Rainy Day Mousse

The rare rainy weather in San Diego usually inspires me to do one of my favorite things, make desserts. Today I decided to make a dark chocolate mousse and it is super tasty! I found the recipe in a Cook's Illustrated magazine I have. They don't share their recipes online unless you sign up with them so I typed it out below in case any of you have a sweet tooth like me. Thanks to a great present from my mom, I have a standing mixer to use for this recipe but I'm sure a hand mixture with a whisk attachment would also work.

And, "Go Chargers!" I wish. I'm not really a football fan and since the Chargers won't be playing today, I probably won't watch much of the game. Hope your favorite team wins!

(The fonts and font sizes were all the same when I typed them out, but for some reason they publish in ten different ways. I'll figure all of this out eventually. In the meantime, sorry for the headache.)

Dark Chocolate Mousse

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
5 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon brandy
2 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled heavy cream

1. Melt chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder, water, and brandy in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat.

2. Whisk egg yolks, 1 ½ teaspoons sugar, and salt in medium bowl until mixture lightens in color and thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Pour melted chocolate into egg mixture and whisk until combined. Let cool until just warmer than room temperature, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. In clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 ½ teaspoons sugar, increase mixer speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, about 1 minute. Detach whisk and bowl from mixer and whisk last few stokes by hand, making sure to scrape any unbeaten whites from bottom of bowl. Using whisk, stir about one-quarter of beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in remaining egg whites with rubber spatula until a few white streaks remain.

4. In now-empty bowl, whip heavy cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, about 15 seconds more. Using rubber spatula, fold whipped cream into mousse until no white streaks remain. Spoon into 6 to 8 individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set and firm, at least 2 hours.