By Colleen Luckett and Perry Luckett

On April 3 we celebrate Chocolate Mousse Day in the United States. Not just any mousse, but THE mousse that frequents the pages of decadent dessert menus across the world: chocolate mousse. Now, this is a day worth celebrating!

We don’t have an exact time when the idea of mousse—which means “foam” in French—came onto the scene, but we do know chocolate was introduced by Spain to France with the marriage of the Spanish princess Anne of Austria to Louis XIII in 1615. A century later, those always-amazing French chefs introduced a method for making mousse, with savory leading the way. But it must have been shortly after that they started experimenting and putting two and two together to make the irresistible "mousse au chocolat” we know and love today.

The first written record of chocolate mousse in the United States comes from a food exposition at Madison Square Garden, New York City, in 1892. A "Housekeeper's Column" in the Boston Daily Globe of 1897 published one of the first recipes for chocolate mousse. However, the recipe generated a chocolate pudding-type dish, instead of today's fluffy mousse.

Mousse is generally prepared by beating eggs or cream or both to a frothy, airy consistency and then folding other ingredients together to create a yummy treat—either savory or sweet.  People seem to have their own ideas when it comes to adding flavorings and toppings, but the main ingredients in a chocolate mousse rarely change: chocolate, egg whites, and sugar. Some recipes also call for cream, butter or egg yolks. As with any recipe calling for chocolate as one of the ingredients, best results come from using quality chocolate. “Your mousse is only as good as your chocolate,” say the folks at ExtremeChocolate.com.

This being a coffee-themed kind of blog, we’d be remiss by not giving you chocolate mousse recipes with coffee as an ingredient. Be sure to cover your tea or coffee mug with a colorful Kup Kap cup lid to keep it hot while you whip up one of your favorite chocolate mousse recipes today. Try our Chocolate Truffles Kup Kap to really keep on theme!

Now, here are three chocolate-coffee recipes to inspire you:

We really love this simple recipe using Ghirardelli chocolate. Ghirardelli themselves submitted the recipe to AllRecipes.com with this suggestion: “Serve this simple chocolate mousse in a martini glass for a fancy presentation. A dollop of whip cream adds an elegant touch.” The additional coffee ingredient gives it a bump in richness!

St. Patrick’s Day has since passed for another year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue the celebration with this special Irish Coffee Chocolate Mousse recipe from The (aptly named) Redhead Baker. She explains this variation of her traditional chocolate mousse recipe with “It is silky smooth, light in texture yet so incredibly rich.”

And last but not least, the ultimate coffee-and-chocolate-lovers dream: 5 Ingredient Chocolate Espresso Mousse from Kylee Cooks. You can’t get much more “best of both worlds” than that! She says, “This Chocolate Espresso Mousse is just the right amount of sweet. The chocolate of course, is sweet – but is balanced by the coffee flavor.  It’s delicate, yet bold enough that you know it’s there, and, well, it’s kind of perfect, actually.”

Sounds cozy cool to us, too. Know any other great chocolate mousse recipes? Don’t keep it to yourself; comment below.