

Trying this recipe without a stand mixer would take a very strong arm.  Not so much for the egg whites, which I think become stiff faster if done by hand than with the mixer, but those yolks.  Wow.

I did not use a double boiler to melt the coffee and chocolate, I turned to the trusty microwave for that.  Then comes the butter.  A stick and a half of butter!

Yolks and chocolate are mixed, egg whites are folded in, and you have mousse.

I thought the mousse would be thicker with more definition.  It goes into the bowl quite loose but firms up nicely in the fridge.  I can not imagine eating a bowl of this for dessert.  So rich.  Maybe even a little too rich.  A couple of spoonfuls was enough for me.

In addition to Youngest Son declaring that the mousse was like chocolate cloud, he also proclaims it to be very good with graham crackers.

Download Chocolate Mousse recipe

Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Copyright © 1961 by AlfredA. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a divisionof Random House, Inc.

Comments

[kate]

I may just have to try this, next week I think.

[Helene]

It's a really good mousse!

[Claire]

Recipes like this are wonderful for kids to see the "magic" of kitchen science. Can't wait to do this one with my girls.

[Anne]

Looks fantastic! Yum! (everything is better with butter....)

[Nike Sko]

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[table top fridges]

Nice mousse, I need to try this!

[Basketball Sneakers]

I run, not write. Although I wish it was the other way around :) Thank you for your inspiration. That little tid-bit could not have come at a better time for me.

[burberry pas cher]

I run, not write. Although I wish it was the other way around :) Thank you for your inspiration. That little tid-bit could not have come at a better time for me.

[cream colored shoes]

This very well detailed! I will try this when i’m in home not busy.

[brown casual lace up boots]

Good article! The spirit of sharing is really impressive, and I want to share this article to my friends!

[chobits freya costume]

A video I will use on our intranet to inspire teachers. We have an impoverished school, and so this will truly remind teachers of why the do what they do.