The one with Moose.....the chocolate kind

 So this is actually about Mousse, the desert, I am just irrevocably amused by homonyms! :)

 This evening, my wonderful boyfriend has offered to cook dinner for me: what a treat! To take some of the stress of decision making off his plate, I offered to make dessert. Since I didn't know what he was making, I decided to go with the indulgent but light classic, chocolate mousse. Amazingly, with how I pride myself as a self-made baker, I have yet to  make Mousse. I did a bit of research via FoodNetwork (my kitchen-inspiring obsession) & based my recipe off of a Bobby Flay recipe. Generally his recipes tend to be too over-thought for me, I fancy myself more akin to Alton Brown's simplicity, but I found this recipe effective & without his normal flare.

I started by melting 1/2 a bag of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips in a mock-double-boiler using two porcelain bowls & some hot water. Once that was smooth I set it aside to cool to room temperature (continuing to stir every few minutes to keep consistent).  In a separate bowl, I began hand whisking (I'm old fashioned & possibly a glutton for punishment given the soreness of my one shoulder now! lol) 3 egg-whites. After about 3 minutes I got this beautiful foamy consistency, but after much more whisking & a few teaspoons of sugar, I got the gorgeous shiny peaks of properly consistent egg whites ready to bring airy life into any meringue,  macaroon, or in this case: mousse. 

 

 With the eggs & chocolate ready, I placed the entire contents of a small container of heavy cream into a bowl set over another bowl of ice (we'll call this the inverse double-boiler).  It only took about 3-5 minutes of whisking to get soft light peaks from the cream. Mousse you see, is primarily about the balancing of parts. In this recipe, it was three parts (trinities of course representing perfection).

I first folded the melted chocolate into the egg whites, & then folded the cream into that. I got a beautifully consistent & lusciously light chocolate mousse. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of once it had set & was served. I did pair it with some marinated fruit. I sliced fresh strawberries into a bowl, added fresh blackberries, 1/3 c amaretto, & 1/2 a fresh orange squeezed over. I allowed this to sit & come together overnight. After dinner, which was astoundingly delicious, I spooned several generous ounces of Mousse into a small bowl, & topped it with the berries (I did not use the juice as I thought it would be too thin & compromise the mousse).  As I said, I have no pictures of this, & that's simply because it went too fast for me to get any - while I want to work to perfect this recipe, I can say it was certainly a hit!  

Life is more & more about the simple things, I'm glad to say, Mousse is one of them! :)