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!