Brooklyn Complex

We’re going to detour away from our usual Brooklyn-centric photoblog postings to bring you something else dear to my heart: food.

Ever since milk and I had a falling out some years ago, I’ve been keenly interested in all things dairy-free. So when fellow photographer and friend Kelly Courson of Celiac Chicks posted a recipe for dairy-free chocolate mousse, I was intrigued. Then, Kelly challenged me to not only to make it, but to photograph it as well. So with my pride, professional reputation, and a good amount of chocolate on the line, it was on.

Here is recipe below is as originally posted by Kelly at Celiac Chicks. Well, not exactly as she posted it. I’m going to add my own annotations and narrative, as well as my photos.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 oz. of really good chocolate, I used Dagoba bars chopped up and measured. It might be fun to try to make it with some of their flavored chocolates, like Lavender Chili pepper
• 4 eggs, room temperature.
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 8 oz. hot coffee

Ok, so far, so good. Chop up the chocolate into fine bits. Resist the urge to eat the chocolate. Dump everything except for the coffee in together and blend. Here was my first mistake; allow me a moment to explain. I own a mixer and a immersion blender. It turns out neither of these items is a substitute for a proper food processor. The immersion blender appears to be suitable to the task, so long as it remains immersed. And on a low speed setting. I think you see where I’m headed with this. If not, proceed with the wrong tool at your own risk. You have been warned.

Blend. Then blend some more. Once the mixture start to look smooth, slowly pour in the hot coffee. Blend. Blend more. Once it reaches a smooth consistency, try a little. If you used really dark chocolate, you may want to add some sugar, or if you’re in a really fancy mood, organic blue agave sweetener (ok, yeah I used the agave stuff in mine). Blend. Continue blending. I think you want to be whipping lots of air into the mixture at this point.

Ok, you can stop blending now.
Pour the mixture into whatever small containers you have available. Here I’ve poured the mousse into 4 ramekins.

Side note for the guys. Ramekin: a small fireproof dish used for baking and serving individual portions. Remember that, you never know when that sort of trivia will win you one of those “battle of the sexes” trivia games. Trust me on this one.

Back to the project at hand. Cover with wrap and put in the fridge to cool. Make sure you actually have room in the fridge first. This may seem a obvious and simple step, but is often overlooked.

After a few hours, check on the mousse. When its ready it should be light but firm. You could eat it all yourself, but wouldn’t you rather share the chocolate goodness with your friends? Enjoy.

Final note. Cooking and taking photos of the process is nowhere as easy as you’d initially think it’d be. Nor is cleaning chocolate mousee mixing off of the ceiling, walls, and your lens.