Hello Dear Readers,
I so appreciate the Internet for enabling connections with lovely people from my younger days. For instance, a high school classmate reached out to me recently expressing the desire to add more plant-based foods to her diet. In particular she, like many others I’ve heard from, imagines the elimination of dairy will be a challenge. With that in mind, I set-out to create a simple-to-prepare non-dairy dessert. I came up with a chocolate mousse that offers all of the familiar creamy mouth feel of its dairy alternative without compromising on nutrition or flavor. My family of vegans and non-vegans loves it!
Beantown Kitchen?s Chocolate Mousse
Serves 4 people
1 package Mori-Nu Silken Extra Firm Tofu (12 oz)*
1/2 cup almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet non-dairy chocolate chips
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
- Remove the tofu from the package, drain excess water and then process it in a food processor until smooth.
- In a small sauce pan, heat the almond milk over high heat until just boiling.
- Turn heat to low and add the chocolate chips. Stir until chips are fully melted.
- Add maple syrup and stir.
- Turn off heat and add the vanilla.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the tofu in the food processor.
- Process until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides if necessary.
- Divide the mousse into four serving dishes. Garnish with raspberries and or chocolate nibs if desired.
* Do a Google search to find which one of your local supermarkets carries this tofu. It took me a while to find it in Whole Foods. It is not in the refrigerator section with the other tofu products, but in the Asian section with soy sauces and curries. This is what it looks like:
Here is where it gets interesting…for me, anyway. Let’s consider two common myths: 1) It’s hard to get protein from a vegan diet and 2) it is necessary to consume dairy to obtain calcium. Notice from the chart below that not only is the vegan mousse lower in calories and completely devoid of cholesterol but it is higher in protein too. And, while a traditional chocolate mousse contains a substantial amount of dairy, they each tally an almost equivalent amount of calcium. None of this is surprising. A vegan diet contains zero cholesterol…ever! That’s right, plants do not contain cholesterol. And tofu is a great source of protein and, along with almond milk, is an excellent source of calcium.
| Vegan Mousse | Traditional Mousse* | |
| Protein (grams) | 6 | 2.4 |
| Calcium (mg) | 115 | 121 |
| Iron (mg) | 1 | 0 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 0 | 81.5 |
| Calories (kcal) | 240 | 359 |
* Recipe available on Food.Com
In the event that you’re not excited about a tofu mousse but would like to try another vegan option, this one also passed my household taste test.
Jennifer Cornbleet’s Raw Chocolate Mousse
(this can be found on-line at her website http://learnrawfood.com/)
Serves 1-2 people
1/4 cup moist pitted Medjool Dates, soaked in water 10-30 minutes
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
3/4 cup mashed avocados (about 1-2 avocados)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa or carob powder
1/4 cup water
- Place the drained dates, maple syrup, and vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add the avocado and cocoa powder and process until creamy. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the water and process briefly.
- Stored in a sealed container, the mousse will keep for three days in the refrigerator or two weeks in the freezer. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Any questions or comments…send them my way. I would love to hear from you.
With warmest wishes xoxo,
Diana
2015 Beantown Kitchen- Reprint only by permission of the author
