Chocolate Mousse

I love desserts and I have a couple of favourites, creme brulee, flan and chocolate mousse. When I'm in a restaurant it's always hard to make a choice if two or more are on the menu. I've made both creme brulee and flan before, but never chocolate mousse which is probably the easiest of the three.

Recently I bought a 2.5 kilo bag (over 5 lbs.) of good quality dark chocolate chips at the wholesale so I have plenty of chocolate to experiment with. That's why I decided to try a chocolate mousse recipe by Gretchen Siegchrist that I found on about.com a while ago.

This recipe produced a very nice mousse, not too light and fluffy. Might be nice with some grated orange peel and a dash of cointreau also, but that will be another time!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:
Pour 1/3 cup of cream into a small saucepan. Heat the cream over high heat until it just starts to boil.
Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl and pour the heated cream over it. Whisk the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
Now, set this aside and let it cool. When the cream chocolate mixture is cool, add the vanilla and salt, and whisk them in.

Pour the remaining cream into a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat it until it forms peaks. Add the sugar and beat that in.
Add the chocolate mixture to the cream, and beat it at a medium-low speed until everything is mixed together and smooth.

Let the mousse cool in the refrigerator. You can serve it in a bowl or cups garnished with fresh fruit.