Minor holidays that once were merely a reason for my husband and I to go out to a nice dinner or buy each other a sweet card are now filled with dread for me. Holidays like Valentine’s Day are now a gaping black hole where I just throw my hard earned money so that my children don’t feel left out at school. Why do parents feel the need to send their kids balloon-a-grams, a dozen roses, or the world’s largest box of chocolates to school? It’s like we are all in a competition to outdo the other kids’ parents. I’ll tell you right now, I’m over it. I say that we adults should take Valentine’s Day back!
Valentine’s Day is for lovers. It’s for teenagers in puppy love, for young couples, blushing brides, for those cute little old couples who still hold hands when they walk down the street. It is not for seven year olds who have to ride the bus home. Don’t get me wrong, I love to show my kids that I love them and I have already spent a lot of time on a pretty fantastic “mailbox” for school valentines, and each kid will be greeted with a 50-cent card and a box of candy hearts when they get off the bus, but the dinner I make will not be for the kids. Dinner will be for the man I loved enough to make those kids with. Dessert will not be for the two monkeys who make my day brighter, but for the man who holds my hand when the days are dark. And my man loves chocolate, whiskey and me (not necessarily in that order). After all, we are the ones who got this family train rolling and we deserve something just for us.
Ingredients
Mousse:
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 3 eggs separated
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ t . vanilla extract
Whiskey Cream:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 T sugar
- 1 T whiskey or bourbon or 1t. vanilla extract if you are out of whiskey
- Toasted almonds optional
Instructions
- In a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate until smooth and remove from heat. Beat in the egg yolks until well incorporated. Refrigerate. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with half of the sugar until they hold stiff peaks, set aside. Then beat the cream with the remaining sugar and vanilla extract until it holds soft peaks.
- Stir in half of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites and cream. Divide the mousse into 6 serving dishes and refrigerate until set (an hour or two). Meanwhile beat the cream into soft peaks with the sugar and then whisk in the whiskey. Serve each mousse with a dollop of whiskey cream and then sprinkle with toasted almonds.
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