I spend Thanksgiving dinner with some of my lovely friends.  When I offered to bring a dish to contribute I was given the choice of a side or dessert or just my fabulous self!  It was also noted that they are big fans of chocolate too.  And there it was, my answer to what I would bring: a chocolatey dessert.

I was excited about this opportunity for several reasons: 1) chocolate often gets left out of the usual Thanksgiving dessert fare (can you see it there outside the window, looking in all sad and dejected...pobrecito chocolate…); 2)  its been a long time since I’ve conjured up a fancy chocolate dessert; and 3) I love chocolate!

As with many of my premeditated culinary feats, I methodically went through the mental motions of creating my dessert days in advance.  I thought about the ingredients I’d need.  I thought about the tools I’d use.  I strategized about how to present the dessert–one whole serving cut up vs. easy individual servings.  I considered which parts of the recipe needed doubling and which would stay the same to accommodate my vote for individual servings.  I agonized over the flourish and how to accomplish the precise execution of taste and function.

Friends, I take my dessert making very seriously.  And the thing is, that each of these pain stakingly meticulous steps are a complete and total joy for me.  Not to mention the absolutely thrilling rush when I actually pull it off!

So I made individual chocolate mousse pie-lets, garnished with a decadent chocolate wedge…like so:

I realized only after the fact that the mousse was sturdy enough that I could have piped it into the shells for a lovelier look.  In the end though, no one was really complaining about aesthetics

I made the fancy wedges by first melting semi-sweet chocolate with butter (this creates a softer chocolate even when cold; without butter or oil, the melted then chilled chocolate would be come brittle and would crack.   The butter/chocolate mixture will softens a bit faster but is soft to bite and melts perfectly in your mouth with such silky smoothness…*eyes closed, savoring…).  Well, actually the first step was finding some kind of round thing I could mold large discs to then cut into wedges.  I decided my 6″ mini cast iron skillets would do just the trick.  So I cut some wax-paper circles to line the pans before pouring the chocolate.

I also melted some white chocolate and butter.  I poured the melted white chocolate mixture into a washed and dried squeeze bottle (pick one up from Sally Beauty Supply or Michaels Craft stores–wash with hot soapy water and let dry completely).  I cut the tip of the nozzle to the desired width.  I poured the melted dark chocolate mixture in the pan and shook the pan around to spread the chocolate out and create a smooth top surface.  Then I put the pan on my cake decorating lazy susan and “drew” a spiral with the white chocolate.  I used a toothpick to draw lines in toward the center; in the middle of each of those wedges, I drew a line outward.  I put the pan in the freezer on a flat surface to chill until solid.  When it was firm I took it out and cut it into wedges along the inward drawn lines (one set of lines for decor; one set to guide my cutting).  I put the wedges back in the freezer to finish setting.  I placed the wedges on the pie-lets before chilling.  Pie-lets can be stored in the freezer (this is recommended if transporting pies so they will keep set during travel) or the refrigerator.

Pretty food art!

And here they all are!

I don’t think anyone was missing the pumpkin pie…MWAHAHAHAHAhahaha *cackles maniacally rejoicing in her progressing plot to rid the world of her arch nemesis: Pumpkin Pie…What… Oh that?  Um, just a little comic book idea I was thinking about…yeah, comic book…

Sooooo, anyway back to the pie blog.  I’ve always done this dessert as one large pie cut into slices (usually in a spring-form pan.  However, as mine defected refusing to spring or form they too have joined my list of culinary arch nemeses).  The dessert was always a bit much: difficult to cut and  super rich/almost too much mousse.  I LOVE how these pie-lets turned out presentation-wise but also taste-wise.  They were just the perfect ratio of crust-to-mousse, the servings were just right–you have a yummy chocolate treat but haven’t overdosed, and there is no mess or fuss with trying to cut–serving is a cinch!

I was so excited about how these little beauties turned out.  I actually did a victory dance around my kitchen when the wedges worked so wonderfully–I was most concerned about getting those just right.  And of course, the payoff was not so much in the “mmmm”s and “wow”s when they were unveiled, but in savoring each melt-in-your-mouth bite when I got to eat one myself!