Signature Recipes

The 1785 Inn & Restaurant is featuring their award-winning (Yankee Magazine's 2005 Innkeeper Recipe of the Year) chocolate dessert, Chocolate Mousse on the Half Shell with Raspberry Sauce, on their dessert tray for Valentine's Day Weekend. The 1785 Inn is in the White. Mountains two miles north of North Conway.

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The 1785 Inn's Chocolate Mousse
on the Half Shell with Raspberry Sauce

2 lbs bittersweet chocolate broken into pieces (we use Callebaut 60-40 bittersweet)
1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup of coffee
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup Kahlua
8 egg whites at room temperature
8 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy cream
chocolate shells (see below)
raspberry sauce (see below)
fresh raspberries for garnish

Melt together the chocolate, butter, and coffee in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring occasionally. In a small bowl mix the Kahlua into the egg yolks. Remove double boiler from heat, gradually whisk egg yolks into the mixture and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a separate large bowl beat egg whites with an electric mixer on low speed until foamy. Then turn speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar one tablespoon at a time. Spoon this over the chocolate mixture but do not fold it in.

Beat the cream in the same mixing bowl with mixer on low speed until it thickens and then beat it on medium speed until soft peaks form. Fold the chocolate mixture with egg whites into the cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mousse is firm (at least 4 hours).

Put one scoop of mousse onto each chocolate shell, top with raspberry sauce, and garnish with fresh raspberries

Chocolate shells
Cover back of scallop shells with aluminum foil. Melt bittersweet chocolate in a microwave or double boiler. Paint chocolate onto foil with a pastry brush. Lleave a small space around the edge of the shell. This will allow the chocolate to be removed easier. Put shells into freezer until firm. Separate the shell from the chocolate and foil, Peel the foil off the chocolate, leaving a nice chocolate shell that must be kept refrigerated until used.

Raspberry Sauce
Puree 4 pints (8 cups) of raspberries into a sauce pan. Add 4 cups of sugar and bring to a boil. Thicken with a mixture of cornstarch and water (2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in a half cup of water.