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Hello, foodies…

Who’s ready for spring. (Besides me?) Southeastern Pennsylvania got HAMMERED this week by some serious winter weather and there are still lots of folks without power. I had a brief outage on Wednesday and was SO grateful when the power company had me up and running by that evening…isn’t it amazing how quiet your house is when you don’t have power? I’m surprised every time.

Keep all those folks without power in your thoughts. AND, please keep all the utility workers—who are no doubt working around the clock—in your prayers as well. And, let’s all think happy, spring thoughts, shall we? Never mind that silly groundhog!

And, how about we all think about CHOCOLATE! Here’s a look at Sunday’s recipe…my Chocolate-Raspberry Mousse Cups.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cups:

• 20 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Mousse:

• 1/4 cup light corn syrup


• 2-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream


• 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips


• 2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened


• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 Toppings for Assembly:

• 12 Tbsp seedless raspberry jam


• 4 oz whipped topping


• 12 fresh raspberries


• 12 mint leaves

Preparation:

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.

To prepare the chocolate cups, place the semisweet chocolate chips in a heat-safe bowl and set aside.

Fill a medium-size sauc epot 1/3 of the way full with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and then place the bowl with the chocolate chips on top of the sauce pot, and let sit for 3–5 minutes. (I always seem to over-fill my sauce pot with water, and then it spills everywhere. Even though it may seem like not enough, 1/3 full is plenty!)

Lightly whisk the chocolate chips until fully melted. Remove the bowl from the saucepot.

Pour 1 Tbsp of the melted chocolate into each liner and with a small pastry brush, spread the chocolate to completely cover the inside of the paper cup liner. Refrigerate the cups for 10 minutes. Once chilled, add another Tbsp of melted chocolate and spread again to evenly cover the previous layer of chocolate. Refrigerate until needed.

To prepare the chocolate mousse, place the chocolate chips in a medium-size bowl and set aside. Pour the cream and the corn syrup into a medium-size saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chips, and let stand for a couple of minutes. Add the butter and vanilla and whisk lightly until the chocolate chips are completely melted and the mixture is fully incorporated. Refrigerate for 45 minutes, or until cold, stirring occasionally.

Place the cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment. Beat the mixture until light and fluffy, making sure not to over whip.

To assemble the mousse cups, scoop 1 Tbsp of the raspberry jam into each of the chocolate cups.

Next, pipe an equal amount of the chocolate mousse into each cup, then pipe a small dollop of whipped topping in the middle of each mousse cup.

 

Place one fresh raspberry and one mint leaf on the whipped topping. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes angle. Not only were we capturing steps from this recipe, but we shot a start-to-finish video! What do you think?

Yes. You should make this today. It IS as good as it looks and I just may make it for dinner. While you dream about that dish, tell me what’s your favorite chocolate combination. Is it chocolate and peanut butter? Chocolate and strawberry? Maybe chocolate and bacon!? I’ll see you on Sunday for In the Kitchen with David at Noon ET. I’m looking forward to it.

Keep it flavorful!
—David