Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse
Originally uploaded by L.TON

One of my favorite ALL TIME DESSERTS is The Chocolate Mousse. Light, rich, chocolatey goodness. On a recent trip to the international market I came across an entire SECTION devoted to Mexican Sour Cream. What could be so special and unique about this said Mexican Sour Cream to have an entire dairy case devoted to it?

So I bought a small container and went home and tried to use it as dip. UTTER FAILURE. Turns out, Mexican sour cream is hardly like sour cream at all. It's much runnier and has only the slightest big of tang of what you would expect of sour cream. Instead, its more like an ultra thick, ultra rich heavy whipping cream similar to a creme fraiche. Apparently, chefs love this stuff because it holds up for days, rather then collapsing after a few hours, which frequently happens with heavy whipping cream whipped desserts.

I concocted a pretty simple to do Chocolate Mousse using said Mexican Sour Cream. The result: a very light, yet dense mousse. To me, it's almost like a really light ice cream, sans the frozen component. Rich, smooth, its an over all tasty success!

After making this, I would also think that crumbled Oreo Cookies would be a really good addition to it as a topping or layers (remember those chocolate pudding earth cups you got as a kid?)


Chocolate mousse

ingredients
1.33 c mexican sour cream
.5 c heavy whipping cream, divided
2 c semi sweet chocolate chips
3 oz strong coffee or espresso
1 tblspn dark rum
1 tblspn Godiva liquor (optional)
3 tblspn butter
1 tsp granulated gelatin


instructions

1. put your mixing bowl and beaters (or whisk attachment) into the freezer
2. in a double boiler mechanism, bring about 1.5 - 2" of water to just below a simmer
3. in a small heat proof measuring cup, measure out .25c heavy whipping cream. sprinkle on the gelatin into the measuring cup
4. in large, heat proof mixing bowl (that can be comfortable over your pot of just below simmering water), put in the chips, coffee, rum, liquor, and butter
5. with a whisk, mix until just about all the chips have melted, at this point remove from heat and continue on whisking
6. cool by occasional stirring, until just warm to the touch.
7. turn the heat off the double boiler and place your mixing cup (with the gelatin/cream mixture) itself into the water. stir until it is throughly heated, warm to the touch
8. pour the cream/gelatin mixture into chocolate mixture and stir
9. remove bowl and beaters from freezer. put in sour cream and remaining heavy cream. beat until peaks form
10. stir in .25 of the whipped cream mixture into the chocolate mixture. fold in remaining whipped cream in 3rds of what remains (add whipped cream mixture three times)
11. DO NOT OVER MIX OR ELSE YOUR MOUSSE GOES SPLAT! It's okay if there will be white streaks in the chocolate mixture
12. spoon into desired containers: ramekins, martini glasses, one 9x9 baking pan
13. chill for 1 hr, consume with happiness!


makes uh... well, depends on what you use as a container. I ended up pouring into 1 large martini glass and the rest into a 9x9 pan, making a layer of mousse about 1.5" thick.