The Best Chocolate Mousse

 



Two ingredients (seriously, only chocolate and water) and five minutes later, you will be eating The Best Chocolate Mousse of Your Life. I promise.

And you don’t even need any fancy kitchen gadgets. Patience and a bit of elbow grease are required, but we always need those in the kitchen, right?

This amazing discovery was made by the famous French chemist, Hervé This, who is also known as the man who unboiled an egg. The recipe, which is also called Chocolate Chantilly, starts with melting chocolate in water and ends with whisking it until thickened. Sounds like it goes against everything we’ve been thought about working with chocolate, right? Sure, I’ve seen chocolate and water together in many recipes, but that was just the beginning of a recipe (mostly chocolate sauce), not all that you needed. So forget about everything you’ve been thought and try it. The recipe not only works, but also produces a mousse with the purest chocolate flavor ever.

 

Since the recipe has only two ingredients, it all comes down to the quality of the chocolate you use. My favorite is Valrhona’s Guanaja, but if you have another favorite, feel free to substitute as long as it has 70% cocoa solids. If you find the taste of bittersweet chocolate too strong, you may add a bit of sugar.

INGREDIENTS

4 servings

• 9.35 ounces (265 grams) bittersweet (%70 cocoa solids) chocolate, chopped (preferably Valrhona Guanaja)


• 1 cup (240 ml) water


• 4 tbsp sugar, optional

HOW-TO

1. Place a large mixing bowl on top of another slightly smaller one, filled with ice and cold water (the bottom of the large bowl should touch the ice). Set aside.


2. Put chocolate and water (also sugar and/or liquor if you’re using) in a medium-sized pan and melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring occasionally.


3. Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl sitting on top of ice and water, and start whisking with a wire whisk (or an electrical hand-held mixer) until thick. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. If the mousse becomes grainy (which is possible at your first try), transfer it back into the pan, reheat until half of it is melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.


4. Divide into four serving cups and serve immediately.

S'mores Ice Cream Cake

Orrr seven days. You know. Same thing.

I mean, those peanut butter ball things on Tuesday weren’t really a treat because they were healthy. They weren’t dessert. Sure, I guess they could end up BEING dessert (read: you don’t have any cheesecake, ice cream or peanut butter cookies in the house) but they aren’t REALLY dessert.



Real dessert is that toasted marshmallow coconut ice cream that I shared last week… that was squished in between 3 other quarts that I just couldn’t stop myself from churning. And as it turns out… I can’t eat ice cream for every meal of the day.

People. I have a lot of ice cream right now. Like a ton.



And since I don’t have any patience to make REGULAR cakes, you know – like cakes that take time and require perfectly sliced layers and even more perfectly piped buttercream and all sorts of decorations that would lead me to jump off a bridge… I made an ice cream cake. Because those are easy. You just layer a bunch of junk together. It’s like one giant melty mess.

I freaking love it.



Hey, remember that one time when I went to a cocktail-attired event in extremely casual attire? Like a big event where people were wearing dresses that went down to the floor and where I was wearing jeans and my hair up like an idiot? Oh I do, because it’s what my life consisted of last night. It might have required a few bites of fudge and marshmallow coconut ice cream soaked graham crust before bed. Because seriously, that was the only way I was getting over THAT.



Make it. Eat it. Love it.

 

YIELD: SERVES 6-8

PREP TIME: 6 HOURS (LOTS OF INACTIVE TIME!)

COOK TIME: 20 MINUTES (TO COOK THE FUDGE)

TOTAL TIME: 8 HOURS

INGREDIENTS

3 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
4 cups toasted marshmallow, s'mores or even vanilla ice cream
1 (10 ounce) bag marshmallows, toasted

HOW-TO

In a large bowl, combine melted butter and 2 1/2 cups graham crumbs, mixing well until moistened. Press into an 8 or 9-inch springform pan, evening the crust out with the back of a spoon. Place in the freezer to set.

While crust is setting, heat milk, sugar and chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and stir continuously for 20 minutes until fudge sauce is thickened. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes.

Remove crust from freezer and immediately pour the cooled chocolate over top. Place back in the freezer and freeze for 2 hours.

About 15 minutes before you remove the crust, take ice cream out of the fridge and allow to softened. Once soft, press and spread on top of the fudge sauce - don't worry, it may mix together a bit! Not a big deal. Smooth ice cream top and place back in the freezer for at least 2 hours, or even over night.

Before serving, toast marshmallows as desired. I placed mine on a baking sheet under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, then removed them with a spatula. Remove cake from freezer and sprinkle ice cream top with half of the remaining graham crumbs, then top with marshmallows. Freeze for another hour or so, then sprinkle with remaining graham crumbs. Serve!

Prepare to get messy - the ice cream and fudge sauce will be slightly soft, but they are so delicious this way.

the fudge sauce recipe comes from my mom's old school oreo cookie ice cream dessert