Spiked Chocolate Mousse

This has been a very busy weekend, and this upcoming week already promises to be crazier then ever, but in a mostly good way. I like staying busy, but I'm also already looking forward to the weekend after next when I'll hopefully have a chance to relax. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for that one.



But back to the point, last Friday was my friend's birthday and that, obviously, called for dessert. She's been trying to limit her carb intake, so instead of a cake I did some online sleuthing and landed on the world's best chocolate mousse recipe. With a few minor tweaks here and there (I never could leave well enough alone) I daresay it came out even better then I could have hoped for.



Mousse is not hard to assemble, but with the best possible ingredients and a tiny bit of patience you will be rewarded with a deep, rich, immensely flavorful vessel of amazingness to share with those you love. I'd throw out a bunch more adjectives at you, but I'd rather not waste more of your time and get you straight to the recipe so you can make this right now and see what I'm talking about.

Chocolate Mousse
Adapted slightly from Cooks Illustrated’s The New Best Recipe, via Crumbly Cookie

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbsp espresso powder
3 Tbsp Irish Cream
4 large eggs, separated2 tablespoons light brown sugar
½ cup chilled heavy cream, plus more for serving

1. Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a large saucepan of barely simmering water or in an uncovered Pyrex measuring cup microwaved at 50 percent power for 3 minutes, stirring once at the 2-minute mark. Whisk the butter into the melted chocolate, 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in the salt, vanilla, espresso and Irish Cream until completely incorporated. Whisk in the yolks, one at a time, making sure that each is fully incorporated before adding the next; set the mixture aside.

2. Whisk the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl set over a saucepan of hot water until slightly warm, 1 to 2 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan. Beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed until soft peaks form. Raise the mixer speed to high and slowly add the sugar; beat to soft peaks. Fold a quarter of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

3. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the mousse. Spoon portions of the mousse into 8 individual serving dishes or goblets. You can possibly even get more servings out of the batch, It's very rich so a little will go a long way. Cover tightly with Saran wrap and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend, at least 2 hours and up to 24.  Serve with additional whipped cream or with some fresh berries on top.