Valentine's Day Series: Julia Child's Chocolate Mousse ~

Hello Friends!  I'm back today with one of my favorite recipes! I made Julia Child's chocolate mousse for Valentine's Day last year and I fell in love with it.  It's a few extra steps that I'm used to for a dessert, but I must admit there was something endearing about putting on my Paris apron and making mousse from scratch, just like Julia would have wanted me to back in 1961.  Sure you can buy "instant" mousse in a package, but after making the real thing I have to tell you, there is truly no comparison.  I will be making this again for Valentine's Day this year! Enjoy! 

Originally published February 13, 2019 

Hello Friends!  Happy Valentine's Day week! 

I have been in the best mood this week because we had the most amazing weekend and it's filled my heart so BIG that I don't want it to end.  We traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to attend a wedding which was the most beautiful day! I wish I could go back to Friday and do it all over again! ♥

I can't wait to share more about that later, but for today I thought because tomorrow is Valentine's Day I should treat you (and me!) to something special.  We had a snow day yesterday so it was the perfect time to put on some music and cook up something yummy!  

I decided a while back that I wanted to make chocolate mousse for Valentine's day.  I have never made it from scratch before and for my first time I wanted to be as authentic as possible and make Julia Child's recipe.  When I looked it up I was surprised to see she does not use heavy cream.  Julia's recipe uses egg yolks and sugar as a base instead of cream.  

It was a long process but definitely worth it in the end! I felt very French with my apron and my whisk....oooh la la!  ♥

This is a perfect dessert for Valentines Day! 

You start by melting chocolate, butter, and coffee over a double boiler. 

Remove that from heat and in another double boiler whisk egg yolks, sugar, water (and rum if you use it) until thick. 

Place in an ice bath and continue whisking.....

Fold in your chocolate mixture. 

In a separate bowl beat egg whites, salt, and vanilla.

Fold into the chocolate. 

We have mousse! ♥

Put in little serving dishes and refrigerate!  

Serve to your Valentine! 

Heavenly!  

Julia Child’s Chocolate Mousse - adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) 

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet chocolate chips)

6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (12 tbls)

1/4 cup dark-brewed coffee

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons dark rum 

1 tablespoon water 

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.

Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside 

(*tip – I didn't have a bowl large enough so I used a 9x13 glass baking dish and it worked perfectly*)

In a bowl or pot large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a hand-held electric mixer.)

Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then add the vanilla.

Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.

Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.  I was able to make 6 "generous" individual serving cups : ) 

Top with whip cream and serve! Bon Appetit! 

Note: Several blogs I read suggested cutting the sugar measurement to 1/2 cup due to it being overly sweet.  The originally recipe calls for 2/3 cup but to be safe I used 1/2 cup and I felt that was just the right amount of sweetness!  

I also omitted the rum because I didn’t have any on hand. 

♥

I would definitely say my chocolate mousse was a success!

Julia would be proud! 

♥

Happy Valentine's Day my friends! Our Valentines are hung and we are ready to celebrate!

I hope you all have a day filled with love and joy! xo 

*****

Have a wonderful day everyone!