A recipe
Dark chocolate mousse pie, Leti's simplified version! (Recipe makes two 9 inch pies)
Ingredients:
2 nine-inch pie shells; you can use pretty much anything, but I generally use a standard pastry crust. If you do bake the crust rather than buying preformed crusts, give them a chance to cool before you start the filling.
Two cups of whipping cream, heavy preferable, but it works otherwise.
A 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
Eight eggs, separated yolk from white. If you accidentally break a yolk while pouring off the white, an egg extra
entire in the yolks won't hurt, but you need all eight whites.
A pinch of salt.
You will want an electric mixer for this, or your arm will be a sad arm, after beating whipping cream and eggs and more whipping cream. Plus, if you're like me, you'll not get things stiff enough and the mousse won't set.
Start by chilling the bowl of the mixer and the beaters in the freezer. Stick 'em in and leave 'em till they're icy. Cream thickens more easily when it's cold. While the equipment is chilling, separate the eggs. If you haven't done this before, you'll want three bowls - one for the whites, one for the yolks, and one to break into. Break each egg as cleanly as you can; pour off the white as you move the yolk between the halves of the shell, into the first bowl. When you have removed most of the white, pour the yolk from the shell into the second bowl, and pour the white into the third bowl. Repeat this process. If the yolk breaks and mixes with the white in the first bowl, add it all to the other yolks, and rinse the bowl out before continuing; you don't want /any/ yolk in the whites. When you're done, briefly beat the yolks with a fork or wire whip.
Get the bowl and beaters for the mixer and pour 1 1/4 cups of the cream in to it; put the rest of the cream back in the fridge. Put the chocolate chips in a small, microwave safe mixing bowl or other large dish. Stick them in the microwave on high for one minute. While they're in, beat the cream on the mixer's fastest speed to what's called medium peaks - when you pull the beater out, the cream should form little peaks, and the points should droop over.
Use a rubber scraper to transfer the cream to another bowl, unless you have a second bowl for the mixer. Clean the mixer's bowl, dry it, and add the egg whites and a pinch of salt, turn the beater on high and start beating. This should give you time to stir the chocolate chips in the microwave; if they're not quite all melted (with my microwave they never are, but), after stirring, give them another minute on high.
When the eggs are to the point of what's called soft peaks (when you pull the beater out, little mounds form, but they haven't got distinct points) add the two tablespoons of granulated sugar, and continue beating until you hit the same point you did on the cream. Pull the chocolate chips out of the microwave, stir them again to make sure they're smooth, and set them aside.
At this point, slow the mixer down to its slowest speed; it's time to start adding everything together. First, you pour the yolks in, then the chocolate chips - they won't /pour/, persay, unless you got the chocolate far too hot, so use the rubber scraper to push it in a bit at a time.
When the chocolate has mixed in thoroughly, add the whipped cream (note you should still have some of the original, unwhipped cream reserved, and it does NOT go in.)
When everything's blended, pour the mixture evenly between the shells and put them in the fridge to set. Clean your mixer's bowl and beater, and put them back in the freezer. The pies should set within a couple of hours; when they do, whip the remaining cream. At the soft-peak stage as defined before, add the powdered sugar and the vanilla. Keep beating the cream to the medium peaks we've gone for before, and then spread the whipped cream over the top of the pies. (This is non-essential, but since they don't sell cream in 1 1/4 cup increments, this is my choice for what to do with the leftover cream.)
If the chocolate was too hot, too cold, or inadequately mixed, you may have small chips of chocolate in the pie; this actually doesn't detract at all from the pie eating experience, so just roll with it if it happens.
...yes, this is the simplified instructions? Why?
Ingredients:
2 nine-inch pie shells; you can use pretty much anything, but I generally use a standard pastry crust. If you do bake the crust rather than buying preformed crusts, give them a chance to cool before you start the filling.
Two cups of whipping cream, heavy preferable, but it works otherwise.
A 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
Eight eggs, separated yolk from white. If you accidentally break a yolk while pouring off the white, an egg extra
entire in the yolks won't hurt, but you need all eight whites.
A pinch of salt.
You will want an electric mixer for this, or your arm will be a sad arm, after beating whipping cream and eggs and more whipping cream. Plus, if you're like me, you'll not get things stiff enough and the mousse won't set.
Start by chilling the bowl of the mixer and the beaters in the freezer. Stick 'em in and leave 'em till they're icy. Cream thickens more easily when it's cold. While the equipment is chilling, separate the eggs. If you haven't done this before, you'll want three bowls - one for the whites, one for the yolks, and one to break into. Break each egg as cleanly as you can; pour off the white as you move the yolk between the halves of the shell, into the first bowl. When you have removed most of the white, pour the yolk from the shell into the second bowl, and pour the white into the third bowl. Repeat this process. If the yolk breaks and mixes with the white in the first bowl, add it all to the other yolks, and rinse the bowl out before continuing; you don't want /any/ yolk in the whites. When you're done, briefly beat the yolks with a fork or wire whip.
Get the bowl and beaters for the mixer and pour 1 1/4 cups of the cream in to it; put the rest of the cream back in the fridge. Put the chocolate chips in a small, microwave safe mixing bowl or other large dish. Stick them in the microwave on high for one minute. While they're in, beat the cream on the mixer's fastest speed to what's called medium peaks - when you pull the beater out, the cream should form little peaks, and the points should droop over.
Use a rubber scraper to transfer the cream to another bowl, unless you have a second bowl for the mixer. Clean the mixer's bowl, dry it, and add the egg whites and a pinch of salt, turn the beater on high and start beating. This should give you time to stir the chocolate chips in the microwave; if they're not quite all melted (with my microwave they never are, but), after stirring, give them another minute on high.
When the eggs are to the point of what's called soft peaks (when you pull the beater out, little mounds form, but they haven't got distinct points) add the two tablespoons of granulated sugar, and continue beating until you hit the same point you did on the cream. Pull the chocolate chips out of the microwave, stir them again to make sure they're smooth, and set them aside.
At this point, slow the mixer down to its slowest speed; it's time to start adding everything together. First, you pour the yolks in, then the chocolate chips - they won't /pour/, persay, unless you got the chocolate far too hot, so use the rubber scraper to push it in a bit at a time.
When the chocolate has mixed in thoroughly, add the whipped cream (note you should still have some of the original, unwhipped cream reserved, and it does NOT go in.)
When everything's blended, pour the mixture evenly between the shells and put them in the fridge to set. Clean your mixer's bowl and beater, and put them back in the freezer. The pies should set within a couple of hours; when they do, whip the remaining cream. At the soft-peak stage as defined before, add the powdered sugar and the vanilla. Keep beating the cream to the medium peaks we've gone for before, and then spread the whipped cream over the top of the pies. (This is non-essential, but since they don't sell cream in 1 1/4 cup increments, this is my choice for what to do with the leftover cream.)
If the chocolate was too hot, too cold, or inadequately mixed, you may have small chips of chocolate in the pie; this actually doesn't detract at all from the pie eating experience, so just roll with it if it happens.
...yes, this is the simplified instructions? Why?