Claire worked and wrote for Sight Seeker’s Delight for 7 years – read more here.
Chocolate mousse with only 3 ingredients? It’s that easy, yes.
This recipe is almost too easy… 15 minutes to create an elegant, rich yet light chocolate mousse. It sounds like some kind of late-night telemarketing scam:
100% foolproof, 100% fast: win every dessert and impress your friends and family with this one simple French recipe!
Can you imagine it? Maybe preceding that announcement you see the struggles of various paid actors “dramatizing” kitchen failings: exploding blenders, scalding butter, eggs that burst into a thousand shell fragments for no apparent reason…
Ah but, never fear, this is actually the truth. Chocolate mousse is easy, fun to make, and has a rich (pardon the pun) history.
Chocolate itself came to France sometime in the 16th century, around the time that Anne of Austria married King Louis XIII in 1615. She supposedly was the one to popularize hot chocolate in the country. However, it actually slightly before this time that a group of Portuguese Jewish who introduced the secrets of processing bitter cacao into chocolate after fleeing to Bayonne (southwestern France) to escape the Inquisition in 1609. This group soon afterwards founded France’s first chocolate factories. And did you know: Bayonne is still the chocolate capital of France!
My note: for more juicy info on the history of chocolate and French desserts in general, this The Sweet Street tasting tour should absolutely be part of your Paris vacation. Use discount code CHOC for 5 euros off!
From hot chocolate we start to get the first historical mentions of anything resembling chocolate mousse. Really this was more just the chocolate froth that formed at the top of the drink. Almost there…
Savory dinner mousses were in fashion in 18th century France, and some kitchen genius put two and two together and solidified a great chocolate mousse recipe: chocolate + egg whites.
The recipe for chocolate mousse is so simple that it hasn’t gone through many changes over the past 300 years. Generally today, we add egg yolk for a richer mouthfeel (you want this, trust me), and a little sugar for decadence. You’ll find some recipes incorporate butter into the melted chocolate for an even – dare I say it – crazier dessert experience.
Nowadays you’ll see a LOT of dessert mousse variations – different kinds of chocolate (try white chocolate on for size), or fruits, or cookie-flavored… if you can dream it, mousse can do it.
Chocolate mousse is so iconic to French gastronomy – and indeed if you’ve visited Paris you’ll notice it’s a dessert option on almost every menu.
You’re about to find out why. Enjoy watching your friends’ jaws drop when they taste the first spoonful!
3 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
Makes: 3 individual mousses
Great as: Dessert
Time: 15 minutes
Adapted from marmiton.fr
Ingredients
-
– 25 g vanilla sugar (or regular)
– 3 fresh eggs, separated
– 100 g chocolate (dark or milk, flavored or plain… whatever you want)
Instructions
- Cut the chocolate into small pieces and melt them bain-marie or in the microwave. If using the microwave, heat for 30 seconds at a time, then stir, and repeat until the chocolate is melty. In terms of chocolate: use what you like best. Here I used a 70% dark chocolate bar with orange rind in it. Dangerously delicious.
- Add egg yolks and sugar to the chocolate and mix well. This is best if done in a large bowl (because of step 4). Set aside.
- Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
- Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. NOTE: I find it’s best to start by incorporating only about 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate first… don’t worry too much about deflating these whites, you can be a bit less gentle here. Once things are homogenous (you’ll notice the chocolate mixture has lightened up both in color and in texture), go ahead and fold in the rest of the whites.
- Spoon mousse into any bowl, glass, or otherwise food-worthy receptacle (hearkening back to home: you’ll notice my little Loveless Cafe mason jar above!).
- Best to refrigerate for at least an hour, but you don’t have to. Technically you don’t have to even pour the mousse into individual containers, you can just spoon it into your mouth witha spatula. But who would ever do that…
- Dig in.
What do you think? Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know in the comments below!
Question: Are you actually eating raw eggs in this recipe?
Thanks for reading, Leslie! The eggs cook slightly when mixed with the chocolate. But, we will say that in France people are a lot less squeamish about eating raw eggs – just something to get used to!
Wow, I’m definitely trying this (after Lent, gave up desserts). Thanks, Claire!
It’s so easy – you’re going to love it!