I always had the impression that whipping cream by hand was a complicated and difficult task, above my paygrade as a home chef, but then I had the opportunity to learn with Chef Kelly Janke, who worked with Mario Batali at The Chew, and I was hooked. Besides being easy and actually therapeutic, hand whipping has the advantage over whipped cream cannisters and hand blenders of giving you more control so you won’t overwhip. Your whipped cream should just fall off a spoon in a nice thick dollop. If it sticks to the spoon, then you’ve overwhipped.

I always had the impression that whipping cream by hand was a complicated and difficult task, above my paygrade as a home chef, but then I had the opportunity to learn with Chef Kelly Janke, who worked with Mario Batali at The Chew, and I was hooked. Besides being easy and actually therapeutic, hand whipping has the advantage over whipped cream cannisters and hand blenders of giving you more control so you won’t overwhip. Your whipped cream should just fall off a spoon in a nice thick dollop. If it sticks to the spoon, then you’ve overwhipped. But either way, it’s going to taste great. This is cooking, not rocket ship building, so the key is to enjoy the process as well as the finished product.

There are only two ingredients in my chocolate mousse: heavy cream and hazelnut chocolate spread. You can use Nutella, but it is chock full of palm oil as a base, which can be carcinogenic. I prefer to use Nocciolata, which is organic and has a dairy-free version. I figure that it will offset the heavy cream, and it’s all delicious.