Halloween.
The most wonderful time of the year.
Is this creepy month and holiday invigorating for you too?
I already feel life is passing at high speeds, so when bikinis show in February and Christmas appears in August, I give a good solid revolt, then move on. But when spying a first pumpkin or Halloween aisle, I give a wide-eyed grin, then boogie on down.
October, we’ve been waiting for you.
Chocolate Mousse
It seems there are three levels of making mousse: easy, intermediate, and a bit more difficult. I’ve made each, think they’re all good, and feel there’s a time and place for every.
Spider Mountain Chocolate Mousse Tarts
Because this mousse is placed in a cookie tart shell then topped with sparkles, chocolate shavings, and a dark chocolate spider or web—I decided on a higher in cream and lower in chocolate mousse.
The tart/mousse/sparkle/spider combination proved devour worthy.
And super easy too:
Make a cookie crust then press into removable tart pans.
Heat a portion of the heavy whipping cream.
Swirl chocolate through the cream until melted, then cool.
Whip remaining cream, then fold into the cooled chocolate.
Scoop or pipe into the tart shells.
Dark Chocolate Spiders and Web
How perfect when seeing creatures crawling our creepy desserts. I woke thinking, “this is a must for these tarts.” I found these spiders and these webs. I also printed a half web, slid the copy under some parchment paper and traced over with dark chocolate. Within thirty minutes, the spook was in the freezer.
After about five to ten minutes in the cold, I slide the designs off and onto the tarts.
Later that night, we had friends for dinner, so I put the rest of the webs and spiders around the cake plate for decoration.
Like the spider,
we too, fell face first.
On the first day of Halloween
my true love gave to me:
A spider in dark chocolate.
Spider Mountain Chocolate Mousse Tart
Ingredients:
6 Tarts
- 30 chocolate wafer cookies
- 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1 Tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 Tablespoons butter, melted (sea level = 4 Tablespoons)
Chocolate Mousse
- 1¾ cups heavy whipping cream, divided
- 6 ounces or 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped into small uniform sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla, almond, orange extract - optional
Garnish
- chocolate shavings, sprinkles, cookie crumbs, or whipped cream
Instructions
Tart Crust
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Chill a medium-sized (preferably glass) bowl and the beaters from your electric mixer in the freezer.
- Pulse chocolate wafers in a food processor until fine.
- Combine cookie crumbs, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well, then add the melted butter. Stir well with a fork, then with your hands. Coat the crumbs until the butter is even in distribution.
- Add about 3-4 Tablespoons of crumbs to each removable tart pan. With your hands or a tart tamper, press the cookie crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of each pan. Refrigerate on a rimmed baking sheet for 10 minutes.
- On the center oven rack, bake the tarts for 6 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack until cooled.
Chocolate Mousse Filling
- In a small saucepan over medium, heat a ½ cup heavy cream. When small bubbles form along the edges, remove from heat. Stir the chocolate into the cream until smooth, then transfer to a large bowl and cool to room temperature while stirring occasionally. Cover and place in the refrigerator until chilled, about another hour. Continue stirring occasionally.
- Remove the bowl and beaters from the freezer. Using an electric stand or handheld mixer, start on low and beat the remaining 1¼ cups cream with increasing speed until the cream starts to thicken. Increase to high and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Avoid over beating.
- Fold the cream into the chocolate. For me — folding with a spatula, then mixing on low speed for about a minute, then folding the remaining streaks seems to work best to incorporate the cream into the chocolate.
- If serving immediately:Scoop or pipe the mousse into the tart pans, then garnish with crushed cookies, chocolate shavings, sparkly glitter, sprinkles, whipped cream, or dark chocolate spiders and webs. Once designs are made, place in the refrigerator or freezer until ready for use.If serving later, remove the mousse from the refrigerator and let stand until just soft enough to give one more whip.
Notes
- the only change at 6,300 altitude, is using 5 tablespoons of butter in the tart crust vs. 4 at sea level.
- the tart crust can be made ahead, cooled, and covered.
- a good quality chocolate makes a difference in this mousse
- I prefer 60% or lower
- a higher fat heavy whipped cream makes stiffer peaks of mousse too.
