'Hot' Chocolate Mousse with Pine Nut Praline

I've had to take a step back from the kitchen in the last few weeks. Work is very busy and rather draining, so the precious moments I have to myself have usually been spent being a couch potato (I am so lazy!!). The warmer weather has stopped me craving winter puddings and pies, and numerous eating out opportunities have meant that lots of sweets and baked yummies sitting around the house is not the best idea. But certain circumstances can arise where I'm willing to break this baking/desserts drought. The other day, Mr. Rabbit (of the free lemon fame) came up to my desk with a lovely little bag of red chillis from his chilli plant at home and I immediately started to ponder what I would use them for.

It would have been easy to throw them into whatever I cooked for dinner, I can put chilli in almost anything (I even put chilli flakes in my spag bol). This time I decided to try this great recipe that I saw in Gourmet Traveller. I know chilli chocolate is a bit of an overdone thing, but I think it's great fun in small doses. Obviously the original recipe uses a nut praline which I can't have, so I adapted it to use pine nuts instead, inspired by the lovely pine nut praline that Lili used in her secret dinner dessert.

I wasn't quite sure about replacing the chilli powder with fresh chilli, I dried it under the grill (and forgot about it so it went a bit black, oops), chopped it up very finely and ground it up a bit in my mortar and pestle. It seemed to work fine, the chillis were super spicy so the mousse had a fantastic kick to it.

Hot (chilli) Chocolate Mousse with Pine Nut Praline
(adapted from this Gourmet Traveller recipe)
For the mousse:
180g dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
3 eggs, at room temperature, separated
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp chilli powder
225 ml thickened cream, lightly whipped (I used light and it still worked very well)
For the praline:
100g pine nuts, toasted
150 g caster sugar

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, turn off heat and cool, add yolks and stir to combine, then add spices. Add cream and fold through to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form, then add to chocolate mixture and fold to combine. The mousse should be smooth and even in colour. Spoon into six ½ cup-capacity moulds and refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

For the pine nut praline, place pine nuts on a baking paper-lined oven tray. Combine sugar and 3 tbsp water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until light caramel, then pour over pine nuts and cool completely. Coarsely chop. When you are ready to serve, sprinkle praline over the top of your mousse.

I poured half the mixture into plastic cups and brought it (along with a zip lock bag full of praline) into work for Mr. Rabbit to try and take home. I think he was surprised and pleased to see what had happened to his chillis :)