Valentine’s day folks and not to be obvious but chocolate is necessary. This recipe is drawing on another humdinger from Mum’s repertoire; white chocolate and amaretto mousse. Yes. It is as delicious as it sounds. Not a featherweight number by any means but you can make it in advance leaving you to concentrate on other things (harhar).

This makes more than enough for two (probably enough for four actually)

Amaretti biscuits                 50g

Disaronno (or Amaretto)   3 tablespoons

White chocolate                   175g

Powdered gelatine               5g

Cream                                    225ml

Raspberry coulis:

Raspberries                          125g

Caster sugar                         1 teaspoon

Find yourself a pretty bowl. A glass bowl works well so you can admire your hard-work or if you want to be super fancy you could use wine glasses or ramekins for single servings.

Crush your amaretti biscuits. You can do this by placing them in a sturdy bag and walloping them with a weapon (saucepan or the like). Alternatively put them in a bowl and pound them with the end of a rolling pin. You want the crumbs to have a variety of sizes from m&m size down to fine crumbs. Sprinkle a generous tablespoon of the biscuit debris into the base of your chosen vessel, you’ll need the rest later.

Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl with the disaronno (or the Amaretto). Place the bowl over a pan that has a few centimeters of simmering water in it. White chocolate can be a pain in the arse to work with so just be patient and don’t leave it by itself on the heat, it is always up to no good. As the chocolate melts gently nudge the less melted bits towards the bottom of the bowl. Do not get carried away. If you start wildly beating the mixture it will split and you will cry. When most of the chocolate looks nice and melty take the bowl off the pan and put it to one side.

Pour the cream into a big mixing bowl and beat till it holds soft peaks.

Put two tablespoons of water in a separate heatproof bowl and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Put the bowl over a saucepan of water like you did with the chocolate. When you can’t see any more grainy bits it’s ready.

Stir the chocolate mixture GENTLY so it’s smooth, add in the gelatine and mix.

Scoop a quarter of the cream into the chocolate goo and beat to combine (this is to ‘loosen’ the chocolate mixture which makes it easier to combine with the beaten cream). Now tip the chocolate mixture into the beaten cream in the big mixing bowl. Add all but a tablespoon of the remaining crushed amaretti biscuit crumbs to the chocolate cream. Fold it all together (check out my folding post in the ‘how to do things’ section if you’re unsure about folding). Pour the chocolately cream lovingly into the fancy bowl you chose at the start (onto the biscuit bits) and scatter with the left over biscuit crumbs. Pop it into the fridge and leave for at least an hour before you heff into it. You can serve it as it is or with raspberry coulis (fruity sauce).

Raspberry coulis;

Put the raspberries into a little sauce pan. Add a tablespoon of water and the caster sugar. Place the pan on a medium heat and as it warms up squish the berries and stir to dissolve the sugar. Leave to simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture through a sieve. That’s it. Lovely.