Occasional recipes: chocolate mousse

From The Cook's Recipe Collection, ISBN 1-85833-441-1. Serves 6.

• 175g dark chocolate
• 75ml/5 tbsps water
• 15g butter
• 2 tbsps rum [we used brandy, which works just as well. Might need a bit more than 2 tbsps because we couldn't really taste it.]
• 3 eggs, separated

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and combine with the water in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Remove when it's all melted to form a thick cream.
2. Beat the butter into the warm chocolate. Add the rum/brandy. Beat in the yolks one at a time.
3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into small pots/ramekins/wine glasses/whatever [wine glasses in our case]
4. Chill overnight. Finish with whatever kind of decoration you like - in our case, a glace cherry and grated chocolate.

So, apart from the "chill overnight" bit, a very quick and easy recipe, easily adaptable to experimentation. For instance, it would probably work just as well with white chocolate. Or - now here's a thought - dark and white chocolate, layered. Use any kind of liqueur takes your fancy. The recipe also suggested using strong coffee instead of water - possibly a step too far - or flavouring the mixture with orange rind. All in all and generally speaking - yum.