Substituting white chocolate in Julia Child's mousse

Question

I've been making chocolate mousse à la Julia Child since I was 12. I vaguely recall trying it with butterscotch chips, which didn't work. Now I have high quality white chocolate I'd like to try in lieu of semisweet, but what to substitute for the two liquids, espresso and liqueur/orange juice?

I want this mousse to taste like white chocolate, so orange juice, Cointreau, Amaretto, and coconut milk are out if a quarter cup would compete flavorwise. Rum may be a safe choice, but I only have Captain Morgan's on hand. I won't up the liqueur to a half cup.

I appreciate the mocha flavor of the original, and wonder if using espresso would overpower the white chocolate, or if orange juice would any more than rum. I have a couple more days to figure out what to do. Suggestions?

Answer 1

Guittard replied to my query after the fact, so I learned firsthand that one should use less liquid because cocoa solids in dark chocolate are absent from white chocolate. I substituted 1/4 cup milk for the same amount of strong coffee in the original recipe, and the Baker's Premium White Chocolate liquefied. Melted semisweet doesn't pour like it did, and I was paranoid my mousse wouldn't set.

I studied my liqueur options at the store. A 750mL bottle of crème de cacao tempted me with thoughts of frozen cocktails, all requiring additional 750mL bottles of other liqueurs, and I didn't want to go there. The selection of 50mL bottles was limited, but I settled on E&J Vanilla brandy.

When I opened it, there was no essence of vanilla; I smelled only brandy. The 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract I added to the milk was imperceptible, as well. My attempt at white chocolate mousse was more like a brandy Alexander custard. My official taster said he wouldn't have known I used either white chocolate or vanilla if I hadn't told him all about it.

His initial "Wow!" and the way he savored it conveyed his appreciation nonetheless. Brandy made for a good flavoring. If I found Baker's 4-ounce bars on sale again, I'd forgo using liquid in the melting step, and hope for a less custardy consistency. I even reduced the butter by 2 tablespoons, and beat the living daylights out of it before folding in the egg whites. It set, but a spoon won't stand up in it like the original.

Thank you for your advice:)

Answer 2

Cheryl, to me (as I can't speak for others), white chocolate doesn't taste at all 'chocolaty' but just has the mellow rich flavour of the bean's fat and the cream used in making it. Even if someone added a very small amount of expresso or coffee liquor to it, it would only taste like coffee, although fairly faint. Not at all like mocha.

White rum has little flavour so I'm assuming you mean dark rum. I think dark rum would overpower it but perhaps not one that's somewhere between the two. I don't know if Captain Morgan makes one. If you like the flavour rum adds, use it. But Captain Morgan is a very rough tasting rum so yes, cut it down to 1/4 cup or less. Make up the difference with cream when cooking the egg yolk mixture.

It seems like there are a number of Julia Child Chocolate Mousse recipes and not all are the same. The original recipe published from her cookbook in 1961 has this for the ingredients.

4 egg yolks

¼ cup instant sugar (very finely granulated)

¼ cup orange liqueur

6 ounces or squares semisweet baking chocolate

4 Tb strong coffee

6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks softened unsalted butter

¼ cup finely diced, glazed orange peel (optional)

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 Tb granulated sugar

Does this sound the same?

Orange liqueur like Cointreau sounds lovely with white chocolate but perhaps not what you're aiming? How does a little Grand Marnier? It has an orange flavour too but quite different to me. It's more robust than Cointreau so I wouldn't use that much. Ultimately, it comes down to your preferences and any guests you're serving it to. (As a side thought, I wonder how a nice brandy would go with white chocolate mousse? I've used it in different desserts before but back when I could afford to stock my cooking pantry with some liqueurs, rum and brandy.)

Answer 3

White chocolate makes me think of neither chocolate nor vanilla--- it definately has its own flavor.

I don't recall what edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking I copied the recipe from. It includes the same ingredients posted here, though I typed 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 6 squares semisweet baking chocolate, and 1/4 cup orange juice, orange liqueur, or rum.

A family friend presented my parents a bottle of Amaretto Disaronno every Christmas, so I used that until I moved away from home. My experience with alcohol is very limited, and I'm unfamiliar with brandy outside of blackberry. I read that even white crème de cacao tastes chocolaty. I'll probably buy an airline style miniature bottle of whatever I go with.

I always suspected that the liqueur/orange juice was additional assurance any bacteria remaining after heating would be killed. Beating raw eggs over almost-simmering water isn't a death threat to Campylobacter jejuni, but I don't have a raw egg hangup. I've been sampling raw cookie dough for almost half a century, and even taking a pathogenic microbiology couse doesn't dissuade me.

In my opinion, adding cream would pollute Julia Child's recipe. The whipped cream used in other recipes for loft makes me think of bras that add a cup size with padding. Doesn't seem French by nature. The half cup of liquid I use has to be subtle enough not to mask or compete with the delicate flavor of white chocolate. Perhaps white rum is the best liqueur, and water instead of coffee to thin the chocolate. It's possible that much butter will overwhelm the lesser amount of white chocolate.