The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eggless chocolate mousse is breeze for you to make
Chocolate mousse is one of those treats that broadcasts “date night!” or some other kind of special-ish occasion, and frankly, I don’t mind the cliche. Its pure chocolate flavor is classic, and it manages to be both rich and light at the same time.
Traditional chocolate mousse can be tricky to perfect when it comes to texture, and not everyone is comfortable with or medically cleared for the whole raw-egg thing. That’s why I’m such a huge fan of this recipe from Serious Eats contributor and pastry wizard Stella Parks, culled from her debut cookbook, “BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts.”
Parks describes her whipped cremeux (“creamy” in French) as a cross between pot de crème and mousse. It will remind you of a mousse — hence our “almost-mousse” moniker — but it is egg-free and easier to make, and it’ll last longer, too. The recipe combines a gelatin-stabilized pudding, straight out of your childhood memories of a certain packaged brand that begins with “J” and ends in “ell-O,” and softly whipped cream. I’ve made this four times, and each time it varied slightly. If you deflate the cream a bit too much in folding or find little bits of pudding that didn’t disappear completely, no sweat. You’ll still love it.
If you’re more of a pudding fan, you can skip combining it with the whipped cream altogether, or serve the cream on top, and still have a fantastic treat.
Recipe notes: Parks likes using full-fat Dutch-process cocoa powder here (Droste is one widely available brand), for its rich flavor and because it has been treated to reduce acidity, which would otherwise lead to a tangy and thin pudding. Parks also prefers using Diamond Crystal kosher salt to achieve the right flavor balance.
A handheld electric mixer can be used to beat the whipped cream, but it is not recommended for the chocolate pudding; Parks says a strong arm and a flexible spatula is the alternative way to go.
The pudding mixture needs to set in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or up to a week. After it’s smoothed out, leftovers can keep up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator; just rewhip before serving. The combined pudding and whipped cream needs to be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes and up to 5 days.