I was flipping through cookbooks at the Used Book Superstore on Friday, saw this recipe, and knew that I had some egg whites already in the fridge at home that would love to become part of something chocolatey!

Because of all the air in the egg whites and whipped cream, this is a very light chocolate treat that you could easily eat more of than you should.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup whipping cream

Combine the sugar, cocoa, and gelatin in a saucepan and stir in the milk and butter. Place over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it just reaches a boil.

Remove from the heat and place the pot in a bowl of ice water or the refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until the mixture mounds slightly. I had sort of been expecting an almost jello-y consistency, but it never got that firm.

Plop!

When the chocolate mixture is ready, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites and set aside.

Beat the cream until stiff, then gently fold into the chocolate/egg white mixture.

The recipe recommends spooning into sherbet glasses and refrigerating in those until chilled, about two hours. This makes kind of a lot, though – you would have to have a fair amount of free shelf space in your fridge for that many sherbet glasses. (Also, you would have to have sherbet glasses!) It was after dessert anyway by the time I was at this stage, so instead I refrigerated overnight in the same bowl it had been stirred together in, and served in little custard dishes the next day.

Chocolate Bavarian Cream

From Betty Crocker’s Old-Fashioned Cookbook.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup whipping cream

Combine the sugar, cocoa, and gelatin in a saucepan and stir in the milk and butter. Place over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it just reaches a boil. Remove from the heat and place the pot in a bowl of ice water or the refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until the mixture mounds slightly.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites. Beat the cream until stiff, then gently fold into the chocolate/egg white mixture.

Spoon into sherbet glasses and refrigerating until chilled, about two hours.