Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mousse Cups

It’s decadent, rich, and delicious. These Peanut Butter Mousse Cups are a special occasion dessert that you can prepare in advance and simply pull out of the freezer when it’s time to indulge.

This is the type of dessert that my whole family looks forward to. It is also the type of patchka that I do not look forward to, at all. 

Hence the reason it only makes an appearance on Chanukah or Sukkos. Notice I said “or.” 

I argued at length with the other Between Carpools team members that this recipe is really not “a BCP recipe” and they argued back that sometimes, special occasions call for extra steps. 

I then argued that the ingredients are old-fashioned and unhealthy. They argued back, “once in a while it doesn’t hurt.” At this point I was out of arguing points and I had to admit that yes, this is our family’s special occasion dessert and will forever be that. You don’t have to be a chocolate and peanut butter lover like us to appreciate the combination here. And, if you are a peanut butter and chocolate lover, be sure to try this winning recipe as well.

Just be warned, this is the type of dessert that you prepare a week in advance (or more) and not while you are cooking for Shabbos on a Thursday night and every pot is out. That’s the beauty of this recipe, it sits in the freezer until ready to use. 

You might recognize the peanut butter mousse from Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design book (the one with the gorgeous apple pie on the cover). That’s the one I have been using for years now and no other recipe comes close in creaminess, texture, and taste. So we approached Artscroll and got permission to share it here. 

You will need some glasses to store the dessert in. I found mine in Ikea and I love that I saved the box. Now it’s easy to store in the freezer and pile them up. You can have the same effect with these cups here, or buy the disposable ones (although it’s not cost effective). 

Start with the chocolate layer. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade, add all your chocolate.

Purée it with the boiling water until smooth. This will take about one minute. 

Add coffee, sugar, 

Then the rum, and liqueurs! Both of these ingredients really give this more depth of flavor. 

Add egg yolks and purée for one full minute.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites with the remaining ½ cup of sugar,

until stiff peaks form.

Carefully fold the chocolate and egg whites together,

making sure all the egg whites are incorporated. 

Transfer mousse to a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off; pipe mousse into glass or disposable clear cups. Freeze them until you’re ready to add the next layer. 

Now let’s make the PB Mousse! Let’s whip egg whites again (no need to wash any bowl, because we already beat some egg whites for the bottom layer). Remove them from the bowl.

In the mixer bowl, confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter,

pareve cream cheese, and whipping cream.

Mix until smooth!

Add the egg whites into the peanut butter mixture

and fold.

Transfer mousse to a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off; pipe mousse over the chocolate layer. Return to freezer. 

Now, let’s finish these off with a great glaze. Heat cream and margarine in a small saucepan over low heat until cream simmers and margarine is melted. Turn off flame.

Add chopped chocolate to the cream and whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Transfer to a measuring cup with a pourable spout and let cool for about 15  minutes (you don’t want it to be too hot when pouring over mousse). 

Once cooled, remove mousses from the freezer and top with a bit of glaze. Try to be neat and not drip all over the glasses! Take your time. 

Immediately top with slivered almonds so that the almonds stick to the glaze.

You want these to thaw a bit before serving, so remove from the freezer about 2 hours before. 

The mousse will be hard when it’s frozen, but its creaminess will be restored once it gets to room temperature.