Well, I had great intentions to try my hand at a healthy chocolate mousse recipe with the infamous whipped coconut cream.  But…as soon as I opened the can of coconut cream it smelled fun-ky!  The best way to describe it was it smelled like a perm…anyone from the 80’s knows that smell well.  I tasted it and it also tasted baaaad.  Oh well, whipped coconut cream will have to wait another day.  My plan was to top the mousse with chocolate covered raspberries so I went ahead and made those anyway and they are so darn delicious by themselves who needs a stinky choc mousse.  I also threw some pineapple in the chocolate because pineapple + chocolate is always a good idea.

I use a double boiler (glass bowl over a pan of simmering water) to melt the chocolate.  I’ve heard that you should use bar chocolate instead of chips when melting but since I have a 4 lb bag of chocolate chips (#costcoproblems), chips it is.   I think they melt up just fine.  I used a 1/2 cup of chips plus 1 teaspoon of coconut oil.  I think the coconut oil helps things get all smooth and liquidy.  If you live a hot climate, maybe omit the coconut oil since it might have a hard time hardening up.  That’s no problem during the artic blast we are having right now.

Chocolate Covered Fruit

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Fruit of your choice

Fill saucepan with an inch of so of water.  The main thing is you don’t want the water touching the bottom of your bowl.  I think it is best to use a glass bowl so you can see what is going on with the water but you could get away with using a metal bowl.   Add chocolate and oil to bowl and place on top of pan. Bring water to a slow simmer and stir the chips occasionally until they start to melt.  When about 3/4 of the chocolate is melted, turn off heat and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted.  Carefully dip pieces of fruit into chocolate and place on parchment paper to harden.

I think it is best to let them harden at room temp.  If you put them in the fridge/freezer, you might get some condensation on the surface.  Feed to your Valentine or yourself.    Enjoy!

 

Be Happy, Be Healthy!