One of the good things that came out of the phylloxera disaster was that France started distilling whisky. Today it’s distilled in Brittany in five distilleries, the  Distillerie des Menhirs, Guillon, Glann ar Mor, Kaerilis and Warenghem where techniques, similar to those in Scotland, are used. On the French island of Corsica,  Pietra and Mavella (the former a brewery and the latter a distillery)produce their dram from mash that has been enriched with chestnut flour and matured in muscat casks (understandably the whisky is called P&M) This dessert can be made up to 2 days  in advance – it will even get better if it’s

allowed to mature a little before serving it . Please take note that even though you can make the mousse beforehand, the Chantilly cream can only be added about an hour before hand.

Ingredients

• 450 g dark chocolate, cut into small pieces (if possible, try to find a good Madagascan* chocolate)
• 60 g skinned hazelnuts, crushed
• 30 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 85 ml single malt whisky
• 6 egg whites
• Fresh mint leaves and strawberries to decorate, chilled

Chantilly cream

• 225 ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod, slit in half with seeds scraped out
• 30 ml icing sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200 C.
• Spread the crushed hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast them until they are fragrant and golden brown.
• Bring about 2.5 cm of water just to simmering point in a pot and combine the chocolate, the butter and half of the sugar in a heatproof bowl and set it over the simmering water – make sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
• Leave to stand, without stirring, until the chocolate has melted (if you stir it, the chocolate could stiffen and you won’t be able to do a thing with it).
• Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks (first) and the hazelnuts and the whisky.
• Whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer (you could use an ordinary whisk if you have really strong arms) until stiff peaks have formed and then, gradually whisk in the rest of the sugar – beat well until the mixture is stiff and shiny.
• Whisk about one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture (it is quite okay to whisk briskly here because this step will lighten the chocolate mixture sufficiently that it may be folded into the remaining whites without diminishing their volume).
• Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the rest of the egg whites with a metal spoon and then pour the mousse into whichever serving containers you decide to use until firm.
• Before you make the Chantilly cream, put the bowl in the fridge for about an hour to get it really cold – since this you cannot make this more than an hour before serving, you’d probably be wise to do this 2 hours before you want to serve your dessert.
• Place the seeds that you have scraped out of the vanilla pod into the mixing bowl (pop the pod into you large sugar container – it’ll give your everyday sugar the most delicious taste).
• Pour the cream over the vanilla and mix with the cream (give a couple of stirs with the mixer) and whisk the cream until it begins to get stiff – then add the icing sugar and continue beating it until the cream forms stiff peaks and clings to the beater.
• Fill a piping bag with the Chantilly cream and refrigerate until ready to serve or, if you don’t feel like doing that, simply refrigerate the cream until you’re ready to use it and then either pipe rosettes on the mousse or use a spoon and palette knife (or whatever you feel like doing) to put the cream on top of the mousse.
• Decorate with the chilled mint leaves and strawberries.

* East African chocolate can be found at most chocolatiers today where they are sold in lozenges or bars. The chocolate is very aromatic and contains about 75% cocoa solids which is why it’s important that you taste your chocolate to see whether the mousse is sweet enough for you.