Chocolate Coconut Mousse with Mango Topping

Sooo we didn't have the best pictures to work with today, but what can I say? Sometimes, the forces conspire as such, and the show must go on.  I don’t know about you, but I get really specific cravings for things.  Take chocolate.  I will get very specific about what form of chocolate I need at the moment – maybe I will really, really need a brownie, maybe it will be a candy bar form, maybe I will desperately crave a chocolate chip cookie.  And maybe it will be ice cream.  This past Saturday, I soooooo desperately wanted chocolate ice cream.  Plus, Seth had to go into work, so having ice cream ready for him when he got home seemed like the fun thing to do.  And, you know, I really wanted it.  I was all ready to make some.  Or so I thought.  Here is where the story takes a very sad turn.  I looked in the freezer to take out the bowl of the ice cream maker…. and it wasn’t there.  I somehow forgot to put it back in after making ice cream previously.  It would take about 8 hours until I could actually make the ice cream.  So, I decided that my craving could cover any form of chocolate that could be eaten with a spoon.  And I made chocolate mousse.  With a fruity topping, because I had been picturing eating an ice cream sundae.  And mangoes were pretty much all I had around.  Long story short, it definitely took care of the craving, and was pretty darn good too!  The mousse recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s chocolate mousse recipe in How to Cook Everything.

Ingredients
For the mousse:
5 ounces good quality dark chocolate (I used a 70%), chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
13.5 ounce can coconut milk, chilled
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 egg whites
pinch salt

For the topping:
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
2 mangoes, diced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon lime zest
¼ teaspoon ground Szechuan peppercorns
pinch cinnamon
pinch cayenne

Instructions
In a microwave-safe bowl and in 30-second increments, carefully melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave.  After each 30-second interval, stir.  Stir in egg yolks. Chill.

Place the chilled coconut milk in the bowl of a stand mixer with 2 tablespoons sugar.  Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. This actually takes awhile, just be patient.  Set the whipped coconut milk aside, and clean the mixer bowl and beater (unless you are super lucky and have two of each of these!). 

Whip egg whites with pinch salt and 2 tablespoons sugar until they hold stiff peaks.  Fold a bit of the egg whites into the chilled chocolate to lighten it.  Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites.  Then fold the coconut cream into the mixture.  Chill. 

Place all the topping ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until everything comes together, about 5 minutes.  Chill.