I’m going through a raspberry phase right now. In fact I’ve discovered the perfect workday breakfast: toasted whole wheat english muffin with Nutella, and banana and raspberries on top. Pair it with some black coffee, and you have just the right combo of healthy and delicious!

But that is a tangent. The focus of this post is an actual raspberry dessert – Chocolate Cups with Raspberry Mousse.

I’ve made white chocolate cups before, but the process and result was so enjoyable that I wanted to try it again with a new flavor.

Creating these chocolate cups is really very simple. All you need is a muffin tin and liners, a pastry brush, and melted chocolate.

After your tools are assembled, it’s just a matter of coating and freezing.

Peeling off the liners is the suspenseful part. The trick here is to let the cups sit for a couple minutes at room temperature if the paper gives you any trouble.

The mousse is bursting with fresh raspberry flavor. It just tastes so real.

I really like this dessert. I think it would be perfect if you’re hosting an event. It’s one of those desserts that prompts a lot of questions about how you pulled it off. I hope you love it!

Chocolate Cups with Raspberry Mousse

Inspired by/adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and Taste of Home

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients
8-9 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
2 cups fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners. Melt the chocolate slowly in a double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Coat the bottom and sides of each paper liner with about 1 tablespoon of chocolate, using a pastry brush. Be sure and make this first coat relatively thick and even, and coat all the grooves in the liner. (Note: 8 ounces is just enough. If you happen to have an extra ounce then you will have a little more breathing room, otherwise just use a little less than a full tablespoon for the first coat.)

Set aside the remaining melted chocolate. Freeze the cups for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate is firm.

While the cups are freezing, puree the raspberries in a food processor or blender. Strain the puree and dispense with the seeds. Add the puree to a large bowl, stir in the sugar and lemon juice, and set aside.

Add cold water to a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Let it sit for 1 minute, then stir over low heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir into the raspberry mixture, then chill for 1 hour or until slightly thickened.

While the mousse is chilling, re-melt the remaining chocolate. Spoon it into the chocolate cups, giving the bottom and sides a second coat. Freeze for an hour or until the cups are set.

Beat the raspberry mixture on high speed until it is foamy. Gradually add in the heavy cream, and beat until thickened – about two minutes.

Remove the liners from the frozen chocolate cups. If the paper is sticking too much, let the cups sit for a couple minutes at room temperature.

Spoon the raspberry mixture into the frozen chocolate cups, and chill for 1-2 hours or until set. (Note: If you have extra mousse left over, you can chill the cups for about 30 minutes and then add another tablespoon of mousse on top to create another layer. After adding, continue chilling cups until set.) Garnish with a raspberry on top. Enjoy!

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