Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse

When you think of St. Patrick’s Day do you feel the need to ingest Irish cream? (Please say yes to that question, and no to green beer. Please.)

Are you looking for an excuse to build Irish cream into a dessert to be “festive”? You’ve found it.
Technically you can skip the Irish cream, but this recipe is so damned good as is that you really won’t want to. And plus, you’re supposed to be tipsy the entire St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so this will help kick things off (if you eat mousse for breakfast- good for you), or keep you going (if you’re one of those “traditional types” who only eats dessert after dinner).

(On a quick and somewhat-related note, but mostly just amusing and disgusting: The Husband and I are always astounded at how freaking crazy Chicago gets around St. Patty’s Day: green people stumbling onto rented trolleys [starting at 8am, I swear], drinking from one bar to the next. Vomit everywhere, including our alley. It’s the Mardi Gras of the midwest. It’s hilarious. So, if you’ve outdone yourself [starting at 8am with more than your fair share of green beer], you might want to curb the intake of the Irish cream mousse. And if you do go overboard, just stay away from our alley :) )

Adapted from epicurious’s recipe…

4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (1 bag)
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
1. In a large metal bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water) and whisk constantly until mixture reaches 160° (measured with a candy thermometer), after about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from over water.
2. Beat egg mixture in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until cool and thickened (about 10 minutes).
3. In a separate large metal bowl, place chocolate overtop saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and cool until lukewarm.
4. In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream cream and Irish cream liqueur until stiff peaks form.
5. Pour lukewarm melted chocolate over egg mixture and gently fold together until chocolate is mixed into egg. Fold in cream mixture. Cover and chill until set, at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with Irish cream whipped cream as garnish…
Tips:
- You can microwave the chocolate if you really want to move things along, although I have to say that if you have the water simmering already (from the egg step), you might as well just melt the chocolate in the same fashion. It really does move quickly.
- Use really fresh eggs. I swear I can tell the difference. But I’m a weirdo. (Oh, and make sure you whisk the eggs constantly, especially as the bowl starts to heat. Eggs are finicky and will scramble on you in no time.)
- No thermometer? I don’t think it will be the end of the world if you “guesstimate” the temperature. Whisk until the eggs are clearly quite warm, yet not close to firming up (or scrambling). Trust me- when you move the eggs to the stand mixer and let them beat for 10 minutes, they do get really excitingly thick. (Most mousse recipes don’t ask you to cook the eggs at all, FYI.)
- Serving ideas include a bit of sweetened whipped cream… and maybe a shamrock-shaped shortbread cookie, just because. Or serve this in between layers of the Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake. Nice.
- More St. Patrick’s Day desserts? Try the Bailey’s Irish Cream Fudge Brownies. Yep. The World’s Greatest Fudge Brownie just got St. Pattyfied.
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March 16th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Booze, Chocolate, Goopy