Dairy Free Chocolate Mousse

Well, friends, this has what it’s come down to. Me posting half eaten bowls of chocolate mousse. I guess you could say it had been that kind of day (week?).

I’ve actually been meaning to share this recipe with you for a while. It’s a throwback to my days as a culinary student, something a fellow classmate (who also happened to be an immensely talented vegan cook) came up with. I love it because sometimes, you just need a little chocolate. Most of the time, you really don’t want the added calories from tons of cream. In my case, too much cream can also upset my stomach, so this cream free version is a god send.

If you buy the right kind of chocolate without any milk fat in it, it’s also vegan! But the process is the same and takes just a few minutes. The only rub with this recipe is that it does require a scale of some kind, unless you work with chocolate a lot and can eyeball it. Here’s what you do:

Cream Free (or Vegan!) Chocolate Mousse

You’ll need: Equal parts by weight chocolate and water (approximately 6 ounces of chocolate would EASILY serve two very greedy people). A scale. And an electric hand mixer. A stand mixer like a Kitchen Aid will work too — just make the mousse in the metal bowl, and use the whip attachment, not the paddle.

About that chocolate:  Look for good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces. As far as chocolates go, I like Callebaut, Guittard, Valhrona, even Ghirardelli makes some pretty good bittersweet chips. You can buy either a block of chocolate and chop it up, or use chips. Don’t use Hershey’s for this, ok?

What to do: Measure out equal parts (by weight!) chocolate and water in a glass bowl. So, if you have 6 ounces of chocolate, measure out 6 ounces of water by weight. Set the bowl over a gently simmering pot of water (the hot water should NOT touch the bowl), then stir with a spatula, being sure to scrape all the sides. It’s totally fine to lick the spatula if the mood strikes you.

Once the chocolate is all melted into a nice sauce, set the glass bowl into another larger bowl that’s filled with ice water. Grab an electric hand mixer, then whip it, whip it good. You will need to stop one or two times to scrape down the sides, which will solidify and become mousse-like faster, since they are closest to the cold water (again, totally fine to lick the spatula).  Keep whipping it on a high speed until the mixture takes on the visual consistency of pudding. Then stop! You can overmix this, and although it’ll still taste delightful, the texture gets crumbly (I won’t bore you with the science lesson).

Spoon the mousse into serving bowls, or do what I did and eat it straight from the bowl. Add your favorite berries if you want, too! All the chocolatey goodness, none of the dairy calories.