Chocolate Mousse (Happy Birthday Hadi~!)

Heh, my sweet "little" brother is finally 20 years old. (And in the same year of Uni as I am??? Grrrrrr!) For those not in the know, Hadi has a MAJOR sweet tooth (as I'm sure regular readers might have noticed...) so when I asked him what he wanted for dinner during his birthday - Justin refused to cook, heh - he immediately replied Buttermilk Chicken! That would definitely be Hadi's favorite dish, all sweet and creamy. I used the version 2 recipe, actually. Like usual, Hadi complained that it was not sweet enough. Though that might be my fault, since I didn't let the sauce thicken long enough. Oopsie~

Anyways, for his birthday cake, I didn't really want to waste a whole cake for the 3 of us (or rather, I really really really don't want to eat a third of a cake myself), so I decided to make individual desserts instead. Some guests are coming over in a couple of days, so Hadi agreed it would be better to save the big cake for then, heh. But anyway, I first offered him either Tiramisu or Creme Brulee but he really couldn't make up his mind. But, when I put in Chocolate Mousse into the choices, he immediately jumped on that one. In Hadi's mind, the only thing better than something sweet is something sweet AND chocolatey.

So... here we go!

What you need:
225g plain chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
30g unsalted butter, diced
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
55g sugar
125ml double cream
Grated chocolate, to decorate

What you do:

1. Place the chocolate and water in a small saucepan over low heat and melt, stirring until smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat and beat in the butter.
2. Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture, one after another, until blended, then leave to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, using an electric mixture on low speed, beat the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl until they are frothy, then gradually increase the mixer's speed and beat until soft peaks form. Sprinkle the cream of tartar over the surface, then add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Beat several tablespoons of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen.
4. In another bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Spoon the cream over the chocolate mixture, then spoon the remaining whites over the cream. use a large metal spoon or rubber spatula to fold the chocolate into the cream and egg whites.
5. Either spoon the chocolate mousse into a large serving bowl or divide between 4 or 6 individual bowls. Cover the bowls with clingfilm and chill the mousse for at least 3 hours before serving. Decorate with grated chocolate before serving.
   

I was a bit nervous making this, since its my first proper dessert. I can do cookies quite okay, maybe brownies, but have never been successful in making cakes. Just look at this amazing one my sister made! (With help)And she's only 13! Phoo~

But anyway, I also didn't have cream of tartar, but there were no problems with the egg whites. They were nice and stiff, just like meringues :D I was quite surprised with the recipe actually, it was quite simple. Just needed a lot of bowls, is all. I barely had enough, hehe. I also needed help to spoon the sugar while I was beating the egg whites. But apart from that, everything was easy sailing.

I had a really hard time convincing Hadi to wait for dinner before eating this. (No, I couldn't keep it a secret from him, since it is a small house we have :P with a small fridge) He sneaked out a few finger swipes from the bowl I was making it from (and was instantly happy :P) but managed to keep the rest till later. And it was worth it. Hadi and Justin really loved it (although with the Buttermilk Chicken, we might have had a slight overdose on sugar :P) I never used to eat mousse (just because it had raw eggs in it). But I am obviously less fussy this time, so I tried it - and really liked it~! It was so smooth, so velvety soft and soooo chocolatey. Really really yummy~

Justin found it slightly too sweet, but Hadi? "Too sweet? No such thing!" Ahahaha, now that is a real sweet tooth :P Actually, I have always been worried that Hadi and Justin only like eating what I cook, just because they're not particular about what they eat. But a couple of friends came over just now, and they LOVED the chicken (I hope? hehe) There was a lot of chicken, but they managed to finish it somehow, hehe. I'm glad. The mousse was also met with delight. *Ihsan is HAPPY*

Actually, on going to the dessert section at the supermarket recently, I was kind of...well, depressed is too strong a word. See, one of my friends was looking to make a chocolate dessert, and was ready to buy all the stuff she needed, but when saw it being sold ready-made, she immediately dropped her plans and bought just that instead. So I was thinking, What's the point of baking, when you can buy all these ready-made at reasonable prices???

But today made me realise, I don't cook to eat. Well, okay, I don't cook JUST to eat. I also cook because I actually enjoy it. I like thinking about what to cook (and yes, what to eat) next. I like seeing people with happy smiles on their faces when they eat what I make, hehe. And yes, I like the compliments I get too. ;) So yes, there's still very much a point in cooking, for me. :) On that note, I'll end with today's quote of the day:

Quote of the day: The secret of good cooking is first, having a love of it... If you are convinced cooking is a drudgery, you're never going to be good at it and might as well warm up something frozen.