Strawberry mousse in dark chocolate cups

My sisters and I also belong to another food blog called Family Favorite Recipes started by our friend, Christina. It's a group of family and friends that contribute favorite recipes. A few years ago, Christina challenged us to an Iron Chef-type competition. Without the 60-minute time frame. Or the strange ingredients. And we didn't have snarky judges either. Nonetheless, it was fun to create a new recipe using...

 

strawberries!

 

Who doesn't love strawberries?

 

I knew immediately what I was going to do. I'd been making chocolate cups for several years, although they were made with normal cupcake-sized liners and served as bowls for ice cream. At some point in my Food Network watching years (before crazy kids and an even crazier job) I'd seen Giada make white chocolate cups with chocolate mousse. They were bite size and decadent. I figured I could easily recreate the idea with chocolate and strawberries.

 

No joke, these are amazing. It's a fancy version of chocolate dipped strawberries and you can't eat just one. My husband and I find ourselves helping ourselves to "just one more" until we've eaten the whole batch in one night.

 

 

 

 

Try painting all the way up the sides to the very top, pushing the chocolate into the crevices of the cupcake liner. I actually found it easier to keep the cupcake liners in the mini-cupcake pan while I painted them, but whatever works for you.

 

Pulse the strawberries in a food processor until pureed. If you want, you can use a fine sieve to strain the strawberry seeds out, but I don't. I don't even notice them.

 

Strawberry Mousse in Dark Chocolate Cups

by Girls in Aprons

 

For the cups:

1 bag dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
36 mini-muffin cupcake liners

Pour half of the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chocolate chips are melted. Using a small paint brush (I used one from the kids' watercolor set...washed first of course), coat the bottom and sides of the cupcake liner and place in a mini-muffin pan. Freeze until the chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate chips in the microwave and paint a second layer of chocolate into each cup (if you hold the cup up to the light you can see what parts of the cup need extra chocolate, pay special attention to the sides because they break easy, put a nice thick layer on). Freeze until completely set, about 1 hour. Peel the cupcake liners off. Place the chocolate cups on a serving tray or plate.

For the mousse:

1 cup whipping cream

3 Tbsp sugar
8 oz mascarpone cheese (found near cream cheese), at room temperature
16-18 strawberries, hulled and halved

Using an electric mixer, mix the whipping cream and sugar together until soft peaks form. Set aside.

Place the strawberries in a blender or food processor and puree. Pour strawberries and mascarpone cheese in a bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until just mixed. Using a spatula, fold in the whipped cream. Place mousse in a pastry bag with a large tip, or a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off, and pipe mousse into each chocolate cup. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the mousse.