Melt the chocolate together in the top of a double boiler. Be careful to do this slowly, so as not to burn the chocolate, and to keep all moisture away from the pot. Let the chocolate cool for five minutes.

While the chocolate cools, whip the cream and almond extract together until very stiff. Gently fold the cooled chocolate into the whipped cream. There will be many flecks of chocolate in the mixture.

If you're not going to eat it all yourself, spoon into six large wine glasses. Chill one hour.

* Extremely quick and easy chocolate mousse - This is an adaptation of a very easy chocolate mousse recipe from Sandra Boynton's hilarious book, "Chocolate, the Consuming Passion." It requires none of the laborious preparation that most French mousse recipes call for, and really optimizes the effort needed to consume the chocolate, which is, after all, what this is all about. Yield: Serves one to six people.

* If you're careful, you can also melt the chocolate in a microwave oven, in its wrapper. If you try this, be especially mindful of the semisweet chocolate, as the sugar therein caramelizes very quickly, leading to an awful mess (and ruined chocolate).

Usa : kent@decwrl. Dec. Com decwrl!kent