Chocolate Mousse
- 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar, for garnish
- Orange segments, for garnish
- Fresh mint leaves or sprigs, for garnish
- In a bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks--not too stiff.
- In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer, whisk the eggs until thick, about 2 minutes
- Combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil for 1 minute.
- Pour the sugar mixture over the yolks, and beat mixture again.
- In a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (the water should not touch to bottom of the bowl), melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool until just warm.
- Fold in the egg mixture and whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until just combined.
- Refrigerate the chocolate mousse until set, about 2 hours.
- To serve: Set an ice cream scoop in a bowl of hot tap water for a few minutes.
- Lay a stencil cut from a piece of parchment paper (heart, snowflake, Easter egg, or Santa's boot), on a plate and sprinkle cocoa powder over the top.
- Remove the stencil and repeat on the remaining plates.
- Using the hot ice cream scoop, smoothly scoop the chocolate mousse and center a scoop on each plate.
- Decorate each plate with orange segments and mint.
heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, water, bittersweet chocolate, unsalted butter, cocoa, orange segments, mint
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chocolate-mousse-recipe3.html (may not work)