Recipe: 4-Minute Chocolate Mousse

Are you a chocoholic or someone with an incessant sweet tooth? Are you looking for something that is sure to leave an impression at parties? Are you interested in a dessert that can be made quickly enough to satisfy even the fussiest kids? if you answered yes to any of these questions, you should know that you have found the perfect dessert recipe for your needs. After just a few tries, you will easily be able to take this recipe from ingredients to serving in under 5 minutes. Just know that mastering this indulgent dish means you will have to fend off the compulsion to make “just one more batch.” If you do not happen to have an addiction to chocolate before tasting this recipe, the aftereffects may leave you with one.

Ingredients (US and UK versions)

• Chocolate, dark, 4 oz or 100 grams
• Whipping cream, heavy, 10 oz or double cream, 300 mL
• Sugar, granulated, extra-fine, 1/4 cup or caster sugar, 50 g
• Egg white, 1 or egg white substitute (see below)
• Chocolate shavings, as garnish
• Optional: 2 tbsp of liqueur, preferably something featuring Amaretto

Sidebar: Egg Substitution

If you lack access to pasteurized eggs, you can substitute the egg white component by mixing 2 teaspoons of meringue powder, some water and 11 teaspoons of sugar (just over 1/5th of a cup) into a bowl, ideally a copper one. Whip at high speed for 5 minutes and realize this is where a stand mixer might be a blessing. Slowly add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the bowl while continually whipping for another 5 minutes with the goal of stiff, dry peaks befitting a proper meringue.

Equipment

• Electric hand mixer
• Two bowls, one smaller than the other
• Spoon or piping bag
• Serving glasses, chilled prior to serving
• Optional: Measuring scale

Directions

1. Assemble your ingredients and equipment.
2. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and set them aside. Use a small saucepan and heat up half of your cream until it reaches a boil. Note: You can shorten the amount of time needed to boil your cream by preheating your saucepan.
3. Kill the heat, add the chocolate and stir it into the cream until it has fully melted and the mixture is nice and smooth.
4. Pour the mix into the smaller of your two bowls, place the small bowl within the large bowl, making sure that you have ice water placed between the two bowls so that the smaller bowl’s temperature stays cold. Add the rest of your cream and the liqueur, if you feel like using any, to the chocolate cream mixture.
5. Use a whisking attachment to beat the mix until the point that it clings to the beater as soft peaks. Extricate the small bowl from the ice water bowl.
6. Add your egg white, or its substitute, to a bowl and whisk until you have stiff peaks.
7. Gradually add the sugar, in 1 tablespoon increments, to the bowl while continually whisking the mixture. Stop whisking once you reach a soft meringue.
8. Fold the meringue through the chocolate mixture and then use either a spoon or piping bag to fill your serving glasses.
9. Top with whatever you like, such as shaved chocolate, cookies or even sprigs of mint, to complement the dark chocolate.