2-Serving Paleo Chocolate Mousse

Let me establish something right off the bat: This paleo chocolate mousse does not taste like straight up coconut cream.

I get it, I get it. Coconut cream thickens nicely. Coconut cream tastes good with chocolate. Coconut cream is easy to turn into a mousse.

But it’s easy to get tired of coconut cream mousse. Sometimes you just want regular, honest, silky smooth chocolate mousse that doesn’t even hint of coconut.

Yes, I use coconut cream in this recipe, but, no, you can’t taste it.

This mousse is smooth and creamy and ultra rich. The chocolate flavor is intense–for serious chocolate lovers only. If you don’t think you can take it, sub the 100% chocolate for a sweetened paleo chocolate of your choosing. I’ll try not to judge you for it.

By the way, if you are eating paleo you probably shop at Whole Foods or some other health store or you at least understand about the healthy food craze. If that’s the case and if you happen to be in need of some entertainment at the moment, I’m guessing you’ll enjoy this youtube video. My family sure did.

My favorite line from the video: “This chocolate is made from 10 percent cacao…and 90 percent the dirt the beans were grown in.”

Maybe next time I make this mousse I should use that chocolate. Just to pretend that I’m really hardcore.

Gluten-free and paleo chocolate mousse that is silky smooth and intensely chocolate.

2 tablespoons honey (for a very bittersweet, intense chocolate mousse, use only 1 tablespoon)
4 ounces of 100% chocolate
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cocoa
½ teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
2 pasteurized eggs or eggs that you feel you can safely eat raw. I used chicken eggs fresh from our chicken house.
1 tsp maple syrup or melted honey (for eggs)
1 1/2 tablespoons thick coconut milk (I used the hardened fat from refrigerated canned coconut milk but any thick coconut milk should work)
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Put the honey, chocolate, water, cocoa, and espresso powder in a bowl. Place over a small saucepan filled with about 1 inch of barely simmering water. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water.
Stir the chocolate mix frequently as the chocolate slowly melts. It’s important to keep it at a low temperature because the chocolate burns very easily.
As the chocolate melts, separate the eggs into two bowls.

Beat the egg yolks with the maple syrup or honey until light colored and thickened (about 1 minute).

Gently pour the melted chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolks and beat until smooth. Stir in the coconut cream.

Clean off your mixers, then beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until thick and foamy with soft peaks, meaning that when you pull the mixers out of the egg whites, the egg whites stand up yet still fold down a little bit. See the image below the recipe to see what egg whites with soft peaks should look like.

Spoon about a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate/egg yolk mixture and stir until combined.

Using a rubber spatula, very gently fold the remaining egg whites into the chocolate/egg yolk mixture. Continue to fold until no streaks remain.

Spoon the mousse into 2 individual dishes or ramekins. As you can see in the images, the dishes I used were rather small, so I actually had 3 mousses, not 2. But if you use regular sized ramekins you should have two servings.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour before eating. You can have these with nuts or whipped cream or plain.

 

 

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays!

What egg whites beaten to soft peaks should look like: