From Faith: There’s always room for chocolate, even at the end of a hefty Thanksgiving meal, and this mousse pie is both airy and heavenly enough to bring your pals to their knees. A chocolatey mousse filling is scooped into a dark chocolate wafer cookie crust and it’s all topped with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Even better, you can press the cookie crust the night before to save time on the big day. The recipe comes from one of my favorite chocolate-makers, Guittard, in San Francisco, authors of the excellent new Guittard Chocolate Cookbook by Amy Guittard.
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted
- 3 cups chocolate wafer cookies
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed
- pinch salt
- Chocolate Mousse
- Whipped cream
- 2 tablespoons chocolate shavings
- 1¾ cups semisweet chocolate Guittard Baking Wafers
- 1 cup whipping cream heavy, chilled
- 2 tablespoons liqueur such as Kahlúa, Grand Marnier, or Framboise
- 3 egg whites at room temperature
- 1/4 cup sugar superfine
- 1 cup whipping cream heavy, chilled
- 2 tablespoons sugar superfine
- 1 tablespoon liqueur *see note below
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch pie pan.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Set aside.
- Using a food processor, process the wafer cookies until they are fine crumbs, about 45 seconds. Add the brown sugar, melted butter, and salt and process until the crumb mixture is the consistency of wet sand. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie pan and press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
- Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the surface is firm. Remove the pie crust from the oven and let cool completely. (At the point, you can wrap the crust tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.)
- Pour the chocolate mousse into the pie crust ad spread it evenly. Refrigerate the pie until the mousse is firm, 3 hours or overnight. (If you're letting the pie set overnight, be sure to cover it with plastic wrap.) Spread the whipped cream over the mousse. Sprinkle the chocolate shavings over the top. Serve immediately. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Melt the chocolate wafers using a hot water bath or the microwave oven * (see note below about melting chocolate in the microwave). Stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the water if you used a hot water bath and set aside to cool.
- In a cold medium bowl, using a hand mixer with chilled beaters, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Beat in the liqueur to combine. Set aside.
- In the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer fitted with whisk beaters), beat the egg whites on low speed until frothy, then increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
- With a rubber spatula, gently fold the cooled chocolate into the egg white mixture. Fold in the whipped cream until just combined.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the chilled whisk attachment (or in a chilled medium bowl with a hand mixer fitted with chilled whisk beaters), beat together the cream and sugar until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Add any liqueur of flavoring to the whipped cream right after you see soft peaks form. Whip for 1 minute to ensure that your addition doesn't cause the cream to fall. Store tightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you're ready to use the whipped cream, let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Whip using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer with whisk beaters) for 1 minute, or until fluffy.
*for whipped cream -- 1 tablespoon liqueur (coffee, chocolate, orange, Kahlúa), 1 tablespoon minced citrus zest (lemon, lime, or orange), 1 teaspoon flavored bitters (strawberry, rhubarb, ginger), or 2 teaspoons other flavorings (espresso powder, cocoa powder, hot chocolate mix, or cinnamon) of your choice.
*melting chocolate in the microwave -- Place the chocolate in a medium glass bowl and place in theg microwave oven. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring well with a rubber spatula after each interval. Stop microwaving when there are still very small lumps in the chocolate and stir until completely smooth.
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