As of late, when I see pregnant women walking down the street—you know the ones that look like they could give birth any day now—I get scared for them. All the pain! All the agonizing pain! The other day I was at the salon and telling this woman about my new observation and she told me giving birth feels like your hips are breaking. Whaaaaa? Hips breaking? No thank you! Suuuure, you get a pint-size pile of cuteness that I’m sure makes it all seem worth it, but man, can we talk about the pain again?
The idea of one day having a child growing inside me kinda blows my mind. Seriously. Like having this thing just growing and growing inside me. It’s a bit alien-esque, if you ask me. And it’s like so reliant on you. It’s kinda selfless…yep, women are selflesss, especially when it comes to this. I know we don’t’ have much of a choice, but seriously, we’re selfless.
Another thing I’m not ready to deal with? Giving things up: coffee, sushi, wine (the thought of it now just made my lip quiver), and chocolate mousse. I plan on kindly reminding my future child, when they’re throwing a fit that I won’t give them a cell phone at the ripe age of 4 (I imagine that by the time I have a child, kids will be asking for cell phones upon entering the world), of all the things I gave up; specifically this Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse.
This isn’t your 1992-Sizzler, ubiquitous chocolate mousse. Nope. This stuff is different—it’s sophisticated. It has an air about it. I mean, if I were salted caramel, I’d have an air about me too. Wouldn’t you? The stuff is sexy, in like a Jackie-O type of way. The hint of saltiness with the gooeyness of the caramel, and bitterness from the dark chocolate all play against each other so well. And since it’s mousse, that means it’s light, fluffy and airy with a surprise thickness due to the caramel. It’s quite lovely. And much easier than your typical chocolate mousse. Meaning, it doesn’t require seven bowls and moments of utter panic. It’s simply perfect.
And say, you’re reading this and you happen to be pregnant, I say skip folding in the egg whites. You’ll have an awesome pudding-esque caramel, chocolate concoction on your hands. I think you should do it, you know, to celebrate your selflessness and stuff.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse
Recipe by Trish Deseine via The Wednesday Chef
Yields 6 servings
This recipe was originally made with milk chocolate, but after a little consideration I decided a more complex, bitter chocolate would be great to off-set the sweetness of the caramel and saltiness added by, well, the salt. And I think I nailed it.
½ cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 ½ tablespoons good-quality salted butter, room temperature (I used unsalted and then added 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt)
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
3 eggs, separated.
Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. While the sugar and water are going at it, heat up the cream in a saucepan or microwave just until warm.
Take off the heat and deglaze and add your room temperature butter. Add your warmed cream and whisk vigorously. Add the chocolate, wait for a minute or two for it to melt and mix until smooth. I was a little nervous about adding the egg yolks to the hot chocolate mixture so I waited a few minutes for it to cool. Then I added a little bit of warm chocolate to the egg yolks and stirred it around a bit just to bring the eggs to a warmer temperature and then added them to the chocolate mixture. Mix in the egg yolks.
Whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Top with cracked salt and then divide between 6 4-ounce ramekins and chill for at least 6 hours.
I used your recipe as the base for a duplication of a mousse I had eating out. I used chili chocolate and doubled the recipe. I noticed you don’t have an amount for the salt. Approximately how much did you use? Also did you stir it in? I decided to just sprinkle it on top after I put it in the ramekins. Mine didn’t set up as thick as it should have…maybe because I made too much at once? I need to find a chili chocolate that is darker or figure out how much chili to add to bittersweet chocolate. Thanks for taking some of the guesswork out of the production.
I’ve been waiting to make this all week for a dinner gathering tonight! It turned out amazing. Everyone was in love with it. 🙂 It’s easy enough, and I like that it’s made in advance. No baking? Even better! You can’t really mess this one up. I topped with freshly whipped cream – I think it’s an absolute must to balance the richness of the chocolate. Unless you’re a chocoholic. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’ll be revisiting this one over and over again.
Mmm I love the idea of this. I don’t blame you for not looking forward to giving this up one day!
My taste buds are literally tingling! I love your blog! I’ve already pinned (via pinterest) a dozen recipes. YUM!
Lindsay–Welcome! I want kids, just the pain and sacrifice seems dreadful. 🙂 Maybe I’ll feel differently in a few years–who knows.
This post made me love this blog 🙂 You are too funny – and a woman after my own heart! I am 27 – getting married in November – yet ALL my friends are pregnant/trying to get pregnant/just had babies. I LOVE that you said you didn’t want to give all those things up…. neither do I! Glad someone else feels the same way! xx
This looks delicious! I will definitely try it soon. FYI there’s a great product called “eggology” which is pasteurized egg whites in a jar. They whip perfectly, and (in my opinion) safe to eat during pregnancy and feed to children.
Kids are highly overrated-chocolate will always love you, even when its 16!
I have to try this-maybe I’ll share with my 16 year old-or not!
Oh my goodness! I am in love with your blog. I just found it and have been drooling ever since. Everything looks so good, I am not sure where to start. Oh who am I kidding? I see myself eating this mousse on Friday night!! I love chocolate mousse and this one looks divine!
OMG, YUM! I’m sitting here at 4:30 in the morning, unable to sleep, and I seriously want to make this right now. I probably would if I had the chocolate on hand. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to trying it!
Oh…and you sound much like my sister and her fear/disdain/freaked-outishness of pregnancy. Too bad she is three months pregnant!! Heheheheee
Nastassia! Yes, I believe you did. You’re too cute! Thanks for dropping by!
this is the second time i’m looking at this post it was that good! i can’t even remember if I left a comment already. suffice it to say this sounds awesome and i can’t wait to try it!
AshburnMom–good question. So take the pan off the heat and grab a wooden spoon or spatula and scrape the bottom of the pan. This will ensure no awesome caramel is stuck to the bottom. And then add the butter and warmed milk and continue deglazing.
Sounds totally yum! Quick question: You said “take off the heat and deglaze”. Do you mean by adding the butter or something else? Thanks!