My MIL found the recipe that I had left at her house last year. Here it is for anyone that would like to try it: INGREDIENTS; Cookie Base: 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips TOPPING; 1 1/2 cups ( 9ounces) semisweet chocolate chips 3/4 cup (about 5 ounces) crushed peppermint candy ( crush with a rolling pin into smal pieces) DIRECTIONS: Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Have ready two baking sheets. Prepare the cookie base. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Sift the cocoa powder onto the flour mixture and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, mix the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, water and vanilla until smooth, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Leaving a 3-inch border empty on all sides, use a thin metal spatula to spread half of the dough on one baking sheet into a rough rectangle that measures about 11 by 8 inches and is about 1'4 inch thick. Use the palms of your hands to help pat it into an even layer. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough on the second baking sheet. Bake one baking sheet at a time until the top looks dull, not shiny, and feels evenly firm at the edges and center, about 14 minutes. As soon as each baking sheet comes out of the oven, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips over the cookie slab. Let the chocolate chips sit for 5 minutes to soften and melt, then use a small metal spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the cookie, covering most of the cookie. While the chocolate is still warm. sprinkle half the peppermint candy evenly over the slab. Let the cookie bark cool on the baking sheets on a wire rack until the chocolate topping is firm, about 2 hours. Or, to speed the cooling, cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate them, still on the baking sheets, just until the chocolate topping firms, then remove from the refrigerator. The cookie bark will become crisp as it cools. Break each cookie slab into about twelve 5 to 6 inch long irregular pieces. The cookies can be stored layered between sheets of wax paper in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

I haven't gotten around to cooking meat in my pressure cooker, but yours looks inspiring. I'll bet I could cook a pot roast with turkey thigh, since DB won't eat beef (although I will). I recently learned that I am supposed to clean the pressure valve after each use, and I'm hoping that will make it work better. The instructions also say to oil the gasket before each use, and I have not been doing that either! I tried microwaving chocolate maybe two times and went back to the double boiler. I will never microwave chocolate again - I like the double boiler so much better. My microwave refuses to die - maybe you could come over and kill it for me so that I could justify getting a new one. I haven't made chocolate mousse in a long time, but I used to use the Joy of Cooking recipe, and it had egg whites as well as cream, but I do not think it had egg yolks. I used to make mousse to use up extra egg whites after making Chocolate Hazelnut Bavarian Cream Pie, which uses a creme Anglaise type of recipe. I use Frangelico in the Bavarian Cream, and I'm thinking you could experiment with adding liqueur to your mousse. You might need to add an egg yolk to the chocolate first to get that to work, however. A touch of Kahlua would give it a nice mocha flavor. OTOH, keeping it simple is nice also, especially if you are pressed for time. Lars This post was edited by publickman on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 14:12

We went to the International Chocolate Show in NYC two weekends ago and two trends were all over the place - dark chocolate combined with with various types of hot peppers and chocolate with ginger. It might just have been my taste but most of the chocolate/pepper products were barely edible. On the other hand, the ones with ginger were wonderful. We also saw and tasted many chocolates with green tea and wine as flavorings. We saw a cooking demonstration by pastry chef Jansen Chan of Oceana using chocolate and Grand Marnier and that's still a delicious combination. They were also introducing ideas for using a new vanilla flavored Grand Marnier. Bumblebeez, don't think of chocolate mousse as dated but rather as a revival of a classic, like South Pacific at the Lincoln Center Theater.

Thanks Tart--that's a real handy list !