Play With Your Food!
I decided that since I love to cook and also take photos of the food I cook, I would start up a blog about it. Maybe at some point I will do a vlog (video blog)!
Some history about me and why I like to cook! My name is Charli Hess and I am married to Josh Hess, and we have two lovely little boys that also like to help us cook! I remember when I was growing up that I really did not take to cooking or learning how to cook. My mom tried to make me learn but that only led to discomfort. After I struck out on my own, I was flipping through a cookbook and found a recipe. I remember my mom making Chicken Enchiladas. They were not the best Enchiladas in the world as I recall so I made them my own and TA-DA I now have an amazing, tasty, and delicious recipe. From that point on I have wanted to lean more about cooking and the wonderful things that I could do with food.
On a small side note.....okay large side note I cannot bake. I can make cookies, and cakes, and brownie batters but the moment it goes into the oven, it is game over!
Now I am trying to learn new things and better my skills as an amateur chef. I would love someday to open up my own restaurant with my husband. Someday......someday....Hah!
So for my first post I wanted to do something amazing and yummy. Drum roll please.....
Chocolate Mousse with Shaved Almonds!
The Recipe:
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup heavy cream* (chilled)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp butter
*You can also substitute heavy cream for pre-whipped cream such as Cool Whip. It can
- Whisk egg yolks in a small bowl for 5 minutes and set aside.
- Do not whisk the egg yolks less than 5 minutes. Whisking more than 5 minutes, it is okay!
- Take the water and pour it into a small pot and bring it to a simmer. Once the water is simmering, add in the sugar. Let the sugar-water mixture boil for 1 minute. After the mixture has boiled, slowly pour it into the egg yolks while stirring.
- You want to keep stirring the egg yolks while you pour in the hot sugar-water or else the eggs will scramble. Scrambled eggs in a mousse are gross!
- Whip the heavy cream until you can form soft peaks and then set aside.
- In a pot, bring some water to simmer. Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and place the bowl on to of pot the simmering water. Stir the chocolate and butter until it is melted completely.
- Take the egg-sugar mixture and pour it into the chocolate. Once the egg mix and chocolate is combined and cool to the touch, fold in the whipped cream.
- Before adding in the whipped cream, shave about 8 to 10 almonds (or your nut of choice) into the chocolate. If you do not like nuts, you do not have to add them
- Refrigerate for 1 hour.
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Whisk whisk whisk!! |
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Chocolate!! |
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Getting ready to melt things down! |
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Melty melty! |
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Oh look....more whisking! Egg mixture and Chocolate. |
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Nothing better than chocolate and whipped cream. |
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Yum. |
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Shaved almonds going in. |
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Play With Your Food! |
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Ta-Da!! |
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Almond Chocolate Mousse. |
When I made this I made the mistake of using Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate, not bittersweet chocolate and so it made it very,very, very sweet. Also I used the Cool Whip Extra Creamy whipped cream instead of whipping up my own because it was really late at night, and I was not about to whisk my arm off for my own whipped cream. Yes, I do have a Kitchen Aide Mixer but it has some gear problems. I need to get it fix...but I am broke! Hah!
Hopefully this recipe is an easy one that you will love to use! Play around with the recipe and make it your own.
Enjoy!