Easy Chocolate Mousse

Tomorrow evening I am having a couple of girlfriends over for dinner since the hubby is on night shift and won’t be home. I will be working during the day, so I need to think about making things that are either fast or can be made in advance, or both. It’s a pretty safe bet that girls will like chocolate, so I am going to whip up some easy Chocolate Mousse this morning that I can pull out at the end of dinner with a flourish and then sit back and listen to the oohs and ahs as everyone feels spoiled with a rich (but light tasting) chocolate dessert. Chocolate desserts go great with girls, wine, and visiting!

I like this dessert because it is fast, easy, only requires two ingredients, and can be made in advance if you have people coming over. You can make it with any kind of chocolate you like. I usually go with either white chocolate or dark semi sweet chocolate. Don’t try to make this low fat by using half and half - the mousse won’t turn out as nice. It is dessert; it’s going to be a bit indulgent.

Chocolate Mousse:
6 squares of bakers chocolate (any kind you like)
1 ½ cups whipping cream

Combine the chocolate squares with ¼ cup of the whipping cream and microwave for 1 minute on high. Give it a stir and then microwave it for 30 seconds to 1 minute more. If you chop up the chocolate it takes a bit less time. If it is not melted fully after the second minute, just stir it until it has melted. Let the melted chocolate sit for about 20 minutes or until close to room temperature.

Whip the remaining 1 ¼ cup of whipping cream and fold it into the cooled chocolate mixture. If the chocolate mixture is still quite warm, give it some extra time or the whole thing will curdle, and you will be very disappointed after smelling delicious melting chocolate to not get a nice mousse to eat in the end. Refrigerate for two hours.

There are lots of fun ways to fancy this up. You can pour it into little ramekins or pretty glasses. You can top it with chocolate shavings or berries or drizzle sauces over it. If you really want to put in some additional effort you could make dark and white chocolate mousse and layer them like a parfait. I have even made mousse cake using my spring form pan with an oreo cookie crumb crust, a layer of the dark chocolate mousse, and a layer of the white. If you are having a family style dinner, I like to make a batch in a trifle dish and just let people help themselves. Yum!