Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Chocolate Mousse and Happy Accidents


Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a delicious recipe for chocolate mousse. Why?
 
Well, um, because it's CHOCOLATE MOUSSE.
 
Now that we've got that squared away, you'll need
1 1/2 bars of fine chocolate
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cups sugar
 
 
 

Ta-dah! Just like this...
 Random: this is the new pressure cooker I got. It's the NINJA COOKER. A whole chicken in ten minutes! It's CRAZY! I may have been using it every day. I may have been using it for everything, every meal. I may have, just maybe, been a little too excited over the ninja cooker and Edna was making grumbly noises.
 So, Edna and I decided to make chocolate mousse... and in no way is that connected to the flashy Ninja cooker. :O So, 4 egg yolks, creamed until light yellow and thick.
 Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix until well blended.
Put 1/2 cup of heavy cream in a pot and stir over low heat until steaming. Do not boil! When it's cool, after about five minutes, add the egg mixture until well blended. We don't want the egg mix to cook as soon as it hits the cream, but it has to be hot enough to blend. Once blended, return it all to the pot and cook for five minutes over low heat, stirring constantly until it's thickened.
Here's the chocolate. It needed its own photo.  NOM NOM.
 Chop chocolate. Yeah, we needed another picture. 
After the egg mix has cooled for about five minutes (again) add the chocolate. Stir until blended. Now, put the chocolate mixture way up high, where no will be able to stick their fingers in it while it cools. The directions say 2 hours, but I popped it into the freezer for 15 minutes and it was pretty cool.
 Walter the alarm clock keeps a dignified eye on the cooling time. Yes, he's a steady kind of guy. No, he doesn't crack a smile. We love him a anyway.
 The other 1 cup of heavy cream is whipped until thickened.... but make sure you don't get caught up in a great Edna story about the time she made eggs benedict for the governor of Utah. If you do...
 It ends up looking like this. Something very wrong happened...
 So, I went back to the store and bought another pint of heavy cream. We started over, and didn't chat this time. All was well. We folded the cream into the chocolate mix.
 
Chill another hour... or just eat it. I had some right away, and then some that had been chilled for another few hours. The flavor is AMAZING.
 
 I put some in one of my antique jelly jars and brought it to the library. We must keep our librarians happy. One has been complaining about the number of books we check out. We have four cards, and we check out almost 50 books a card every few weeks. We always bring them back. But they do have to be shelved. *ahem* So, a little chocolate mousse might be a good thing, if you know what I mean...
 Now, I realized that the cream I beat into lumpiness was actually.... butter! So, I drained the whey, creamed it so more, salted it a bit and SHAZAM!
I just happened to have some crusty French bread. I was in HEAVEN. Or at least, I'm counting on fresh French bread and fresh, chilled butter being in heaven. (Do you hear that God? If I get there, would You mind very much having bread and butter on the menu? I mean, I assume we're eating up there. It wouldn't be heaven without some food. :)

Ok, that's all for now! I did a cover reveal for my newest historical over on my blog here, but I'll post another photo in case people are too busy making chocolate mousse to wander over there. :D

Have a wonderful week and see you sooooon!

22 comments:

  1. Bring Edna here for a visit! I'll buy the ingredients, and Edna can reminisce with my fire king bowls :-) Oh, will you please bring the kids too? I miss you guys!

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    1. We should! Wouldn't that be fun?? And plus, I have a bunch of Carnival glassware that needs a home. :D

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  2. First, that's not my grandma's pressure cooker!

    Second, I am definitely envying your hobnail cup and saucer.

    Third, did the mousse impress the librarian?

    Fourth, homemade butter!!!!!!!

    Peace and thanks, Julie

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    1. One- it does pressure canning, too!

      Two- found at a yard sale! Isn't it pretty??

      Third- she didn't say. :)

      Fourth- I KNOW!!! There's some left in the fridge and I want to just eat bread and butter until it's gone.

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  3. The highlight of this column for me was the butter and the bread--awesome! If I were the librarian, I would rather have that than the mousse, but oh well, there should not have been any complaints about shelving .....that's what they do!
    Thanks for another great post!

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  4. yum!
    hey I've gotten behind some of you 50 book checker-outers before - it ain't fun! well it was kinda fun before they put up signs keeping us from getting too close to the checkout counter- before you could see all the books people were checking out - got some good ideas! Now I have to browse the 'hold' shelves to see what people are requesting and take notes! but those kid books are really short- my friend checks out at least 5-10 a week for her 5 yr old and each one has to be scanned and of course the auto self checkout never works right. but hey not like I'm standing in line with nothing to do - I just start reading! :-)

    never heard of cooking a chicken in 10 minutes...

    Susanna

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    1. It's crazy!!! It cooks so fast! Of course, it doesn't have the flavor of slow roasted, but cooked is cooked some days!

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  5. Wait! The Ninja cooks a chicken in ten minutes and it does pressure canning?? OK, I am now not only drooling over the delectable cloud of chocolate mousse in that beautiful cup, but over Edna AND the Ninja! ;)
    Yum! I am now craving bread and butter. ;-)
    BTW-Beautiful Cover!


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    1. It's sooooooooo cool! Definitely not slow roasted but it does 5 lbs of potatoes in minutes!

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  6. So basically mousse is raw egg based? Seems to be a French thing ...

    Oh I'm not against raw eggs. Just like a body builder I eat them in dough and batter all the time.

    Mousse would be quite a feat without an electric mixer huh? Sometimes I don't want to know how easy things are to make.

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    1. Ahhhhhh! WAIT!!!! Do not make this recipe! I forgot a step!
      You need to fold in the liquid eggs then put on low heat and cook, stirring constantly until thick! Arg!
      I'll fix the main instructions when I get yo the computer. Smart phone isn't that smart!

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  7. I am fiercely afraid of pressure cookers. Period. I'll stick with genteel Edna and her beaters. The mousse looks yummy but the raw eggs scare me. Hmmm...I seem to be scared a lot this morning. :-)

    If I were your librarian I would be cheering you on -- goading you really to check one more book out. Us librarians are all about the stats you know. And the shelving part, well, it's a necessary evil. I always remind myself that shelving means kids are reading in my library and that's the goal, right?

    The book cover is quite compelling with the contrast between purple and white. Are you and Ruthy in competition to see who can get more books out in the shortest amount of time?

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    1. I am, too. I honestly didn't realize it was a pressure cooker until I got it home. I was smitten with its sleek lines and fancy recipe book.
      And I've worked in libraries all my life and circulation is the sign of a healthy library. I don't feel to bad!
      I would never go toe to toe with Ruthy. I think she can write s book a week and they're better than mine
      It's an ego killer. I just bow down and try to preserve my dignity!

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  8. Love the book cover!!!!!

    And that pressure cooker is DIGITAL. Mine is old school, I think it's probably done in early Sanskrit numerology.

    Also, the chocolate mousse fail butter is so delicious, right???? And the chocolate mousse itself looks perfect, Virginia! Just lovely.

    Keeping librarians happy is clutch. So good of you to figure that out. Feeding the masses, very Biblical!!!! :)

    And Kav, YES!!!! Virginia and I are in a knock-down, drag-out get-er-done publishing war! SUHWEEEET! :)

    Now I want chocolate but I indulged heavily yesterday on my birthday so it's back to broccoli slaw for me. Just to even the "weight" of ice cream, carrot cake and a frothy-chocolatey-goodness drink from the coffee shop. Gotta love your friends and family that know your weaknesses and indulge them once in a while!!!

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  9. I think I'm in love with Walter.

    :)

    Virginia, I'm confused. I totally forgot about the egg and sugar mixture until someone mentioned it on here. Was the cream that was heated mixed in with the eggs and sugar???

    The mousse looks soooo good!! I'm sure the librarians love you. And yes, they really do love to get those check-out numbers higher. So I'm sure you and your kids and your many books make them look good.

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    1. See above re egg mixture!!!!

      And I love Walter. I saw a light baby blue version once and I think it could be Walter's soul mate but I haven't seen her since....

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  10. First of all, the chocolate would never make it to the mousse.

    Other than that, this looks AMAZING!

    Hmm, if I buy double the chocolate, then I'd have the best of both worlds, right?

    Second, LOVE Walter. He reminds of the butler who thinks he reigns over the whole house - but we know who really rules the kitchen!

    Third, I would never have thought that was a pressure cooker! No wonder you use it every day! I brought my parent's old one home last spring - I remember my dad cooking supper in it at least once a week (yes, I grew up with my dad as the family cook - work schedules made it necessary). I haven't gotten it out yet...once the weather turns colder :) But that thing is definitely OLD SCHOOL.

    I should probably replace the gasket before using it...

    And finally, fourth, I love homemade butter. When we lived in Kansas, I got our milk from the local dairy down the road. I'd buy cream from them, too, and make butter. One of my favorite things was to flavor it with garlic and herbs or with cinnamon and honey (never all of those together, though!).


    Oh wait, I lied. There's a fifth: Love the cover of the new book! You go, girl!

    I lied again! Sixth! I used to work in a library, at the check out desk for AV and Children's. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you check out too many books. There is no such thing! (and this from the former homeschool mom who used to pull her children to the library in a wagon with the books stacked between them...well over a hundred a week...)

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    1. Exactly! It's free and if we bring them back, all is well, right???
      I love Walter, too! We found him for a few bucks at our local junk shop. he didn't work but before j got a chance to try and fix him. He started working. Alarm and everything!
      Flavored butter.... ooh! I've had honey butter. Must try it with cinnamon!

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    2. And the higher circulation numbers helps the library get funding! Win/Win!

      I think we have Walter's twin somewhere...my father-in-law's old alarm clock that my husband rescued from the junk pile when it stopped working. I'll have to dig it out, give it some TLC (and maybe a new mainspring), and see if I can spruce it up a bit. My dear husband would love that for a birthday present!

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    3. Oh, that's a great idea! I think those old clocks are SO pretty! I've even seen a red one on Pinterest, but they may have painted it.
      I also was wondering how to fix the face, which is cloudy. Someone said toothpaste. I'm going to try it!

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