Good Old Dark Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse

Ingredients
  • 250gms of dark chocolate (I used 60% cocoa), chopped in bits
  • 100gms Hazelnuts
  • 3/4 cup of heavy cream
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar (if you need it to be sweeter…I didn’t use it any)
  • Whipped cream, white/dark chocolate shavings to garnish
Instructions

Preparing the Hazelnuts

  • De-shell and roast the hazelnuts in a single layer on a piece of parchment paper at 275 F 15-20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven before the nuts brown completely….golden brown is what we want.
  • Roll a damp kitchen towel against the nuts and rub the skins off them.
  • After the skins come off, roll then dry with paper towels and grind them to fine powder, in a processor.

The Mousse

  • Halve the amount of cream in two separate bowls.
  • Heat one half over a low flame, till bubbles start to appear. Don’t let it boil over.
  • Add this cream to the bowl of chopped chocolate and let stand for a minute.
  • Whip the egg whites and sugar (if you’re using any), till stiff. An electric beater works perfectly fine unless you’re willing to exercise your arms using a hand-beater.
  • Add the egg white foam to the warm chocolate and cream mixture and gently stir centre-out till no white streaks remain.
  • Stir in the hazelnut flour into the chocolate. Mix well.
  • Whip the remaining cream into soft peaks that hold their shape. Pour the cream into the chocolate mixture and fold in gently.
  • Pour in serving glasses/cups and allow it to set in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
  • Garnish with whipped cream (a little of the heavy cream whipped to peaks with confectioners’ sugar) and chocolate shavings (both dark and white, in my case), before serving.