How to make a Decadent Chocolate Mousse

An example of how to present the Decadent Chocolate Mousse (Valery Fregoso/ Lariat )

Need something sweet to cook up for your Valentine? Well we have something simple, sweet and delicious for you to make!

Chef Lisa Inlow, the culinary instructor of the culinary department at Saddleback College, has generously provided a great recipe for those who need an idea to impress his or her valentine.

Inlow has been a culinary instructor at Saddleback for 11 years, helping prepare her students for future jobs in the Hospitality Industry. The culinary department is a fast paced professional program where students can get their associate degree in the Culinary Arts or a certificate in Culinary Arts, food service or catering. Each program can take up to one and a half or two years.

The recipe Inlow has prepared for us is the Decadent Chocolate Mousse. This mouth-watering dessert is a perfect way to end the night with your valentine, who will cherish this and want more… dessert of course!

Here’s how to make the Decadent Chocolate Mousse in under one hour:

DECADENT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Start to finish: 1 hour

Servings: 2

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2.5 ounces of baker’s chocolate or chocolate chips

1/8 cup of powdered sugar

strawberries

whip cream

1 package of frozen phyllo dough, thawed ( this can be found at any grocery store)

¼ cup of melted butter

¼ cup of Sugar

1 damp towel

1 muffin/cupcake tin

1 pastry brush (a new paint brush can be used as well)

First, you will need to thaw your phyllo dough before you start making your chocolate mousse.

Remove one package of phyllo from the box and wrap it with a slightly damp towel to keep it from drying out. Remember, if your dough is not thawed out correctly, the sheets can crack. You can look at the box for further directions to thaw if you like.

It is recommended to make the chocolate mousse first.

1. In a small saucepan heat ½ cup of heavy whipping cream to a slow simmer.
2. Remove saucepan from heat and add the chocolate.
3. Let sit 1 minute then stir until smooth
4. Let cool by covering pan and refrigerating for about 5 minutes or until cold.
5. While the pan is cooling, in a mixing bowl pour 1-½ cups of heavy whipping cream and 1/8 cup of powdered sugar.
6. With a mixer and the whisk attachment, whip the cream and powder sugar to stiff peaks. To make it into stiff peaks, have the mixer on a medium speed. This might take a little so be patient. Once it is in a more solid state, turn off our mixer and lift your whisk, it should create little peaks. If you were to tilt the bowl, it should not pour out. Then you will know you have created the mixture into stiff peaks.
7. Once the whipping cream mixture is at stiff peaks, take out the chocolate you had cooling in the refrigerator and a spatula, preferably one with a rubber end, and slowly pour the chocolate into the whipping cream mix.
8. Do not stir the whipping cream and chocolate together. You will need to fold the chocolate in the mixture. Folding is the act of gently combing the mixture. With the spatula, cut through the center of the mixture and bring it back to the top. Do this until the chocolate is evenly distributed.
9. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After this, you will then start to make the phyllo purses with the dough where the chocolate mousse will be held in.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt the butter. You can melt the butter in the microwave using a microwavable dish.
3. Remove the thawed phyllo and gently take 1 sheet of the dough and place it onto your work surface.
4. Take the melted butter and your pastry brush and brush the butter on the surface of the dough. Do not completely damp the sheet with butter; it will make it harder to place them into the muffin tin. After you butter the sheets, sprinkle the surface with sugar.
5. Place another sheet of dough and lay it on top of the sugared sheet. Repeat with butter and sugar.
6. Top with one last sheet of dough and only add butter.
7. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into three sections. Then cut each of them into half. This will make them into squares. But this all depends on the size of the muffin tin you are using and the size of the phyllo dough you have. Make the squares bigger or smaller if needed.
8. Take one square of the dough and gently fit it into the muffin tin. They should look like baking cups used for muffins and cupcakes, Keep the corners of the dough pointing up. Continue until you have as many phyllo purses needed.
9. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden. It is best to use the middle shelf in your oven.
10. Once out, allow the purses to cool before putting the chocolate mousse in them. It will melt if they are not cool but do not put them in the refrigerator.

Once the phyllo purses are cool and the chocolate mousse is chilled, scoop the chocolate mousse into the purse. You can add a dollop of whip cream, a strawberry and chocolate shavings on top.

Cut the strawberry in half from top to bottom and only place half of it on the mousse. 

To make the chocolate shavings, take a vegetable peeler or cheese grader and shave any chocolate bar on top.

And there you go. You have just created a delicious and simple dessert in under an hour!  This will nicely go with a nice homemade, heart shaped pizza, a pasta dish, grilled steak or a baby spinach, strawberry, roasted almond and raspberry vinaigrette salad. And lastly this will taste great a nice glass of champagne, for those over the age of 21, or a nice glass of sparkling cider.

With this dessert, anybody can impress his or her valentine!

Chocolate Mousse recipe created by Samantha Smallwood, a former culinary student.

http://www.saddleback.edu/atas/foods_and_nutrition/

For a tutorial on making stiff peaks, watch this instructional video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2fFcjwvTWs

For an explanation on how to fold the chocolate mousse go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuA8wYZHu1E

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