Vanilla, Salted Caramel and Chocolate Mousse

Ryan and Katie came over for dinner today. I had wanted to make a dessert which required much more work, but I wisely decided against it because I was also preparing a full dinner (french onion soup, chicken cordon bleu and wild mushroom risotto). I had bought 8 little glass cups from Merida, Mexico at approximately $0.80 each (what a steal!) and have been dying to use them, so I was so happy to come across this recipe. I now regret not getting more glassware from the Mexican corner shop. Dang.

Vanilla, Salted Butter Caramel and Rich Chocolate Mousse
Adapted from Helen Dujardin

Serves 4 to 6 depending on the size of your ramekins

For the caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or fine sea salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons unsalted butter

For the chocolate:
3 1/2 oz dark semisweet chocolate

For the vanilla mousse base:
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin, sprinkled over 3 tablespoons water
1 cup heavy cream

Prepare the caramel:
Place the sugar and water in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to cook until caramel in color. Remove from the heat and add the salt, heavy cream and butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

Prepare the chocolate:
In a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate until smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Prepare the mousse base:
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until very pale. In the meantime, in a large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the milk and the vanilla bean (split open and scraped over the milk) to a boil. Slowly pour the milk over the yolks, whisking constantly. If you are using an electric whisk, be careful not to over-whisk. You do not want the mixture to become too airy. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over medium low heat and cook until the cream coats the back of a spoon (as if making creme anglaise). Keep a close watch - you want to make sure that the cream is smooth. If the egg starts to cook and clump together, strain the mixture or start all over again. Add the softened gelatin and stir until melted completely into the cream. Let cool to room temperature. Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks and fold it into the cooled cream base. Divide the base into three equal portions (one will stay untouched).

Assemble:
Add a couple of tablespoons of the base to the caramel to lighten it a bit and stir with a spoon. Gently fold the rest of the portioned mousse base into the caramel with a spatula. First, layer the vanilla mousse, followed by the caramel mousse. Refrigerate for 45 minutes and let the mousse set. Then spoon in the chocolate mousse. This is to prevent the denser chocolate mousse from sinking to the bottom of the ramekins. Refrigerate for 1 hour.