Aileen's Chocolate Mousse

Adapted by Lewis Sowell from his friend Aileen Martin Berrard

This recipe is not a classic mousse, but it’s still the best word to describe it. It’s rich and smooth, with a surprisingly silken texture once chilled.

In 1973, Lewis told me, Aileen traveled across the country with Carl Sontheimer, giving demonstrations of a new kitchen marvel—the Cuisinart. Adapted from the Robot Coupe, a commercial food processor used in French restaurants, it brought professional efficiency into the home and launched a cooking revolution.

A very similar recipe, attributed to Aileen, appears in Classic Cakes and Other Great Cuisinart Desserts by Carl G. Sontheimer and Cecily Brownstone (Hearst Books, 1994), under the name Mourêmes au Chocolat.

Caution: The eggs in this recipe are not cooked, so make sure they are from a source you trust. Do not serve this to anyone with a compromised immune system, including the very old, and the very young.

I use chocolate between 64% and 70% cocoa.

This dessert is a small miracle. When you pour it into ramekins, it seems far too liquid to work—but after an overnight chill, its texture sets into something thick, elegant, and deeply satisfying. Because it’s so rich, small servings are ideal. I either put it into individual ramekins or into a single bowl to serve from.

Serves 6 to 8

This recipe can be very successfully cut in half. (When I do that, I use my Cuisinart Little Pro.)

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chips or hand-chopped)
2 tablespoons Cognac or 4 tablespoons Kahlúa (optional)
1 cup cold heavy cream
Whipped cream for serving (optional)

Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan and boil until dissolved into a simple syrup.

Put the eggs and a pinch of salt into the food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until blended.

Add the chocolate and process again. The mixture may look lumpy; don’t worry.

With the machine running, pour the still-hot syrup through the feed tube. Process until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth. Transfer this to a clean bowl and set aside.

Without washing the food processor bowl, pour in the cold cream and process until it (sort of) whips.

Add the chocolate mixture back to the bowl with the whipped cream, along with the liqueur if using. Process again until smooth. The mixture will be thin—like chocolate milk—but will thicken as it chills.

Pour into ramekins, pots de crème, small glasses, or a single serving bowl. Chill overnight. Serve with whipped cream if desired.