This is by far the most amazing French chocolate mousse I have ever indulged in! This is my favorite dessert (even over chocolate chip cookies). I always ask my oldest daughter to make this for me for my birthday. It is divine!!
Europeans Know Good Chocolate!
I spent some years in Germany while I was in the Air Force, and one thing I learned, Europeans know chocolate! I remember my coworkers thumbing their noses at Hershey’s chocolate, and I was so surprised. It turns out Milka chocolate is absolutely, truly amazing. There are other German brands that are delicious. But 20 years later, I still remember my first bite of Milka!
Several years back, we became fast friends with a young family from our church. We started getting together with them regularly and sharing a meal.
The day my Swiss-German friend, Rebekka, served us her chocolate mousse, I was transported to another world. I’m unashamed to ask everyone and anyone for recipes. Thankfully Rebekka gave me this gem.
We’ve been getting fat on it ever since. Might be time to start doing those no-equipment workouts again.
This mousse is completely made from scratch and is a bit fussy. So be prepared.
Chocolate Mousse is a traditional French dessert. If you’re interested in some random facts about French chocolate mousse, check out this article.
And in case you’re wondering, my friend Rebekka vouched for its authenticity. I hope you enjoy it as well.
Tips to Make French Chocolate Mousse
- Do not skip out on the espresso powder.
- I like the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips with 60% cacao. This is also what my friend uses.
- I provide you standard American cup measurements for the chocolate, but for best results, use a food scale like this one. The reason is, depending on how big you chop your chocolate or if you’re using chips, the cup measurement is not accurate.
- You really do need to have a double boiler (or rig one up as I do). You could melt your chocolate CAREFULLY in the microwave, but you would not be able to cook the tempered eggs in the chocolate mixture.
- You may want to opt to pour your mousse into serving dishes when you are at the stage of letting your mousse rest/chill for 6 hours. I like to use these Kerr 1/2-pint canning jars for this mousse and crème brûlée. You should also be able to get jars locally cheaper than on Amazon.
Classic French Chocolate Mousse from Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 c. heavy cream
- 2 eggs separate whites & yolks
- ¼ c. granulated sugar
- 135 grams bittersweet chocolate about ¾ cup
- 2 tbsp. butter unsalted
- 2 tbsp. water
- ½ tsp. instant espresso powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whip heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks. Refrigerate.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks and whip until pale yellow. Set aside.
- To create a double boiler, use a medium-sized saucepan. Add a few inches of water to the bottom of the saucepan and bring the water to a boil.
- Set a metal bowl on top of boiling water making sure the bowl does not actually touch the boiling water.
- Carefully heat the bittersweet chocolate, butter, water, and espresso powder. Stir frequently so you do not burn the chocolate.
- Once the chocolate is melted, remove the metal bowl from the saucepan.
- Transfer about ¼ of the hot chocolate mixture to the yolk/sugar mixture. This tempers the eggs so they do not cook too quickly. Mix well.
- Transfer all of the tempered yolks back into the melted chocolate in your metal bowl.
- Add the vanilla extract to your melted chocolate and eggs. Mix well.
- Place the chocolate mixture back over the double boiler and cook slowly until the mixture has thickened. Set aside to cool.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Carefully add chocolate mixture and whipped cream to egg whites and mix until an even consistency.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Serve with whipped cream, or powdered sugar and berries.
Nutrition
Bon appétit!
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