[I] still get kitchen-intimidated. It happens when I least expect it… like when I’m trying to satisfy a chocolate mousse craving and I stumble upon a seemingly approachable Food & Wine recipe.
This recipe for extra-creamy Chocolate Mousse is from cronut innovator Dominique Ansel… pastry genius.
Here’s the thing about pastry innovators: they tend to make challenging things look really easy, god bless ’em.
It’s not that mousse is impossible. It’s mostly approachable and 100% delicious but does require some a candy thermometer, egg whites beaten just-so, and well… some self-confidence and guts.
No guts, no chocolate mousse glory.
First we hold our breaths and make the meringue.
Here’s how that goes down in the kitchen:
Egg whites are beaten in a stand mixer at medium speed. Feel free to stand there and zone-out as the egg whites become foamy and frothy. Mark this zone-out as your one and only while making this mousse.
We can’t dilly-dally for too long because we need to make a hot sugar syrup while the egg whites get frothy. Water and sugar are boiled to precisely 240 degrees F while our eggs beat to precisely soft peaks. Yup. Two forms of kitchen science at once. Stay present. Stay in the game. We’ve only just begun.
The hot sugar syrup is drizzled into the soft-peaked eggs and with the mixer on high, our two forms of kitchen science form one glossy, light mound of perfect meringue. Deep breath. We are successful.
Meringue aside, it’s time to deal with the chocolate.
Whole milk is heat to hot hot hot and poured over finely chopped chocolate. The hot milk will melt the chocolate so all we have to do is stare longingly at the mixture for exactly 1 minute before stirring into a smooth chocolate sauce. All the chocolate pieces should be melted into the sauce. We can’t stand for a chunky mousse.
Up next, whipped cream!
Cream: whipped. Not too complicated.
The trick with the whipped cream is to beat it into a soft and loose whipped cream. We don’t want to cream too hard or pointy.
Meeting of minds: half of the meringue meets most of the whipped cream.
We don’t actually need all of the meringue for this recipe… half will do to fluff, lighten, and add structure to the mousse.
Just a bit of whipped cream is reserved for garnish. Extra creamy never hurt a thing.
Meringue and whipped cream are folded together lightly, being careful not to deflate the meringue.
In with the chocolate.
Cooled chocolate ganache is added to the meringue and cream.
I’m pretty sure I held my breath while folding the chocolate into the cream. We need to incorporate the chocolate without deflating the mousse. It’s a balancing act.
Fold until chocolate streaks and cream streaks have smoothed to homogenous. Taste as we go? I mean… why not?
Chocolate mousse, streaked with dark chocolate and cream, refrigerated until chilled to light and fluffy. Also, we should pat ourselves on the back, because… mousse!
Be careful when grabbing a spoon. You’re liable to finish the entire batch. Speak from experience. Mousse is not dinner (apparently.
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Dominique Ansel’s Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 14 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably 70 percent, finely chopped
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 240° on a candy thermometer, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, gradually pour in the hot syrup in a steady stream and beat at high speed until the whites are stiff, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover the meringue with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.
- Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the milk just to a simmer. Pour the milk over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute, then stir until smooth and let cool.
- In a bowl, beat the cream to soft peaks. Reserve 1/2 cup of the whipped cream for serving.
- Scoop half of the meringue into a bowl (reserve the rest for another use) (I know it’s weird but we only need half of the meringue). Whisk in the remaining (majority) whipped cream.
- Warm the chocolate mixture in a bowl set over a pan of ?simmering water if it has hardened to not pourable. Stir until just melted. Pour the chocolate over the meringue and quickly fold it in.
- Spoon the mousse into glasses, swirl in the reserved whipped cream and serve.
Beth Buehler
Oh my goodness! Made this tonight for my hubby’s birthday and boy is it the BEST! We are diehard chocolate fans, and this hits the spot!!
Rach
Stunning. I love his cookery book but trying to decide which mammoth recipe to dedicate a whole weekend to recreate in my own unique style!
Rachel x
http://www.foodnerd4life.com
Chris @ Poormet
This reminds me that I haven’t had a good chocolate mousse in way too long. Too bad I just signed up for a weight loss competition yesterday!
Morgan
whoa, whoa, whoa, Joy. no SALT?! chocolate + salt = the addictive bliss.
Jean
My husband made this last night, and it is delicious. One thing – the recipe itself doesn’t have a step on chilling the mixture for a few hours before serving. He thought he’d found the one recipe out there for mousse that doesn’t need to be chilled, haha. It was too late to completely chill it last night but we enjoyed some anyway, even though it was kinda soupy. Its texture this morning is obviously much more mousse-like.
Linda | A La Place Clichy
Wow this recipe does seem so intimidating, but I am always up for a challenge. I also your photos in this post! So simple and refined, it just makes you focus on the texture of the mousse!
Ellen
Ooh, I share your fear of this type of thing. Thanks for braving it. Hopefully I can summon up the courage soon:)
Jessica Holmes
The result looks pretty magical I have to say! And perhaps tastes even better when you know all the work and concentration that went in to creating such a masterpiece. Yum!
Bhiravi
Oh my gosh! When I was a little kid, I used to take French lessons at the someone’s home after school. And the highlight of French lessons? The once-monthly cooking sessions. Sometimes we’d make cream puffs, other times crepes, other times chocolate croissants. Now that I think about it, my French teacher was something of a culinary genius.
One time, there was chocolate mousse. Something along the lines of this chocolate mousse, with whipped cream and fluffy egg whites and good chocolate. I’m still afraid I’ll mess it up if I try to make it at home, but this recipe really, really makes me want to try!
Also, for those asking why we have to use three egg whites– my best guess is that it’s really, really hard to beat less than 3 egg whites in a stand mixer. (I’ve tried!) If you’re beating the eggs by hand, you’ll have an easier time doing the same thing. That, or math is hard.
Lauren Gaskill | Making Life SweetL
Beautiful and delicious! I love chocolate mousse! This recipe looks super rich. :)
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed
I so appreciate your step by step & directly funny words in this post. I need a mousse step by step because it IS totally intimidating. But so so good. Thanks x
awsome
I made meringue using boiled sugar and water for a pie but never for a mousse. I would like to try this. Also did you use a certain chocolate like godiva ( however they spell it)?
Rachel
What I want to know, is how many times you had to do this to get the step by step photos without ruining the batch!
Kelster
I fully support mousse for dinner.
Millie | Add A Little
This looks so wonderful and creamy! A sprinkling of fresh mint over and maybe some strawberry slices and I’M DONE!