Recipe for "mousse-choc-1"

NAME

     MOUSSE-CHOC-1 - A rich but not cloying chocolate mousse
     This recipe is based on one that appeared several years  ago
     in Bon Appetit.  After much experimentation, we have come up
     with this recipe, which is less sweet than the original  and
     downright  scrumptious.   (I  even like it, and I don't gen-
     erally like chocolate anything.)

INGREDIENTS (Serves 12-20)

          CRUST
     125g      butter
     100g      flour
     1         egg yolk (see note)
     5 ml      vanilla
     5 ml      grated lemon peel (optional)
          FILLING
     400 g     semisweet chocolate (see note)
     100g      unsweetened chocolate
     2         whole eggs
     4         eggs, separated
     500 ml    whipping cream
               powdered (confectioner's) sugar

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Make the crust:  Preheat oven to 175 deg. C.   Cut
               flour and butter together.  With a fork mix in egg
               yolk, vanilla, and lemon  peel.   Press  onto  the
               bottom  and  sides  of a 23 cm springform pan, and
               bake for 10-12 minutes at 175 deg. C, or until  it
               just begins to turn slightly golden.
          (2)  Melt all the chocolate in a double boiler.
          (3)  Whip the whipping cream with 20-25 g  of  powdered
               sugar  (the  stiffer  you whip it, the stiffer the
               mousse will be).
          (4)  Beat the eggs whites with 20-25 g powdered sugar.
          (5)  Remove the top pan of the double boiler (with  the
               melted  chocolate)  from the bottom pan and let it
               cool a bit. (``Cool'' means it's only cool  enough
               so  that  when  you add the eggs in the next step,
               they don't cook.  You still need  to  be  able  to
               stir it.)
          (6)  Add the whole eggs to  the  chocolate,  one  at  a
               time, and mix well.
          (7)  Then add the egg yolks one at a time and mix well.
          (8)  Mix some of the whipping cream (enough to  lighten
               the chocolate) into the chocolate.
          (9)  Alternately fold in the whipping cream and the egg
               whites into the chocolate.
          (10) Pour into the crust.
          (11) Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

NOTES

     This is my cheesecake crust.  A graham cracker  crust  works
     well  too.   The original recipe used a crust made from cho-
     colate wafer cookies.
     If you have no better use for the extra egg white in  making
     the crust, add it to the eggwhites used in the filling.
     I don't recommend Ghirardelli chocolate, as it's too sweet.
     The  function  of  the  powdered  sugar  is  to   help   the
     cream/whites  stiffen.   The  sweetness  of the mousse comes
     from the semisweet chocolate, not the powdered sugar.   Note
     6:   You can also use a 30-cm springform. Instead of putting
     the crust up the entire sides, just go up half way.  Or  you
     can  use  two 20-cm springforms.  In this case either spread
     the crust very thin or increase the crust by 50%.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate to hard.  Time: About 45-60 minutes for
     beginners,  30 minutes once you have it down.  Cooking time:
     15 minutes for  the  crust.   Precision:  crust  ingredients
     should be measured precisely.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Aviva Garrett
     Santa Cruz, CA
     Excelan, Inc., San Jose, CA
     ucbvax!mtxinu!excelan!aviva