Some of you, like me, will have taken a child to university these past few weeks. I never went to university (shock horror), so this is a new chapter for my family. For her last Sunday dinner en famille, I asked my eldest what she wanted as a dessert; she chose chocolate mousse. For years, when my children were smaller, this was a regular at the Sunday lunch table. We’d distract my youngest and steal her chocolate mousse and all pretend we didn’t know where it was, and we did exactly this again in a small, bittersweet moment.
Most of us have a chocolate mousse recipe passed down the generations, but in order to not get too sentimental I tried a new one from The Joy of Chocolate by Paul A Young. The chocolate seized when I put in the egg yolks, I could see it going dull and grainy. There is no return for chocolate that does this if you ever want it to have a shiny finish, but it was for mousse, and I refused to be dictated to by mere science, so I whisked in some hot water and it came together rather beautifully.
A chocolate subscription (so many places now offer them, but Cocoa Runners remains my favourite, not least because my own curated box is on there) is a great gift for a student. Who can afford good chocolate on a student loan?
Tom, a reader, wrote in to recommend Cardiff-based Heist chocolate and I ordered some bars. The Cereal Milk, £6.50, is a white chocolate with toasted cornflakes. Amazing. The packaging is glorious and the 59% Milk was as creamy as any I’ve tasted. They also make lovely student gifts.
Follow Annalisa on Twitter @AnnalisaB
