Sometimes you need something special to serve up, either because you’ve got guests visiting who expect pudding (and wouldn’t be impressed with just a cheeseboard) or just because it’s a special occasion at home.
On investigating chocolate mousse recipes I found that they all had sugar, but did they really need it? After all, we quite like the taste of 85% cocoa chocolate, so why would you need to add sugar to sweeten it? Would the mousse come out with the wrong texture if you didn’t have that grainy sugar in the mix?
Here’s the final recipe I settled on and it’s gone down well both times I’ve made it.
Paleo chocolate mousse
Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate (we use 85% or 90% cocoa)
4 fl oz warm water
3 eggs (separated)
1 tsp stevia (optional)
Pouring cream to serve (optional)
Directions:
- Break the chocolate up into a large heatproof bowl and add the warm water.
- Place the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and be sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Keeping the heat low allow the chocolate to melt, which will take about 6 minutes. If you leave it too long the chocolate will go grainy and dry, rather than into a smooth paste – if this happens beat the chocolate vigorously with a fork while adding a little warm water. Continue this process and, if you are lucky, it will eventually turn back to a smooth paste!
- While the chocolate is melting, beat the egg yolks in a bowl, adding the stevia to this if you are choosing to sweeten the mousse slightly.
- Take the chocolate off the heat and leave to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes.
- While the chocolate is cooling, whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form soft peaks (if you over-beat the egg whites you’ll find the mousse is stiffer and airier, but you will also find it harder to fold into the chocolate so you may end up with small lumps of whipped egg white in your chocolate mousse).
- Mix the beaten eggs yolks into the chocolate – you will see that the chocolate mix starts to thicken slightly.
- Next, using a clean metal spoon to fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate mix, using this to lift the chocolate away from the sides of the bowl.
- Fold the rest of the egg whites into the bowl a little at a time, taking care not to lose the air out of the egg whites (this is what makes the mousse light and fluffy).
- Spoon the mousse mix into your chosen serving dish or into small ramekin dishes. Cover with cling film and leave it in the fridge to set for at least two hours before serving.
Variations:
- The second time I made this (on holiday), the only chocolate available was some 70% raspberry chocolate. This actually tasted ok, if a little alcoholic (there was a half inch in the bottom of the bowl that wouldn’t set properly, so there probably was some alcohol in it). It certainly went down well with everyone present.
- Try adding the zest of an orange to the egg yolks when you are beating them and replacing some of the warm water with the juice of an orange (depending on how much juice there is in the orange this may be more or less of the water) to make a chocolate orange mousse.
- Next summer I’m going to try crushing a couple of cups of raspberries into puree, pass this through a sieve to remove the pips, and then add coconut cream until it is the same quantity/consistency as the melted chocolate. This could then be used instead of the chocolate to make a raspberry and coconut mousse – I’ll let you know what it is like when I’ve tried it.
Related posts:
I have just started the paleo diet and was worried about missing out on all my favourite foods and desserts I wouldn’t be able to have anymore. So far I have cooked and eaten foods better than I ever have in my entire life, and this chocolate mousse definitely reinforced my realization that this diet is not only the most healthful but can also be the most delicious! So thank you for posting this recipe.
Did you ever end up trying the raspberry and coconut mousse idea?
Not yet, but it is on the list for this summer… Glad you enjoyed the mousse. It is one of our favourites at home too!
Happy First Birthday! // Aug 26, 2010 at 21:04
[...] Women, Recent Glute News, Intermittent Fasting and (to counteract the fasting I suppose) the chocolate mousse recipe. Not wanting to read too much into all this other than to notice that everyone seems to [...]
Hi,
Just wondering when you say “200g dark chocolate” is that in a solid brick form?…and is it actually without milk, sugar etc? I was not aware there was pure cocoa in a solid form. Is it hard to find? The recipe sounds great and thanks for sharing! Lynne
It’s just a standard bar of plain dark chocolate – I suspect what I’m calling a “bar” is what you mean by a “brick”. You need to read the label carefully though. In the homebaking sections of supermarkets the plain chocoalte is usually only about 40% cocoa and still contains lots of sugar and milk solids, but in the confectionary area you should be able to find cocoa that is 70% or better for cocoa content. If you check the ingredients label it should say what percentage of the ingredients is cocoa solids – though once you get to the higher percentage bars they tend to advertise the percentage with the brand on the front.
I tend to use 85% for cooking and eating at home because I can get brands of that which are relatively “cheap” from the big supermarket where we do most of our shopping and I’m not bothered enough by the slight sugar and milk content to pay significantly more for something that we have so rarely as a treat. If I had more cash to spare I would stick with 90% or 100% cocoa content bars. Lindt do a 90% cocoa chocolate bar which is relatively easy to get hold of in the UK but you often have to hunt about at specialist chocolateries for 100% chocolate (we’ve currently got some in the cupboard from Fortnum & Mason and some from Hotel Chocolat – both were Christmas presents). If you are based in another country you may find there are other brands (Cote d’Or do a divine 100% chocolate which is very smooth on the tongue but I’ve not found it outside Belgium). Green and Blacks do 90% and 100% cocoa content chocolate too. Larger supermarkets (and often not the bottom end budget ones) tend to be the easiest places to get really dark chocolate but you may find that you have to order it online if nowhere you go stocks genuinely dark chocolate.
On the point about dark chocolate (that isn’t 100% cocoa content) still containing sugar and milk solids, it is technically correct that this wouldn’t therefore be paleo. However, most paleo advocates still allow a square or two of dark chocolate as a treat from time to time – just go as dark as you can bear to keep the potential digestive/gut irritants to a minimum. We would never have anything “lighter” than 85% at home now – while 70% is the most easily available dark chocolate in the UK we find it too sweet because the sugar content is too high for our tastebuds. At the other end of the spectrum, 100% can take some getting used to (and working up to, by gradually adjusting your palette to higher cocoa content levels) and a lot depends on the brand – I’ve found that once you are at 100% the skill and method behind how the bar is prepared starts to impact far more heavily on how bitter/crumbly/smooth/dry the chocolate can taste and behave in your mouth, so if you don’t like one it doesn’t mean you won’t like any of them.
Paleo recipes: chocolate and orange mousse // Jun 28, 2011 at 21:03
[...] was time to create a variant on the original chocolate mousse recipe which both Chris and I love. You can’t beat a chocolate and orange combination! Paleo chocolate [...]