1 Using a vegetable peeler or a mandoline, shave your chocolate into a large bowl and set aside the 6 most beautiful shavings for the final decoration.
2 Heat the cream until boiling, then pour it over your chocolate and smooth it out. The less the chocolate is stirred and the less hot it is, the better it will be.
3 Add the cold butter cut into small pieces, then the 3 egg yolks and the coffee extract. Whip your 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form and just before the end, add the icing sugar before they become firm, meaning whip even harder.
4 Fold 2 tablespoons of whipped egg whites into your mixture, stirring well with a whisk, then add the rest and mix with a wooden spatula using a cutting, lifting motion.
5 Present the chocolate mousse by filling half of each glass or serving dish, then sprinkle the chocolate chips over it and use a piping bag to finish filling each glass.
6 Let your chocolate mousse rest for 12 hours in the refrigerator.
7 Served on a long shallow plate: the chocolate mousse in the middle, 4 ladyfinger biscuits crisscrossed on the right, and a small glass of Maury or old Rivesaltes on the left. Pure bliss...
Today I present to you one of my creations, smiles, as they say "to die for".
A bit of history. It is believed that this dessert was created by a Swiss pastry chef working in the kitchens of Louis XVI.
We find traces of it in the work of Menon, and then around 1820-1821 in the famous « Cuisinier Royal ». When, like me, one consults old cookbooks, let me tell you how chocolate was « viewed » in 1762 in « Le Ménage des Champs et de la Ville ». Here are the conclusions I quote from it.
« Chocolate is ordinarily taken in winter. It suits the elderly, people of a cold and phlegmatic temperament, and those who digest only with difficulty because of the weakness and delicacy of their stomach.
But young people of a hot and bilious temperament and whose humours are already quite in motion should refrain from it or use it soberly. »
*Continued on page 160. Just goes to show that tastes change, smiles.
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