Valentine's Day - Julia Child's chocolate mousse

Chocolate mousse should be considered the dessert for Valentine's Day. It's decadent and fairly easy to make. And thanks to the St. Julia, we have the perfect chocolate mousse recipe in her book, The Way to Cook.

My mom often made this (a slightly different version was in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One ) and it's just heavenly - rich, creamy, light and gooey. A memorable after school snack.

Julia Child's Chocolate Mousse
Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of sweet or semi-sweet baking chocolate (chocolate chips are great for this because they're so easy to measure and melt)
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 3 ounces of unsalted butter (6 Tbsp.)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 cup instant (finely ground) sugar
• whipped cream (optional)

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate with the strong coffee.
2. Beat the soft butter into the smoothly melted chocolate.
3. One by one, beat in the egg yolks.
4. Beat the cream over ice until it leaves light traces on the surface. (Or you can use very cold bowl and beaters.)
5. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. While beating, sprinkle in the sugar by spoonfuls and continue beating until stiff shining peaks are formed.
6. Scrape the chocolate mixture down the side of the egg-white bowl, and delicately fold in the whipped cream.
7. Turn the mousse into attractive serving bowls.
8. Cover and chill several hours. You may wish to decorate the mousse with swirls of whipped cream, or to pass whipped cream separately.

Copyright 1989 by Julia Child.

For added fun, try adding some coffee or vanilla-flavored liquor to your whipped cream or directly into the mousse when adding the hot coffee.

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