When our older daughter recently left for her first semester at college, she left something behind. Her room was in a state of complete disrepair. The mess would not wait 7 weeks for her spring break so I entered the war zone armed and ready for battle. Tidying up her desk, I came upon a cartoon she had cut out of the New Yorker, most likely during one of her high school English classes. Want to see it? Here it is:
Honestly? Valerie? I laughed out loud and can only imagine my daughter did too when she saw it.
I don’t intentionally try to raise any bars at bake sales, but I do find them a good opportunity to try out new recipes or fun presentations. Our church youth group just had its Valentine’s Day bake sale and I made individual espresso chocolate mousse cups that were both easy to put together and looked very special. I chose this recipe because I had a stash of 5 ounce plastic cups in my supply drawer and had just seen the mousse made on a Food Network show – it was that uncomplicated! No bar-raising strategy involved! The ingredient list included items I had in my pantry and the only kitchen tool involved was a blender. I made them the night before so they could set up in the fridge.
The recipe called for a whipped cream topping, but I chose to adorn them with white chocolate shavings once the mouse had set. Here is a picture of them wrapped and ready for sale!
I hope you have some bake sales in your life (there seem to be fewer and fewer of them these days) so you can try this recipe. Or why not just make a batch for yourself?
Recipe from Giada de Laurentiis/Food Network
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder or good quality ground espresso
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 3 large egg whites
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat stir together the milk with the sugar and the espresso powder until the milk is hot, but not boiling, and the sugar is dissolved. Place the chocolate chips in a blender.
- Pour the hot milk over the chips. Run the blender on high until combined, a few seconds. Add the egg whites and run the blender on high until light, about 1 minute. Transfer the mousse to 4 small serving cups. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until firm, about 3 hours.
I made this last night (August 2016). I was looking for a chocolate recipe and figured the month of February would have one!. After looking over several from 2015 and 2016 I chose this one from 2014! Again it’s great to have them all listed by month. This is delicious, creamy and the espresso helps to bring out the chocolate flavors. I topped it with whipped cream and I chose to shave some dark mint chocolate over the whipped cream for a little décor and’ hint of mint’ taste!
Love the mint idea – yum!