Trish Deseine's Salted Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse

You know times have changed when you get to the grocery store (and I'm not talking Balducci's or Whole Foods here) and realize, as you stand in the baking aisle, that they don't carry milk chocolate anymore. They've got semisweet and bittersweet, even the abomination that is white chocolate. But milk chocolate? O plebian masses, no.

I was mostly bemused by this discovery (after all, I haven't wanted a bar of milk chocolate since high school), but then also a little bit annoyed. Because it meant I'd have to do another one of those frantic runs around my neighborhood bodegas, looking for just one kindly soul who'd have a stack of  Symphony bars or, God willing, even some Lindt (some of those Korean deli owners really know their way around chocolate, people).

Having battled a skull-splitting migraine just an hour before I found myself pounding down 8th Avenue meant I couldn't afford to get worked up over the milk chocolate shortage. But I had friends coming for dinner and barely the requisite six hours that the dessert needed to cool and firm. Luckily for both my brain membrane and myself, I found milk chocolate across the street and fell upon the bars like a starving street urchin.

The recipe comes from Trish Deseine's book on caramel that Fanny at Foodbeam wrote about this summer, after which Christine Muhlke, at the New York Times Magazine, wrote a piece on caramel and reprinted Trish's recipe via Fanny. And now I give it on to you. From blogs to the mainstream media back to blogs again. Am I the only one tickled by this?

At home, I chopped those bars up roughly while sugar and water melted into a burnished brown liquid. Wearing oven mitts, I poured heavy cream, a wedge of good butter and a judicious pinch of salt into the caramel. But the instant I added the cream and butter, the caramel seized up, and a large lump of hardened caramel formed itself around my whisk and would not melt back into the caramel. I whisked the chocolate into the creamy caramel (and added even a bit more salt). The lump of hard caramel persisted on the whisk. I pried it off and set it in a saucer in the microwave to melt, but when I attempted to add that molten puddle back into the chocolate mixture, it only seized up again.

My words of advice to you? Who knows. Proceed with caution. I'm no caramel expert. Just keep breathing, deep cleansing breaths, if possible. They help. I promise. I whisked some egg yolks into the caramel, and then folded in a mountain of stiffly whipped egg whites. This lightened, ambrosially-smelling mixture got spooned into ramekins and set in the fridge to chill.

Hours later, after dinner, I set those little ramekins in front of my guests. Using enormous soup spoons (because while I now live with cutlery in my life, I don't necessarily always have the appropriate sizes), we spooned into the mousse. Well, the mousse wasn't so much of a mousse as it was a gooey, aerated mixture. I don't know if that's because I overbeat the egg whites into the caramel or if it's supposed to be that way, but it didn't really matter. Because the flavor was lovely, like a chocolate-dipped salted caramel that melted itself into your spoon.

This is a juvenile dessert, one that real sweet-teeth will flock to. I think I prefer the complexity of darker chocolate, and I wonder if this dessert would work with 70% chocolate rather than milk. But the warm, sugary tones of the milk chocolate in the mousse are part of the appeal here, so I'm not sure it should be fiddled with. Haven't we all wondered from time to time why Rolo's don't come in spoonable form?

Salted Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse
Serves 6

½ cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 ½ tablespoons good-quality salted butter (I used unsalted butter, and a quite healthy pinch of salt)
7 ounces milk chocolate, roughly chopped
3 eggs, separated

1. Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. Take off the heat and deglaze with the cream and butter. Add the chocolate, wait for a minute or two for it to melt and mix until smooth. Mix in the egg yolks.

2. Whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Divide between 6 4-ounce ramekins and chill for at least 6 hours.

Comments

[Maya]

I love the whole caramel and salt thing... adding chocolate just has to make it better.

I have had absolutely no luck making caramel. Every recipe I read claims "It's so easy!" but I always end up with a hard, unyielding mass. Next up for me: chocolate and caramel classes...

[Julie]

I saw this recipe recently and had planned to try it. I've made caramel before so wasn't worrying about it but I'm feeling less confident about it after reading this. I'll have to try Leah's suggestion and see if that makes a difference.

[Leah]

I've successfully made caramel before (and even handwrapped what at the time appeared to be 8 bazillion pieces, which seemed like a good idea only about five pieces in), but it does require patience. And a candy thermometer, although you don't need that with a recipe like this one, thankfully. I'd be willing to bet that the problem here was with the cream and butter - did you put it in cold? If you warm the cream and/or butter first, that should keep the caramel from seizing.

[Lia]

This sounds great, but I'm afraid it might be too sweet for me. Would you recommend serving it with creme fraiche or something to cut the sweetness a bit? Reminds me of the chocolate mousse with salted whipped cream that they serve at The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. SO good.

[Melissa]

So strange about the caramel seizing up! Otherwise it looks and sounds divine - I swoon at the mention of salted caramel! Though I think I'd be tempted to substitute some good dark chocolate too...

[Luisa]

Maya - I definitely don't think caramel is "easy", but I also think that a good recipe that has a firm tone and the right steps can help you towards achieving caramel at home. Try, try again!

Julie - oh, I didn't mean to intimidate you, especially if you were planning on making this! Caramel's tricky, but again, it's not rocket science. I think you'll be fine!

And Leah - the cream and butter were at room temperature, but not warm. Should I have melted the butter into the cream first, and then added that mixture? I'm impressed with your candy-wrapping, that's the kind of thing that would have me sticking skewers into my eye about 10 seconds into the project ;)

Lia - funny you should mention that! Ben's not a huge caramel fan, but after dinner he said he would have liked the mousse a bit better with a dollop of whipped cream on top (creme fraiche would be too sour/dissonant with the caramel, I think). So yes, you could try that to cut the sweetness.

I have never heard of salted whipped cream, I'll have to make a note of that restaurant!

Melissa - salted caramel is just one of those buzz phrases that gets the water in your mouth flowing, right?

[leah]

Luisa, if you want to know just how crazy I went with the candy-making, I even cut all the wrappers by hand out of big rolls of cellophane and wax paper. I seriously did almost stick skewers in both eyes, but then that would have kept me from watching So You Think You Can Dance (there, I admitted it) while wrapping them, so I managed to get through it.

I think the problem is primarily the cream, not the butter. You can stir softened butter into hot caramel, but liquids should be warmed. So I would suggest warming the cream first - you could certainly melt the butter and mix them to make it easier on yourself. Or you could stir in softened butter and then add the warmed cream. Make sure to add them very slowly, which might also help the process. Hope this helps!

[Rachael]

Gum doesn't come in wrappers anymore, its weird...

[Leah]

PS - I made caramel from two recipes I found online, and they were great, but I also asked David Lebovitz his opinion on a good resource for caramels (and candy-making in general). He directed me towards Carol Bloom's Truffles, Candies, and Confections. It's a great book!

[hilary]

I made this recipe today after reading about it in the NYT and here. My caramel seized as well, but I just put it back on the heat and stirred until the hardened bits had melted into the cream and butter. I also used semisweet chocolate. It tasted great, but I had the same problem as you: it had a weird gloppy consistency which is a definite result of the egg white. Wasn't too sweet, though. A new book called "The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle" has a recipe for cinnamon caramel mousse which looks more promising in terms of texture.

[Luisa]

Leah - I think you might have earned the hat of most determined candy-maker (and wrapper) ever! Impressive. As for the warmed cream, that's a great tip, thank you so much. And David, he's a great resource.

Rachael - Am I missing something?

Hilary - See, I tried doing what you did, stirring the lump back into the caramel, but mine Just Would Not Melt. I feel better now that your caramel had that similar consistency. I'm wondering if it's because of the gloopy nature of caramel. After all, when you make plain old chocolate mousse, the fluffiness can't get disturbed by molten sugar and butter... I've heard a lot about that new Chanterelle book, you'll have to tell me how the mousse turns out, if you make it!

[fanny]

Hi Luisa,
i think i know where the seizing-problem comes from.
The NY times recipe says 'deglaze with the cream and butter', while the butter should be added first until melted, then the boiling hot cream should be poured over.

There is no doubt that cream over caramel = seize.

- fanny

[Luisa]

Fanny - aHA! That is interesting news. I wonder why the NYTimes failed to add that salient detail? Thanks for noting it here!

[pumpkinpie]

Fantastic! Thanks for the recipe. The advice to heat the butter and cream first before stirring it into the caramel seemed to work for me. Based on my previous mousse-making experiences, the gooey consistency is due to the caramel, not the eggs.

[Pille]

Thank you, Luisa, for the recipe - I made these last weekend, and absolutely loved it!!

[Luisa]

Hooray, I'm so glad it worked for you two! Mmm, what a perfect February dessert...

[Sally]

hey i know this post was a while ago but i just caught your comment on rolos not coming in spoonable form. they do!
not sure where you live but i'm in the UK and rolo yoghurts have been about for years :)

[crash diet]

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[Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen]

Hi there, I made this mousse for my blog and it turned out great. I definitely used the trick of heating up the milk before putting it in the caramel and I had NO seizing. Check it out:

http://www.acozykitchen.com/salted-caramel-chocolate-mousse/

Thanks so much for the recipe! I love your blog so much.