Chocolate Mousse ~ So how do you make that?

Helloooooo my long lost friends. And welcome to all of you who have recently joined me here. How are you this fine June day? I must apologize for being absent from the blog. There's been a lot going on, but I'm back! And I have the most scrumptious little recipe for you! Summer is a wonderful time for entertaining. But sometimes, after cooking your main dish, you don't have too much time for a dessert. But this little gem can be made the night before (in fact I recommend it) and will be sure to impress even the non-dessert lovers in the group. Here we go!

Ingredients: (this makes 4-6 servings depending on how much dessert you like)
Mousse:
2 oz baking chocolate (plus a tiny bit extra for topping)
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tblsp coffee-flavored liqueur
2 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tblsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tblsp white sugar
1/4 cup whipped cream

Topping:
1/4 cup whipped cream
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tblsp coffee-flavored liqueur

Step 1: Fill a pot with water, and place an empty bowl on top. The top of the water should be just below the pot.

This is called a double boiler and they can be purchased from the store as a separate item, but this method works just fine, and uses items you already have in your cabinets. The steam from the water does the cook, instead of the direct heat from the stove.

Step 2: Add the coffee-flavored liqueur to the bowl - note if you don't want to use alcohol you can substitute in plain coffee but I would not recommend it

I happened to have Tia Maria but you can use any brand you'd like

Step 3: Add in the chocolate blocks and chips and turn on the stove.

Step 4: As the steam begins melting the chocolate, start stirring.

Step 5: In a separate bowl, mix two egg yolks until they are a creamy yellow color.

Step 6: Little by little add about half of the chocolate into the egg mixture so you slowly temper the eggs.

Do NOT add the eggs into the hot chocolate mix or the eggs will scramble

Step 7: Add in vanilla extract

Step 8: Add the chocolate and egg mixture back to the chocolate on the stove and cook until completely combined for about a minute or two.

Step 9: Take pot off the stove and remove bowl from top of pot, and let cool.

Step 10: In a separate bowl, mix cream and sugar, until cream has doubled in volume.

Do not overmix or you end up with something closer to butter than whipped cream.

Step 11: In large chunks mix the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate.

For the first batch of cream I incorporate it pretty well - almost sort of mashing it. I find this helps with incorporating the rest of the cream in an "airy" way.

With the rest of the cream, I use a "folding" method, where you sort of move your spatula in a circular direction through and under the chocolate

The mousse is done at this point. If you didn't want the topping you could just refrigerate the finished mousse in the fridge for about 2 hours or preferably overnight.

If you do want the topping, continue with the next step when you are ready to serve dessert.

Topping:
Step 12: Combine cream, liqueur, and brown sugar, and whip until fluffy.