Chocolate Mousse Pie

I have a friend who swears chocolate mousse pie will induce labor. It’s never worked for me;
but it’s still delicious anyway. And this recipe is to-die-for heavenly!

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE PIE

1 Oreo pie crust
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped fine
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
6 Tbsp. water
2 large eggs, separated
4 Tbsp. sugar
⅛ tsp. salt
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. heavy cream, chilled
whipped cream, for topping

Combine chocolate and water in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan filled with 1-inch of barely simmering water; melt, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat.
Whisk egg yolks, 2 Tbsp. of the sugar, and the salt in a medium bowl about 30 seconds. Pour melted chocolate into the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Let cool about 3-5 minutes.
In a clean bowl, beat egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy (1-2 minutes). Add remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar, increase speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Whisk a few strokes by hand, making sure to scrape any unbeaten whites from the bottom of the bowl.
Using a whisk, stir about ¼ of beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in remaining egg whites with rubber spatula until a few white streaks remain.
In the original egg-white bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. With a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate stuff until no white streaks remain. Spoon mousse into the pie shell. [Or you could skip the pie shell and spoon it into individual serving dishes. But then it wouldn't be Chocolate Mousse Pie.] Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours. (May be refrigerated up to 24 hours.)

Serve topped with whipped cream.

Chocolate

Some of the upcoming recipes will require you to melt chocolate. Chocolate is very fussy; if you don't do it right it will "lose it's temper." (And yes, that really is what chocolatiers call it—losing it's temper.) Basically, this means the chocolate will look ugly and won't be smooth-textured when you're done. You don't want to make chocolate lose it's temper!

I've found all kinds of worky instructions for melting/tempering chocolate, and I'm sure they give you the true and correct way to do it every time. But it involves buying a special chocolate thermometer, and heating and cooling and heating and cooling several times until it is just right. So this is the easy way to get it right most of the time:

This is for real chocolate--not chocolate chips (or Hershey bars, etc.) I'm talking about something like a Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking bar (I also like the semi-sweet). Or the really nice, expensive chocolate you can buy at nicer baking supply stores, like Peter's chocolate.

But for our purposes, we'll use two Ghirardelli bars, which you can find at the grocery store.

• Chop your chocolate into small pieces, no larger than 1/2-inch.
• Put about half of the chocolate pieces in a heat-proof bowl (I use a soup bowl).
• Bring 2 inches of water to simmer in a small saucepan, over medium heat.
• Set the bowl of chocolate over the pan, reduce heat to low. Do not let the water boil under your chocolate. It just needs to be hot.
• DO NOT LET ANY WATER GET INTO THE CHOCOLATE!
• Let chocolate sit until the pieces are glossy, have lost definition, and are fully melted around the edges.
• Remove bowl from heat and gently stir the chocolate until it is completely liquid (you don't want to incorporate a lot of air into it).
• It should just barely feel warm to touch--not hot at all.
• Now it is ready for dipping or molding.
• When the chocolate cools off too much to be used, add a little more chocolate to the bowl and repeat the process.
  
  

Simple. :-)