Tira-mousse-u

In preparation for an upcoming girls night, I asked one of the ladies whether I should make tiramisu (kinda my thing at the time) or mousse. “Um, both?” she replied. I don’t think she realizes her own brilliance, even to this day.

Now, tiramisu is a wonderful thing, an example of how the Italians are tremendous benefactors of humanity. But, sometimes, I just want a more concentrated dose of chocolate. I attempted to make chocolate tiramisu once by adding cocoa powder to the whipping cream. That did not end well. Sigh.

Anyway, I took her suggestion in a slightly unconventional way and combined the mousse with the whipping cream, and thus tira-mousse-u was born. It has a couple of advantages vis-a-vis its predecessor: it’s a bit lower in calories and price (since mascarpone can run you up to $12 for 8 ounces and this mousse mix is about $2).

If you would like to experience tira-mousse-u, you will need:

Mousse mix

1 cup cold milk

2/3 cup dark chocolate

1/2 cup whipping cream

4 oz espresso or strong coffee (instant is also fine)

lady fingers (possibly the weirdest name for a baked good ever)

If you get bored easily like me, I recommend throwing something on YouTube to keep yourself entertained. To keep from being bored to tears during the chopping phase, I enjoyed this lecture by Dr. Jordan Peterson.

Mix your mousse (1 cup cold milk and the whole box of mix) for about 3 -5 minutes, then stick it in the freezer.

Chop your chocolate. Go ahead and sneak a chocolate chip or two – I won’t tell.

Whip your whipping cream (ok, that alliteration was a cop out) until soft peaks form. Oh, maybe toss a tablespoon of rum in there, if you’re feelin’ it.