When the universe gives you lemons MAKE COFFEE MOUSSE
Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and keeping safe. I decided to give a salute to the coffee bean! Without going into too much information I have been on a break as I have had a LOT on my plate. In fact it was overflowing like a platter from an American cruise ship buffet, and I needed to make some changes in my life and at the same time be there and be strong for the people around me.
Which brings me as to why I chose to make a coffee mousse. This story which I read on the internet is a bit cheesy (maybe I should have done a coffee cheese cake instead) but it resonated with me and I go back to it whenever I feel like things are too much.
A woman went to her mum and complained that life was tough and she was basically over it. So Mum sat her down in the kitchen and brought out three ingredients: Carrots, eggs and coffee beans. She placed them on the table and asked her daughter, ‘What do you see?’ The young woman, looking at her mum quizzically, replied, ‘Carrots, eggs, coffee.’ Her mum placed the items in three different pots filled with boiling water and after a few minutes put the cooked carrots on a plate, the egg in a bowl and the coffee went into a cup. She then asked her daughter again, ‘what do you see.’ The young woman looked at her thinking mum has gone a little crazy (probably due to lockdown) but she’d better humour her, and she replied, ‘Errrr, carrots, eggs and coffee?’ Mum said, ‘Yes, but the carrots have changed, before they were hard but now they are soft. The eggs were soft but now are hard. The coffee on the other hand has changed the texture, colour, flavour and aroma of the boiling water making it a delicious stimulating drink. The hot water transformed the carrots and the eggs, but the coffee and the water were both transformed. That’s how life works: there are adversities but the thing that truly matters is how we choose to deal with the hand we have been dealt. Will it make us hard, or soft or delicious? And will we just be changed by life or will we transform it into something special?’ So my friends, let’s embrace the coffee bean and have a delicious, stimulating, transformative life.
Magical coffee mousse
I saw this coffee mousse made out of just water sugar and coffee on social media (at midnight) and thought it can’t be real… It didn’t say who made this recipe up or why it should even work. I thought, naaah, it’s just another one of these things that are claimed to work but DON’T, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I thought what do I have to lose?
I woke up in the morning and gave it a go. I couldn’t wait to take it to book club to try it out on the girls. What I didn’t think through was that this whipped coffee is made of sugar and water and unlike cream it will DISSOLVE and it was WAY TOO STRONG (the original recipe called for a 1/3 of a cup of instant coffee crystals).
So it was back to the drawing board.
After reducing the instant coffee crystals teaspoon by a teaspoon I reached the perfect coffee flavour for me and my family’s taste.
I also timed how long it takes for the coffee mousse to dissolve and how to serve it best.
I made a list of what you need to know.
I Love this coffee mousse by itself or as a topping for a chocolate mousse.
My family preferred it as a topping for the chocolate mousse which created an insanely delicious mocha-flavoured treat.
What you need to know
If you want to serve the mousse on its own, it will start to dissolve within two hours so you need to make it and serve it in under two hours.
If you want to serve it with chocolate mousse, you can make the chocolate mousse a day ahead and the following day you can make the coffee mousse 5 hours before serving, but you need to pipe it or spoon it on top of the mousse as soon as you finished whipping it.
It will still weep slowly and the coffee will trickle down to the bottom of the base of the mousse dish which only adds a full mocha flavour and a little more colour to the coffee which looks beautiful. Everybody loved it, me included!
Option 1
Coffee mousse recipe
Coffee mousse
Ingredients
2 tablespoons instant coffee crystals (has to be crystals)
1 cup white sugar
160mls ICY COLD water
Method
Place the coffee and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixing bowl and using an egg beater begin to mix. Add the water and mix on high for 8 minutes.
Divide into 6 wine glasses and serve within 2 hours
Option 2
Chocolate mousse with coffee mousse topping
This chocolate mousse recipe is adapted from Once Upon a Chef
If you are making the chocolate mousse with the whipped coffee on top, I suggest you use dark chocolate as I found using semi-sweet chocolate too sweet.
Chocolate mousse
Ingredients
45g unsalted butter
200g of semisweet chocolate or dark chocolate
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup thickened cream (heavy) cream (very cold)
1 tablespoon icing mixture (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Separate egg yolks and whites while they are cold.
Place the egg whites in an electric bowl of an electric mixer. or a hand held mixer
Place egg yolks in a separate bowl.
Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave in 25-30 second bursts, stirring in between until chocolate and butter have melted completely and are a smooth consistency.
OR
place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan with about 3cm of gently simmering (you don’t want the water to touch the bowl with the chocolate). Stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes then whisk in the egg yolks one at a time.
Beat the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on medium-high speed until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form (they should be just starting to hold, and will melt back into themselves after a second).
Slowly add 3 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (they will stand straight up when the beaters are lifted from the mixture).
Gently Fold egg white into chocolate mixture set a side.
Whip cream with icing sugar and vanilla extract until firm peaks form.
Gently fold cream into chocolate and egg white mixture. Divide mousse between 5-6 glasses and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Prepare coffee mousse and immidieately Pipe or dollop whipped coffee mousse on top of chocolate mousse.
Enjoy
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