If you spent the last few months following the 100-day Walk of Peace by the Monks of Fort Worth, TX, you know the feeling of a heart cracked open. For a while, the trivial frustrations of life were folded neatly away in a drawer. Love and peace seeped into the everyday—the grocery store, the car wash, the morning commute.
Then, February 1st arrived.
The “new year” glow faded, and 2026 suddenly felt like an intimidating, blank slate. For me, that neat drawer in the study flew open, and every tucked-away anxiety came swirling out like the neon flow from the lockbox of the Ghostbusters.
The Internal Menu (or, why I’m not ordering the stress salad)
In the midst of the whirlwind, I stumbled upon a genius analogy: our thoughts are an internal menu.
The “unhealthy” options—fear, overwhelm, and doubt—are always on the list. But we aren’t obligated to order them. When there are no monks nearby to inspire us, we have to be the ones to look at the menu and choose the “healthy” option. It’s the shift from letting peace seep out to knowing that peace is the permanent resident.
Giving the Bull a Pen
I’ve realized that if fear is a bull, you shouldn’t try to lock it in a tiny closet—it’ll just kick the door down. My pen just happens to be the kitchen.
Lately, that space has been filled with the scent of pre-teatime Clementine Cakes and the golden glow of midday Caramel Tarts. By giving my hands something to do, my mind finally found the space it needed to roam.
And voila! A late-night breakthrough on a Coffee Chocolate Mousse that I am officially adding to our next tasting menu!
Remember: you always have the choice from your internal menu. I often choose love and berries.
Today, however, I choose mousse. There are a variety of ways to make mousse but this….this, is something divine. Not light and airy or earthy and grounded. This is sturdy, classic, with a string quartet playing in the background as you raise a velvety spoonful to your mouth.
Ingredients
- 2 large egg yolks (room temperature)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- 7 oz bitter or semi-sweet chocolate
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoons espresso or coffee grounds
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Method:
This recipe is adapted from Penny in NYC. I’ve never been there but, if I were to manage a trip, I certainly would check to see if it tastes at least as good. I use Trader Joe’s or La Bonbonniere chocolate – from Belgium. I got my coffee grounds from Cavalier coffeehouse and the cream and butter from Hillcrest farms. The thing that’s better than the fancy restaurant dessert is making it yourself with local ingredients.
Before the hard part comes the easy part. Put the egg yolks in one bowl. In another throw in the chocolate, butter, vanilla, salt and coffee grounds. In pot on medium-low heat, throw in the whipping cream, milk and corn syrup. Now begins the hard part. Heat the milk/cream to 170 degrees. It will form small bubbles on the sides and take about 5-7 minutes. Don’t boil or scald the milk but it will be HOT. If you don’t want a huge egg mess, put a sticky mat or damp paper towel under you egg yolks bowl and stream 1 cup of that hot milk in while you are whisking the yolks to temper them.
Transfer that yolk mix back into the pot and stir for another 2-4 minutes so that the yolks are sufficiently safely cooked. Hard part is not over yet. Now, take this pre-custardy creamyness and pour it into your chocolate bowl. Back to the easy part! Let it sit for a couple minutes while the chocolate melts and the butter gooshes. A mixer or immersion blender will do the trick – blend until it is smooth like silk. And the weird part: with the blender running, stream in te olive oil. If you did not perfectly blend the chocolate or cooked the eggs a tiny bit while streaming the milk, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Penny’s serves this with a candied hazelnut deco. It is really good with a sweet little nutty crunch to balance out the dark chocolate but that’s a recipe for a different blog.
