Commander's Palace White Chocolate Mousse
"The name derives from the first owner, Emile Commander, who opened this New Orleans institution in 1880 in the Garden District. In 1974, the Brennans took over and started the famous jazz brunch. This mousse, served with raspberry sauce, is a staple of the menu. Prep time does not include chilling time. Plan to make a custard or sabayon with the egg yolks you'll have left over."
photo by Nimz_
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- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
-
For the Sauce
- 1 cup fresh raspberry
- 1⁄4 cup sugar
- 1⁄4 cup brandy
-
For the Mousse
- 6 ounces white chocolate (such as Lindt)
- 1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
- 1⁄4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 8 egg whites (at room temperature)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- shaved semisweet dark chocolate (to garnish)
directions
-
Make the raspberry sauce:
- In a saucepan, combine the raspberries and the sugar.
- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for two minutes.
- Flame with the brandy and stir until the flame is extinguished.
- Pour sauce through a fine sieve and reserve.
-
Prepare the mousse:
- Slowly melt the chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat.
- Whip the one and a half cups of heavy cream until soft peaks form.
- Add confectioner's sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.
- Whip the egg whites in a bowl with the cream of tartar, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat).
- When the melted chocolate has cooled slightly, add the two tablespoons of heavy cream and stir to achieve a pouring consistency.
- Slowly add the chocolate mixture to the whipped cream, folding gently.
- Then, fold the egg whites and the chocolate/cream mixture together.
- To serve, spoon 2 tablespoons of raspberry sauce into the bottom of each of six large-bowled wine glasses (or martini or margarita glasses).
- Spoon the mousse over the sauce.
- Chill for at least two hours.
- Garnish with shaved semisweet dark chocolate.
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Reviews
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This mousse has good flavor, but it separated horribly. I have prepared many mousse recipes and I have never had such terrible results. I was very dissappointed. -
Sepparation: Is all about the chocolate! I prepared the Mousse as directed, but used two types of chocolate (dark & white) to layer them. I beated all the egg-whites together & the cream also all together. So those items were not the problem. I sepparated the meringue in two big bowls & the cream in two big bowls. I added the melted chocolate to each whipped cream bowl. When I mixed the dark "halves" the mousse held fine. When I then went and mixed the whitec chocolate/whipped cream mixture w/the megingue, it all deflated! Amazing experiment! I used Girardelli baking chips for the dark one & the real chocolate bar for the white one. The lesson: be careful with the chocolate you use: It may make a world of difference! -
Loved this one,great taste, really nice light texture. The only change I made was I used blackberries instead of the raspberries (no fresh ones in the store). The kids loved this and were fighting over who got the last one . I settled it. Great stuff. Thank you -
I love white chocolate mousse and this is an excellent one - smooth and creamy. Extremely easy to eat in quantity. I decided to reduce the fat slightly by just using half and half instead of the heavy cream called for in the recipe. This substantially reduced the fat content (per serving) from 33.2g to 16.8g in my variation! Half the fat! Calories also dropped from 520 in the original to 383 in the revised making this luscious dessert even easier to eat. Thank you Chef Kate! -
I love chocolate mousse and have made chocolate mousses many times with bittersweet and white chocolate. This recipe here is a little bit different, as it uses a lot of egg whites which makes it very fluffy and I guess a little bit lighter than recipes that are more cream based. One problem, though, that we discovered both times I used this recipe is that probably due to the big amount of egg whites a sauce was built at the bottom of the dishes after just half a day or even less time. My advice therefore is that if you are planning to serve this to your guests then don't make it a long time in advance. The sauce at the bottom melts into the raspberry sauce which is actually not that bad after all. It will still taste delicious. The raspberry sauce is a nice addition and this is a great recipe if you just plan to make white chocolate mousse. I say this because I often make a white and a bittersweet chocolate mousse, but then would serve the two together on a plate with a fruit sauce and maybe some whipped cream on the side. However, Kate's recipe is very elegant as such and does need nothing else. Thank you Kate for a different and very delicious chocolate mousse recipe.
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Tweaks
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Loved this one,great taste, really nice light texture. The only change I made was I used blackberries instead of the raspberries (no fresh ones in the store). The kids loved this and were fighting over who got the last one . I settled it. Great stuff. Thank you
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Chef Kate
Annapolis, 60
<p>I have always loved to cook. When I was little, I cooked with my Grandmother who had endless patience and extraordinary skill as a baker. And I cooked with my Mother, who had a set repertoire, but taught me many basics. Then I spent a summer with a French cousin who opened up a whole new world of cooking. And I grew up in New York City, which meant that I was surrounded by all varieties of wonderful food, from great bagels and white fish to all the wonders of Chinatown and Little Italy, from German to Spanish to Mexican to Puerto Rican to Cuban, not to mention Cuban-Chinese. And my parents loved good food, so I grew up eating things like roasted peppers, anchovies, cheeses, charcuterie, as well as burgers and the like. In my own cooking I try to use organics as much as possible; I never use canned soup or cake mix and, other than a cheese steak if I'm in Philly or pizza by the slice in New York, I don't eat fast food. So, while I think I eat and cook just about everything, I do have friends who think I'm picky--just because the only thing I've ever had from McDonald's is a diet Coke (and maybe a frie or two). I have collected literally hundreds of recipes, clipped from the Times or magazines, copied down from friends, cajoled out of restaurant chefs. Little by little, I am pulling out the ones I've made and loved and posting them here. Maybe someday, every drawer in my apartment won't crammed with recipes. (Of course, I'll always have those shelves crammed with cookbooks.) I'm still amazed and delighted by the friendliness and the incredible knowledge of the people here. 'Zaar has been a wonderful discovery for me.</p>
