Simple Chocolate Mousse

Serves: 2
Approx cost: €2
Approx calories (per serving): 300
Approx preparation and cooking time: 15 mins + ~45 minutes to cool

I’ve been neglecting the “Desserts” section of my site I have to say, and so I thought I’d ease into it with a couple of easy mousses. The second will be coming later, as I haven’t quite perfected the recipe yet, but for now I thought I’d write about the good old chocolate mousse. There are a great many different types of chocolate mousse recipes floating around; some simple, while others call for cream, butter, liqueurs and fruit, to name just a few examples. Those are, of course, certainly great, but with something so delicious as chocolate, simplicity is usually the key. There are two very important points to follow when making a chocolate mousse. Firstly – choose chocolate which has a good taste. I’ve had some foul-tasting chocolate before and as it is the only flavour in this recipe it needs to be good. Choose one with a high cocoa content (around 75%). Next, when folding in the chocolate to the egg whites, be sure to do just that – fold. Don’t beat the mix or you’ll collapse the egg-whites and while the result will still taste great, it’ll be like eating chocolate clay after a few hours in the refrigerator!

Ingredients

Ingredients you'll need for this dish

– 100g good quality Plain Chocolate
– 2 Eggs
– 1-2 tbsps Caster Sugar

Instructions

1. Start by separating the eggs. I find the best way to do this is to gently crack the egg using a kitchen knife, removing the top half of the shell, and then pour the contents into your cupped hand. The yolk will stay in your hand and the white will drop through the cracks between your fingers. Be careful – If you get any of the yolk into the whites they will not whip (seriously – not at all) – so if your yolk cracks you’re better off stashing the egg in a cup to have later as part of an omelette or something. Using a balloon whisk or electric mixer, whisk the whites until white and fluffy and the form glossy peaks when you lift out the whisk. A good test of readiness is turning the bowl upside down briefly (I’m not responsible for egg-covered heads or carpets!)
   
   
   
   




2. Set the whipped whites aside (don’t forget to save the yolks!) and place a saucepan on a stove over low to medium heat. Break the chocolate into the pan and add the sugar and stir constantly until the chocolate has melted completely. As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add in the egg yolks and mix well with the melted chocolate. The chocolate will thicken when you have added the yolks, so don’t worry about this.
   
   
   
   
   




3. Transfer the chocolate to the bowl with the egg whites and fold and cut the whites and the chocolate together until completely mixed.
   
   
   
   




4. Transfer into 2 suitable pots or bowls (small drinking glasses make ideal serving dishes!) and refrigerate until cool – around 45 mins to 1 hour and then enjoy the chocolatey goodness!

Nom nom