Chocolate With Francois--Chocolate Mousse

What does it mean that my priorities for today went:

1. get up as late as possible
2. read blogs and post friday favorites
3. make chocolate mousse
4. take a shower and get ready for the day (which happened about 3 pm...)

Well, one thing that means is that it is Friday and I am off work (until I go in for month end that is...)  Another thing that it means is that I must be very lazy!  This is evidenced by the fact that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this months CWF challenge until I saw Julie's post about it.  Oops!  Well, she mentioned that the recipe was super easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I decided to jump right in and whip up some chocolate mousse!

Well, Julie was right and this was a super easy recipe to throw together:  whip up some cream, beat eggs with your kitchenaid, melt chocolate, then pour boiling sugar syrup into the eggs, continue beating for a bit, and then fold it all together and refrigerate!  And it was super yum--light yet incredibly rich at the same time.  I had a bit an hour after making it and it was just lovely. 

whipping eggs w/sugar syrup

whipped cream and melted chocolate

yummy light as air mousse!

Moogie of Moogie & Pap chose this month's recipe and said we were all to present it in a creative way.  Well, since I barely got it done at all, I'm afraid that all you get is chocolate mousse in vintage fire king bowls...but it is delicious!  Head over to her blog for the recipe!

Fab Five Friday

Yep, it's that time again, to join Emily and list five things that made our lives fabulous this week!

1.  Knitting.  I have recently gone on a knitting kick again and am working on a very special project that I'm super excited about!  I will post it once it is gifted as I don't want to ruin any surprises.  I've spent my evenings knitting and watching my shows and really relishing both the freedom to do that and the fact that I am accomplishing something in my leisure time.  

I know, it looks gross but it is wonderful!

2.  "Mexican mush"  I've mentioned this before, but one of my very favorite things about going to eat at a Mexican resturant is mixing up the beans, rice, queso, sour cream, and guacamole and eating it as a dip with chips.  It  brings joy to my heart!  Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to have dinner with some of my former Bible study girls and I got to pick the resturant in honor of my birthday (next Tuesday)--so of course I chose my favorite Mexican resturant, Peppers.  The night was perfect with great food and fellowship, and I got to eat my leftover mush for lunch today.  yum!

 

3.  Zoom panel   This is another thing that I mentioned a while back, but I love this market research panel!  I signed up with it in college and take several online surveys each week, and then I win points to cash in towards awesome things!  Of course, being the reading whore that I am, I ALWAYS use my points for books (cooking or "regular").  I got one of my prizes in this week (shipping is free) and was super excited to get Julie Powell's new book Cleaving, which I had been wanting to read while I"m on my memoir kick but didn't want to pay for in hardback.  Now I'm quickly accumulating more points and cannot decide between getting Baked or Pioneer Woman's cookbook...(please way in with feedback if you have either one...)  Also this week I got a new product to sample and report back on--and it was something that I was going to have to buy otherwise--score!!  If any of you are interested in joining this, send me your email address to sarahw5484@gmail.com and I will send you a referral link--it's a great way to feed your "shopping" habits for free! (and they have tons of non-book stuff too: kitchen gadgets, electronics, dvds, you name it!)

4.  Bloggy friends :)  In the past few weeks I have really found joy in the blogging community.  I truly feel that so many of you are great friends--even those of you who I've never met!  I love how I can communicate and grow closer to people that I know in "real life" but may not get to see very often, and I love finding new friends all over who share interests and encouragement.  It makes me feel so special to know that some people who I have never met care about what is going on in my life.  Hugs to you all!

5.  Twitter.  So I caved.  I signed up this week and love it! (even though the stupid facebook apps are not working for me to link my accounts...)  Another fun way to keep in touch!  I'm @sarahedmundson1 if you want to follow me :)

What made your life fabulous this week?

TWD: Chockablock cookies

For Tuesdays with Dorie this week, Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet chose the Chockablock cookies from page 86 of Baking From My Home to Yours.

These cookies were not what I expected.  You know how sometimes you just have this image of how things are going to be made, and then they aren't it at all?  When I started first grade and was going to eat cafeteria food for the first time I would try to imagine what the food was when we got the menu each week.  When I saw "chuck wagon" on the menu, I was so far off....I imagined that the cafeteria ladies would actually have made little covered wagons out of vegetables!  (i tried to find an image of what I was imagining with Google, but apparently I am alone in this fantasy...)  Well...needless to say, I was very disappointed when instead of an intricately designed sculpture, I was served a breaded patty of mystery meat.  *sigh*

My thoughts were similar (though a little less grandiose) when it came to these cookies.  Apparently I just think very literally:  I imagined square shaped chocolate cookies (you know, like chocolate blocks?).  I did read the recipe and figure in all the chunks of things, but I just thought they would be a little more chocolatey.  When I mixed up the dough I was kind of "eh" about it.  I really felt that the molasses flavor was overpowering.  I liked them pretty well when they came out of the oven though, and I'll update you tomorrow to see if I like them even more (I've heard that they are even better the next day).  

I did as Dorie suggested and froze some of the dough in lumps in the freezer for later consumption and only made six little (ok, BIG) cookies for myself b/c I knew in advance that these would be a "Sarah cookie" aka, too many "ingredients" for hubs to try.  I did use dried cherries for my fruit component b/c I had some on hand and I LOVE them.  I got excited with my new chopper and cut the walnuts a bit too much, so they weren't quite as chunky as I would have liked, but overall I think they are good--lots of flavorful components and a very little amount of fat compared to most recipes that we do, and that is always great!

Thanks to Mary for picking this week's recipe (check her blog for the recipe) and check out the TWD site to see who baked along this week!

**Update: I really like these the next day!  I think some substitute other than molasses would make them even better, but they are pretty darn tasty cookies!  :)  **