Creamy Chocolate Mousse

Serves 8
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: None
Cooling time: 30 minutes
Rating: Very Easy

This easy recipe substitutes cream for the usual raw eggs. When I'm beating the cream, I do feel a little like an eighteenth-century pioneer woman churning butter outside my log cabin. But a little role-playing is healthy in life.

8 squares (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon Kahlúa, Cointreau or raspberry liqueur
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh raspberries or strawberries (optional)

Melt the chocolate in a heavy frying pan over very low heat, stirring constantly. When the chocolate is almost melted, turn off the heat and set aside to cool. The heat of the pan will melt the remaining chocolate.

Stir in the milk and the liqueur and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside.

Pour the cream into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until it thickens (see Mom Tip), 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the chocolate mixture over the cream and mix them gently with a rubber spatula, scooping up the cream from the bottom of the bowl and turning the spatula over repeatedly until no white is showing. Pour the mixture evenly among eight small dishes or into one serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The mousse will thicken as it cools. Serve plain or with a few raspberries or strawberries, if you like. Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.

Mom Tip
Put the empty bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes before using them. Cream will whip faster if the bowl and the beaters are ice cold.

Buy the Book!

Chocolate on the Brain
Foolproof Recipes for Unrepentant Chocoholics
By Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills
Illustrations by Greg Clarke
Houghton Mifflin, October 2000
Paperback, 304 pages, $17.00
ISBN: 0-395-98358-4
Recipe reprinted by permission.