Dark Chocolate Mousse

I have a confession to make: I LOVE Chocolate Mousse! It's my favorite dessert and I have tried every imaginable recipe, from healthy ones with Tofu to rich and sweet ones with ingredients like marshmallows and custard. My all time favorite Chocolate Mousse recipe just has to be from The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander. I have made this recipe countless times, and on each occasion enjoyed delicious results.

With my recent self imposed sugar ban, I have tried a couple of different recipes but none have come close to my old favorite Stephanie Alexander Recipe - which is simply a combination of eggs, chocolate, sugar and butter. So, as a special treat I decided to whip up a batch, without any added sugar because I feel there is already enough sugar in the chocolate.

I used organic dark cooking chocolate, so feel that although there is sugar in the chocolate it's organic (so, no nasties!) and for a treat once every few months I believe that's ok. After all, this is my favorite, most craved dessert of all time and I feel indulging once every now and then helps keep me sane!

As far as the melting of the Chocolate and Butter - I am a little unorthodox in that I melt them together in a saucepan. I find this method works for me, but if you'd prefer you can melt yours using the double boiler method or in the microwave. In the past I used to melt the ingredients in the microwave, but as I recently got rid of my microwave, that's no longer an option!

This chocolate mousse is incredibly rich so even the smallest of portions will provide a massive, indulgent chocolate hit!

Dark Chocolate Mousse 
Adapted from: The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander
200g Cooking Chocolate (I used Organic & Dark)
50g Unsalted Butter, Chopped
4 Eggs, Separated

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over a low heat on the stove top. (you could also melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave if you prefer)
2. Once melted, allow the chocolate to cool a little then beat the egg yolks through, one at a time, until smooth.
3. Beat the egg whites until thick and satiny.
4. Gently fold the beaten egg whites through the chocolate and egg mixture until combined.
5. Pour the chocolate mousse into a serving dish and refrigerate for a couple of hours until set.

Serves 6 (it's incredibly rich so I easily got 6 adult portions from this Chocolate Mousse)

A word of warning: as this recipe contains raw eggs, avoid serving it to pregnant women, young children or those with weak immune systems.

Chocolate Mousse is my all time favorite dessert! I'd love to hear from you - what's your favorite dessert? 

 

Sharing at: Tuesday Talent Show; Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; Allergy Free Wednesdays; Gluten Free Wednesdays; What's Cooking Wednesday; Cast Party Wednesday; Wow Me Wednesday; Live Laugh Linky;

Instant Raspberry Ice Cream

The other day, out of nowhere, Mr 3 asked for Ice Cream. I haven't made him Ice-Cream in months and it's getting colder and colder here in Australia, so I'm not sure what prompted his request.

Not having any Ice Cream in the freezer, I thought I'd experiment and whip him up some instant ice cream. After all, 3 year Olds want everything NOW. I knew that explaining to him that I would need to pop the bowl in the freezer for at least a day before making him churned ice cream wouldn't be met with a welcome "Sure Mummy, I'll wait a day or so for Ice Cream!"

Now, I don't usually give in to his every request, I thought it would be fun to experiment with him by my side. I had raspberries in the freezer and some plain greek yoghurt in the fridge so I thought that the right quantity of each mixed together in my Mini Food Processor could result in a creamy cold treat. (where to find a mini food processor)

Thankfully it did! It just needed a little honey to sweeten the it up. My boys are used to greek yoghurt so can tolerate the sourness if sweetened with just a little honey. You may need to add extras if your little ones have a sweeter tooth. Or, feel free to use your favorite yoghurt instead.

Double or triple the recipe and use a larger food processor if you have more than 2 children to feed. Just keep the ratio the same, add too much yoghurt and you'll end up with a smoothie!


Instant Raspberry Ice Cream
1 Cup Frozen Raspberries
1/2 Cup Plain Greek Yoghurt
Drizzle of Honey to taste (where to find honey)

1. In a Mini Food Processor, place the raspberries and yoghurt.
2. Turn the machine on and mix until you achieve the desired creamy texture. Taste a little, add honey to taste and mix again.
3. Serve IMMEDIATELY!

Makes 2 children's portions or one adult portion.

Next time your kids ask for ice cream, maybe whip them up some nutritious Instant Raspberry Ice Cream for a truly nutritious treat!

We love raspberry ice cream in our house, what's your favorite Ice Cream flavor? 

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March Reflections

March was such a busy month that I thought today would be a great day to take stock and reflect back on all the Yummy Inspirations March Creations!

Most Popular Post
I'll start with the most popular post for the month of March - which happened to be this Green Muffin Tin Meal that I prepared for Mr 21 months. The Muffin Tin Meal includes Zucchini Hash Browns, Cucumber Hearts and Kiwi Fruit Circles. I can see why you guys clicked through to see more about this Muffin Tin Meal - it's simply irresistible!

Most Pinned Item
Through the month of March I started a love affair with Pinterest and am slowly updating all my earlier posts with Pin It buttons. In the meantime, it's interesting to discover what becomes popular on Pinterest and what receives a few lonely pins! This Meat and 3 Vegetables Muffin Tin Meal was the most Pinned Post for the month of March. Yet another inviting Muffin Tin Meal that was prepared for Mr 21 Months. My laziness showed a little with the inclusion of Cheerios as his carb content... shhh!

Vegetable Adventures
Through the 2nd half of the month, I experimented with Sweet Potato and Beetroot - broadening my kids (and my) eating horizons in the process.

These Tuna and Sweet Potato Burgers were a huge hit with the family, and were featured on A Little Nosh's Tastetastic Thursday. 

 
My March Personal Favorite Recipe...
Just has to be the Red Quinoa and Chocolate Chip Cookies, they were decadently chocolatey, yet low in sugar and fat, and even better - full of fibre and protein. Simply put - a richly nutritious cookie that's actually good for you! The cookies also received acclaim of their own by being featured in both A Little Nosh's Tastetastic Thursday and Teaching "Good" Eaters - Food Adventure Friday. Thanks to you both for sharing the Cookie Love!

Finally, with Passover under a week away, there is still time to grab yourself a copy of my eBook, published just a few weeks ago, a yummy collection of Low Fat, Low Sugar Passover Dessert Recipes, including Passover Cake Pops and Passover Granola!

I've got a number of recipes I'm working on, can't wait to share them with you. Am sure it's going to be another huge month. Have a Happy Month of April.

Chocolate Dipped Fruit - Wordless Wednesday

It was my Wedding Anniversary a few days ago. As a surprise for my Husband, I made him these little Eiffel Towers of Orange Rockmelon/Cantaloupe and Watermelon and then dipped the spires in melted dark chocolate. He proposed to me in front of the Eiffel Tower (yes, a cliche, I know!) so the structure holds special meaning for our relationship. Of course Chocolate & a Sweet Fruit are a delectable combination, so the surprise was a much enjoyed treat.

Why not try dipping fruit in a little antioxidant rich dark chocolate? May encourage the kids to try new and unusual fruit varieties!

See what others are up to this Wordless Wednesday.

Gluten Free Sesame Muffins - Wordless Wednesday

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I've been playing around with these Gluten Free Sesame Muffins the past month or so, I've made them a few times and while I like them, the family isn't too keen, so I thought I'd share them briefly this Wordless Wednesday and move on from experimenting with them!

To make them, simply beat 3 egg whites until stiff, then in a separate bowl, beat 3 yolks and 1/4 cup honey until smooth. Then fold through the egg yolks a 1/3 cup almond meal (ground almonds) and 3/4 cup sesame seeds. Finally, fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture, pop into 12 muffin papers and bake in a 180°C oven for 10 to 15 mins. 

I find them to be full of honey, sesame flavour and enjoy one as a morning/afternoon snack! 


Linking up at Wordless Wednesday.

Oaty Cranberry & Seed Bites

 

These delicious little bites were adapted from a recipe from Nigella Express. I had a tin of condensed milk in the pantry and had been looking for a "healthy" recipe to include it in, knowing that the sweetness in the little tin would make all other ingredients sing.

When I stumbled on this recipe while paging through my well thumbed Nigella Lawson recipe book I thought it would be a great excuse to open the tin of condensed milk while being able to incorporate some nutritious nuts and seeds in Mr 3's diet.

Usually Mr 3 isn't a huge fan of oaty type treats, but these he just adored. Yes, there is a tin of condensed milk in them, but the rest of the ingredients are as good as a gourmet granola full of oaty and seedy goodness - so in my mind the sugar in the condensed milk is balanced out by the benefits that the other ingredients bring to the table. At least that's what I keep telling myself!

Oaty Cranberry & Seed Bites

395g Tin Condensed Milk

2 Cups Rolled Oats

1 Cup Fine Dessicated Coconut

1 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds

1/2 Cup Sesame Seeds

1 Cup Slivered Almonds

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C and grease a square baking tin. 

2. Empty the tin of condensed milk into a pot and pop the pot over a low heat on the stove. Slowly warm the condensed milk, you don't want to boil it, you just want to loosen the texture so it's runny and milky. 

3. Combine all the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl and mix through thoroughly.

4. Pour the condensed milk over the oaty, seedy bowl and stir through really well to ensure the condensed milk is evenly distributed into the dry mixture.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and place in the oven and bake for 1 hour. 

6. When the tin is removed from the oven, allow it to sit for a few minutes until it's cool enough to handle so you won't burn yourself. When it's cool enough, using a sharp knife cut the slab into bite sized pieces, I made 6 rows of 6, totaling 36 Bite Sized Bars. 

7. Allow to cool completely then remove the bars from the tin. As you cut them in the previous step, they should remove from the tin fairly easily. 

These bars become harder and crunchier with time so after a day or two they are at their peak crunchiness and yumminess! Yes it's a little tricky to stop at one because they are just so heavenly, I found having them hidden away out of sight in an airtight container was the best way to avoid eating and eating and eating them! These oaty cranberry and seed bites are one of my favorite Nigella Lawson Recipes... and I'm sure they will be yours too!

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Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins - Happy Australia Day!

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Happy Australia Day! The weather here in Melbourne is perfect - not too hot or cold, just sunny, clear and warm! For Melbourne that's a real treat, it's more often one extreme or the other! To celebrate the glorious day, we took the boys down to a park in South Melbourne on the beach and had a ball enjoying the sunshine.

Tomorrow Mr 3's Kinder is having an Australia Day/Welcome to the New Year Picinc. I volunteered to make muffins. After the huge hit my Choc Chunk & Lemon Muffins were with the family, I decided to alter the recipe (only slightly!) to make Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins. I used Green and Yellow cupcake wrappers in Celebration of the Aussie "Green & Gold" Colours!

Poppy Seeds are actually really, really good for you - they are high in fiber and full of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. So, an extra incentive to make them!

The only change to the original recipe was that I simply replaced the choc chunks with two tablespoons of Poppy Seeds. Pour the Poppy Seeds over the muffin batter and fold them through once you've folded the wet into the dry mixture. 

Make sure you fold all the poppy seeds through so you don't get any poppy seedy chunks! 

Instead of 12 normal sized muffins, I made 24 mini muffins, and in fact there was so much batter that I made a few normal sized muffins as well. I popped the mini muffin tray onto a baking tray and surrounded the tin with cupcake wrappers that kind of got squished while baking! That's ok, as these were for the family to enjoy today!

I knew that when Mr 3 saw the muffins he'd want one, and sure enough he did. So, I gave him one of the "family muffins". Had one myself and they were just perfect! Lemony, moist and full of Poppy Seed Goodness.

Hope you have enjoyed your Australia Day, and enjoyed some quality time with your family.

You'll find this post @ Tastetastic Thursday, Sharing Saturday,Show Your Stuff,

Chocolate Chunk And Lemon Muffins

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About once a week I try to bake with my boys. I do try to cook as healthy treats as possible, so while this recipe does have chocolate chunks in it, it's very low in sugar (only half a cup) and there's no butter, just 1/4 of a cup of oil. As an alternative to extra sugar and butter, I used applesauce.  You don't actually taste the apple but it helps bring extra sweetness to the muffins while keeping them extremely moist.

Lemon Muffins of any description are a favourite of ours. I find that the inclusion of sour cream works really together with the other ingredients. It adds an extra element of sourness and moisture to the muffins.

This recipe can also been adapted to make delicious Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins! 

Chocolate Chunk and Lemon Muffins
Makes 12
Dry Ingredients:
2 Cups Plain Flour
2 Heaped Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
Wet Ingredients:
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
Finely Grated Rind from 1 Lemon
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2/3 Cup Apple Sauce
1/4 Cup Oil

1 Cup Chocolate Chunks (I broke round chocolate discs into a mix of halves & quarters)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper wrappers. (or you could spray the tin if you would prefer not to user wrappers.)
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. (I got Mr 3 to help me!)

3. Add all the wet ingredients to a 2nd bowl, beating well with a fork until well combined.

4. Fold the wet mix into the dry mixture, then fold through the chocolate chunks. The more lumpy the batter, the more character your muffins will have. If you over-beat then you will end up with smooth cupcakes instead of wholesome muffins.

5. Pour the mixture carefully into the prepared muffin tin, ensuring each hole has approximately equal batter.
6. Pop the tin in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, by which time your muffins should be golden and cooked through.
7. Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before removing the muffins to cool completely.

These muffins are easy to make (you don't even need electric beaters) and best of all - they are lemony, chocolatey and yummy!


You'll find this post lurking @ More the Merrier Monday,  Motivated Monday, Show it Off Monday, Meatless Monday, Muffin Monday, What Makes You Say "Mmmmm",Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Talent Show, Take a Look Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, Too Cute Tuesday, Talent Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Show Me How, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday,

Strawberry Pavlova

Pavlova is crunchy and sweet and usually covered in cream and high in calories. Simply follow your favorite pavlova recipe (it's basically a mix of beaten egg whites, sugar, vinegar and a bit of cornflour), though I only use about a third to half the amount of sugar and it's always sweet enough! I top the pavlova with  creamy, yummy, healthy strawberry yoghurt and fresh strawberries. Still has the sweetness of pavlova, but ends up being good for you!

Check out what others are up to this Wordless Wednesday.

You'll find this post lurking @ Sweet Temptations.