White Chocolate Mousse Cups Recipes

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Steps:

• Two days before you plan to serve the dessert, in a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils. Immediately turn off the heat. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Strain into another bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, whip it into fluffy, soft peaks. Return to the refrigerator.
• In a clean dry bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff, about 30 seconds more. Fold into the white chocolate mixture, and then spoon the mixture (or pipe through a pastry bag) into glasses or chocolate bags.
• Melt chocolate over hot water. Using a thin small clear 4-sided cellophane bag cut the top off to desired height. Un-crease the bag so it stands up and open. Using a paintbrush, coat the inside of the bag well with chocolate. Put in the freezer to set up until very hard, about 30 minutes. Cut the bag a little and pull it away from the chocolate. Store chilled until ready to serve. To serve, fill it with white chocolate mousse then lay it on a plate on its side so it looks like it's spilling over. Garnish it with a cascade of mixed berries and a mint sprig. You can fill it with truffles, too.
• Notes about the recipe: Ganache is a word that we've been seeing on more and more dessert menus. It has a rich, fancy, very French sound, but ganache is essentially just a combination of chocolate and water or cream. Depending on the proportions, the mixture can be used in a variety of ways: as a glaze, a filling, or a candy center, to name just the ways we use it in this book. With enough cream added, it becomes whip-able, and that's the foundation of this white-chocolate mousse. White chocolate is devastatingly popular, but it's also not exactly chocolate. It's mostly cocoa butter, extracted from cocoa beans and enhanced with sugar and vanilla. White chocolate is not the same thing as the "confectionery coating" or "white coating" you see in the market; real white chocolate contains cocoa butter. Note that you'll need two days for making this dessert.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CUPS

Steps:

• For the white chocolate mousse, place the white chocolate and butter in a medium bowl, with a strainer placed over it. Heat the milk to just below a simmer. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together. Whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture gradually, whisking while adding. Return this to the pot and continue to whisk over medium heat until glossy and thickened, about 4 minutes then stir in the softened gelatin. Pour this through the strainer and stir until the chocolate and butter has melted. Cool the chocolate mixture to room temperature.
• Whip the cream until it holds a soft peak and fold this into the chocolate mixture. Chill the mousse until set slightly but still soft, about 90 minutes.
• For the chocolate cups, inflate and tie the mini balloons. Give them a little wipe with a damp cloth and allow them to dry. Have ready a parchment-lined baking tray.
• Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl, placed over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring gently until melted. Remove the chocolate from the heat.
• Dip the balloons halfway into the chocolate on a angle, and lift and rotate as dipping repeatedly, creating a tulip shape. Shake off excess chocolate and place each balloon onto the parchment-lined tray. Chill the balloons until the chocolate has set.
• Use a pin to gently pop the balloon and let the air out slowly. Lift the balloon out of the cup and discard. Pipe the white chocolate mousse into the cups and top with raspberries or chocolate shavings. Chill until ready to serve.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Steps:

• In a large glass bowl, place the chopped white chocolate and set aside.
• Add the egg yolks and sugar to a small bowl and whisk until pale in color.
• In a saucepan, over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer, and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper. Pour the creamy mixture back into pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.
• Pour hot mix into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate. Stir until completely smooth.
• In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of the cream to almost stiff peaks. Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
• Spoon the white chocolate mousse into 4 serving cups and refrigerate until set, approximately 1 hour.
• Garnish each serving with 3 blackberries and a sprig of mint, if using.