-CRUST-
1/2 C Butter 1 t Vanilla
1 C Flour 1 t Lemon peel, grated
1 Egg yolk (see note) -(optional)

FILLING
13 oz Chocolate, semisweet 4 Eggs, separated
-(see note) 16 oz Whipping cream
3 oz Unsweetened chocolate Powdered sugar
2 Eggs, whole -(confectioner’s)

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut flour and butter
together. With a fork mix in egg yolk, vanilla and lemon peel. Press onto
the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan, and bake for 10-12 minutes
at 350 degrees F., or until it just begins to turn slightly golden.

Melt all the chocolate in a double boiler. Whip the whipping cream with
about 2-3 T of powdered sugar (the stiffer you whip it, the stiffer the
mousse will be).

Beat the eggs whites with about 2-3 T powdered sugar.

Remove the top pan of the double boiler (with the melted chocolate) from
the bottom pan and let it cool a bit. (”Cool” means it’s only cool enough
so that when you add the eggs in the next step, they don’t cook. You still
need to be able to stir it.)

Add the whole eggs to the chocolate, one at a time, and mix well. Then add
the egg yolks one at a time and mix well.

Mix some of the whipping cream (enough to lighten the chocolate) into the
chocolate. Alternately fold in the whipping cream and the egg whites into
the chocolate. Pour into the crust. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

NOTES:

* A rich but not cloying chocolate mousse — This recipe is based on one
that appeared several years ago in _Bon Appetit_. After much
experimentation, we have come up with this recipe, which is less sweet than
the original and downright scrumptious. (I even like it, and I don’t
generally like chocolate anything.) Yield: Serves 12-20.

* This is my cheesecake crust. A graham cracker crust works well too. The
original recipe used a crust made from chocolate wafer cookies.

* If you have no better use for the extra egg white in making the crust,
add it to the egg whites used in the filling.

* I don’t recommend Ghirardelli chocolate, as it’s too sweet.

* The function of the powdered sugar is to help the cream/whites stiffen.
The sweetness of the mousse comes from the semisweet chocolate, not the
powdered sugar. You can also use a 12-inch springform. Instead of putting
the crust up the entire sides, just go up half way. Or you can use two
8-inch springforms. In this case either spread the crust very thin or
increase the crust by 50 percent.

: Difficulty: moderate to hard.
: Time: About 45-60 minutes for beginners, 30 minutes once you have it
down. Cooking time: 15 minutes for the crust.
: Precision: crust ingredients should be measured precisely.

Aviva Garrett
: Santa Cruz, CA
: Excelan, Inc., San Jose, CA
: ucbvax!mtxinu!excelan!aviva

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