Date night number 5 - Super simple Pot Au Chocolat and ultra scrummy Mousse recipe

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago I was given some extremely tasty Green and Black's chocolate.

Chocolate is amazing however you eat it but sometimes it is even nicer if you do something a little more than just open the wrapper and eat it piece by piece.

So here is what I decided to do with my chocolate:

Pot Au Chocolate (can be changed slightly to make mousse)

Makes 4 

You will need:

• 120g of good dark chocolate (milk if preferred)
• 4 Eggs
• 4-6 tsp Sugar (or to taste)
• Chocolate shavings (optional)
• White chocolate cocoa powder or icing sugar to dust.

1. You need to start by separating the egg whites and yolks. 
2. Whisk the whites until they are very light and fluffy, making sure there is no wet residue at the bottom of the bowl.
3. Fold in the sugar, You can add the sugar while mixing if you like but I prefer to fold it in after.
4. Put aside your egg whites and break up your chocolate and melt in a bowl over a pan. You can melt it in the microwave if it is milk chocolate but you risk having sugar crystals and burnt chocolate. It is much easier to control the melting chocolate over a pan.
5. Whisk the egg yolks.
6. Once the chocolate is completely melted remove from the heat.
7. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate and stir well.
8. Then add the egg white and sugar mixture to the chocolate mixture, folding carefully.
9. Once all the whites are folded into the chocolate continue carefully folding the mixture until it is a rich brown colour with no residual egg whites.
10. I like to now add chocolate shavings to the mixture, this is completely optional and is entirely down to your own preference. I like a little texture in my Pot Au Chocolat. I use Hotel Chocolat's liquid chocolate for this as you don't need too many but they are relatively cheap and easy to use.
11. Place mixture into serving dishes, either as one large sharing dessert or individual ramkins.
12. If you wish you can then decorate with a sprinkling of icing sugar or white chocolate cocoa powder. My picture shows heart shapes on the top of the dessert, I achieved this by cutting hearts out of a piece of paper and putting the paper over the top of the dessert and with a sieve sprinkling the topping on. I also added some more chocolate shavings to the top. 
13. I am a bit over the top on presentation so to ensure the hearts were well defined I used a confectioners brush to tidy them up a little. 
14. Once you are happy with your dessert place it in the fridge until needed. I would suggest leaving it for at least 30 minutes to set well.

If you are wanting to make a mousse rather than Pot Au Chocolat, all you need to do is emit the egg yolks from the recipe. Simple as that!

I hope you try it out and enjoy.