Single Serving Dark Chocolate S’Mores Trifles
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Dark chocolate s’mores trifles are single serving desserts made with creamy Kahlua-spiked chocolate mousse, graham crackers, and toasted marshmallow. Delicious, impressive and they’re beautiful, too!
I’ve been to a couple of those, “A Taste of…” charity fundraisers in the past month. Both times, a local restaurant brought teeny, tiny s’mores sundaes in teeny tiny cups. I knew I had to make Dark Chocolate S’mores Trifles of my very own. Their version has a layer of chocolate mousse instead of a bar of chocolate. I’ve been working on my own version, but wanted to zip it up a bit and make it perhaps, a bit more “adult friendly”.
So, instead of the standard Chocolate Mousse, I added a bit of Kahlua, and some dark chocolate chunks. The recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s version, but I definitely used Ghiradelli’s 60% dark chocolate as recommended. Since traditional S’mores are soooo sweet, I wanted a darker, less sweet mousse to balance the marshmallow component.
I did have a few of my daughter’s friends sample the dark chocolate s’mores trifles, so I left the Kahlua out of half of them. To brown the marshmallow topping, use a small kitchen blow-torch, or place under the broiler for a minute. (Of course you should use oven-proof containers!)
This is the dark chocolate chunk mousse recipe, the base for the dark chocolate s’mores trifles.
Dark Chocolate Chunk Mousse
Ingredients
- 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate divided (I used a 10 ounce package of Ghiradelli bittersweet 60% chocolate chips)
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder preferably Dutch-processed
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder you can substitute very strong coffee
- 5 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablespoon brandy I used Kahlua, plus extra Kahlua for drizzling
- 2 large eggs separated
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons chilled heavy cream
Instructions
- Melt chocolate 8 ounces of chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder, water and Kahlua or brandy in a bowl in a double boiler or over a pan filled with barely simmering water, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat.
- Whisk egg yolks, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar and salt in a medium bow until mixture lightens in color and thickens slightly, about 30 seconds.
- Pour a small amount of melted chocolate into egg mixture and whisk, continue adding and whisking in chocolate until combined.
- Meanwhile, in a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites at medium low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, increase mixer speed to medium high, and beat until soft peaks form.
- Using whisk, stir about one-quarter of beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in remaining egg whites with rubber spatula until a few white streaks remain.
- In now empty bowl, whip heavy cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, about 15 seconds more.
- Add remaining chocolate chips.
- Using rubber spatula, fold whipped cream into mousse until no white streaks remain. Transfer into a bowl, cover and chill.
Whether you make them boozy or not, I hope you will enjoy the dark chocolate s’mores trifles.
Dark Chocolate Chunk S'Mores Trifles
Ingredients
- Crushed graham crackers about 5 sheets,
- 1 recipe Dark Chocolate Chunk Mousse
- 1 small jar Marshmallow Cream
- Kahlua
Instructions
- To assemble:
- Sprinkle 1-2 Tablespoons graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of each custard dish.
- Sprinkle with Kahlua
- Fill cups with Dark Chocolate Chunk Mousse
- Top with a generous dollop of marshmallow cream
- Using a kitchen blow-torch or broiler, brown tops slightly until golden brown, just a few seconds. Keep an eye on them.
- Sprinkle with more crushed graham cracker crumbs
- Add 1-2 Tablespoons of Kahlua just before serving to each dessert.
Looking for more chocolate desserts?
Guinness Stout Dark Chocolate Pudding Cakes with Salted Caramel Sauce
Rich Chocolate Flour-less Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Fresh Berries
G’day! This sounds and looks delicious! I would like to try it now!
Cheers! Joanne
Haha Joanne! They were delicious!
Thank you for stopping by and linking up at The Weekend Social Link Party Friday on KitchenDreaming.com. Hope to see you again next week.
Thank you for hosting!
Cynthia these look divine! Just tweeted it out too. I’ll be making these for my next dinner party 🙂
Oh, thanks so much Christina!
This is a great idea for corporate desert, they look unbelievable!
Thanks for sharing this, I will follow up back with you on how we go.
Please do!
hubba hubba – what a stunning dessert! Looks amazing.
Oh my! Can you please send one of these to me via carrier pigeon? #ThanksInAdvance #drooling
Haha!
Woohoo!! So glad you linked this up the best from your blog this week at our Bewitchin Projects block party! Be sure to come back again on Sunday starting at 6am EST over at OurMiniFamily.com to link up your projects again–the linky party runs from Sunday to Thursday each week :D
~Cathy Mini~
Thanks so much Cathy!
Looks great! I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams, starts on Fridays 😀 Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.
thanks so much for stopping by! I will be there!
Beautiful dessert! I could eat this for days.
thank you Megan!
Like everything about your spin on smores and making them as trifles. Love the presentation and portion size. 😉
Thank you Cristina! I love smallish desserts, then I don’t feel so guilty.
I love a layered trifle, they are just so pretty. I have a bunch of mini trifle glasses I got as a bridal shower gift, now I have a recipe to use them!
i love those mini trifle glasses…so nice for a lot of mini desserts!
OMG, I want to dive in and never come out. Love! This is so elegant but with a playful twist. Pinned, too!
haha! come on in, the chocolate’s warm! lol!
Oh yum, YES! These look and sound sooooooo good! *drooling*
haha Kimberly!
Decadently, luscious and maybe a little sinful – what’s not to love!
exactly! and a small portion, so no guilt!
Yes, please!! This is chocolate perfection!!
Thank you Brandie!
This is a s’more for ME!
haha Dorothy!
Yummy!! A perfect summer dessert 🙂
Indeed!
Wow! This has some of my favorite things combined into one! Now that summer is on its way (slowly where I’m living), I will be trying to “smores” just about everything 🙂
This looks absolutely amazing! Definitely can’t go wrong here!
love smores!!!!
this trifle looks great!
Thank you Nicole!
I love itty bitty desserts to end a meal, and these sound great. I agree that s’mores can be so sweet — great idea to balance it with a less-sweet dark chocolate mousse.
Beautiful dessert Cynthia. I love the dark chocolate mousse!
Thank you Allie!
These s’more trifles are the perfect way to celebrate s’mores day! Love this!
They are a fun treat for sure!
What a great way to indulge in s’mores!
Absolutely Gina!