Lighter Chocolate Mousse

Over the weekend Joe and I had a long overdue catch up with friends. At the end of every evening together we always gush about how good it was to catch up and how we shouldn’t leave it so long before we see each other again.

These intentions to make more frequent plans together are honest and said with promise but, as we’re all busy with work and our friends have a young family to look after, more often than not months go by before even texts are exchanged and half a year can pass before we set a date for the next meet.

My friend Lindsay is good cook, she won’t admit it, but she is. And she shares my enthusiasm for feeding loved ones with healthy, delicious food and my opinion that sitting down with friends and family is an outlet for illustrating love, care and affection, not just a means of fuelling everyday life. Lindsay appreciates the effort that can go into a meal. Knowing that Lindsay would have planned something wholesome and tasty for dinner - on which she delivered - I wanted to make a special dessert for us all to enjoy.

Enter my new and improved chocolate mousse. As previously mentioned, before turning my passion for health and fitness into a career I was a trained pastry chef. I’ve made copious amounts of chocolate mousse and whilst I liked my old recipe with all its rich chocolate, cream and egg yolks, I couldn’t help but tinker and try to make a lighter, healthier version.

Here, I’ve removed the egg yolks and cream altogether. The egg whites are whipped up to provide volume and airiness; the cream is replaced with yogurt to cut through the richness of some dark, good-quality chocolate. This recipe serves 4, don’t be fooled into thinking that these are mediocre portions once you’ve divided the mix, believe me this is still a satisfyingly rich and delicious dessert and a little goes a long way.

Chocolate Mousse

Serves 4

85g good quality dark chocolate, at least 70%

10g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g Greek yogurt

2 large egg whites

15g golden caster sugar

1. Add roughly an inch of water to a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over a low-medium heat
2. Chop the chocolate and add to a large heatproof bowl; sit this atop of the saucepan making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl
3. Keep a watchful eye on the chocolate and just as it starts to melt remove the saucepan remove the heat keeping the bowl of chocolate on top
4. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla and 45ml boiling water to the chocolate, give the mix a quick stir and allow the residual heat from the water to melt and combine everything together*
5. Once all of the chocolate has melted set the bowl aside to cool slightly
6. Add the egg whites to a clean bowl and whisk to form soft peaks, add the sugar in two batches whisking all the while until you have smooth and glossy whites – be careful not to over whisk, you don’t want it too look crumbly or dry in texture
7. Fold the Greek yogurt into the cooled chocolate mix
8. Add roughly one third of the egg whites to the chocolate-yogurt mix and gently fold together with a rubber spatula or large metal spoon; add another third of the egg whites folding again and then add the final third, folding just until even and smooth
9. Gently divide the mixture between 4 ramekins or suitable serving glasses and chill in the fridge overnight, or for at least a couple of hours
10. When ready to serve, top with some fresh berries, chopped pistachios for pop of colour and a light dusting of cocoa powder 

* This goes against rule number one when working with chocolate (i.e. don’t allow chocolate to come into contact with water) but bare with me, there is method to my madness. The mix will be a little stiff but don’t over mix, once you add the yogurt later all will be fine