Oh My! Kitchen Party recipe submitted by Tania De Schrijver of Rocajo Studio
If I say Belgium, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
Chances are you’ve either heard about our delicious chocolate or our wide range of beers (or if you saw Pulp Fiction you know that we put mayonnaise on our fries. Don’t judge. Try it first. It’s really quite good!).
Belgium really is Chocolate Heaven for my family and I. We start our day with chocolate sprinkles (we call it hagelslag) or chocolate paste on our bread in the morning. Chocolate is my comfort food, my instant pick-me-up. Just a tiny bite can do wonders for my mood (that’s why even my husband buys some when it’s his turn to do the grocery shopping).
I guess you could say that I have a slight serious addiction to chocolate, so I thought I’d share a lovely and easy recipe for chocolate mousse.
Chocolate mousse is a big hit when we have a party. When we invite family or friends over to our house we often serve chocolate mousse for dessert and despite there usually being lots of other delicious treats (my husband loves to bake!), it’s the first thing to go.
If you really want to get that deep, rich chocolate flavor it is important that you try to find dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa. Belgian chocolate has about 70% of cocoa in it. Don’t worry, it won’t taste bitter. I’m not a fan of pure dark chocolate myself: I prefer milk chocolate with a filling of hazelnuts or vanilla creme or even banana creme,… oops, sorry, was getting a bit distracted there. Anyway, for chocolate mousse you will definitely need the dark kind.
Ingredients:
If the measurements seem a little strange, it’s because I converted them from grams into oz.
Serves 4 to 6, depending on the size of the servings
- 100 grams (= 3.5 ounces ) dark chocolate
- 30 grams (= 1.05 ounces) butter (no margarine, just plain old butter)
- 20 grams (= 0.70 ounces) sugar
- 50 ml (= 1.67 oz) heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 egg whites
Top tip: use eggs that are at room temperature
Step by step instructions
- Put the butter into a saucepan. Break the chocolate into pieces and add it to the butter. Let it melt slowly on a very low temperature. Don’t try to hurry up this process by using the microwave or turning up the heat: your chocolate will burn and your butter will lose it’s taste. Once the butter and chocolate have melted, take your saucepan off the heat and let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the cream slowly and gently stir it into the melted chocolate.
- Add the 2 egg yolks one by one, and also carefully stir them into the mixture. Pour this mixture into a large bowl.
- Now it’s time to whip the egg whites and the sugar together: You want to make sure that absolutely no egg yolk accidentally got into the egg whites (if it did, you won’t be able to whip them properly). Mix on a high speed. Beat the egg whites and sugar until soft peaks form.
- Add the egg whites to the chocolate (not the other way around). This works best if both the egg whites and the chocolate are at room temperature. Don’t be misled by the pictures: I used two identical ceramic bowls. Gently scoop the beat up egg whites through the chocolate mixture: don’t stir, just fold them in! Just keep folding the egg whites into the mixture until you can’t see those fluffy clouds anymore. Don’t overdo this: your mousse will become too runny if you do.
- As soon as you’re done, fill 6 individual serving dishes (I used champagne glasses) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Your chocolate mousse will actually taste better if you leave it in the fridge overnight, but then of course you have to be able to wait that long (and not go sneaking off to the fridge in the middle of the night like Nigella Lawson).
I hope you will give my Belgian chocolate mousse a try but be warned: it can be slightly addictive. You’ll never have an empty house again since your family and friends will keep coming back for more! Or, of course, you could just share this recipe with them.
Say Hello to Tania!
Hi, I’m Tania: a mom of 3, born with a creative heart and mind (and a soft spot for chocolate). I design printable invitations and party decorations for big and little celebrations. I’m all about BIG parties: Be Involved Genuinely. Life is sweet if you celebrate each day, big time 😉
