Recipe from: Youtube: "Healthy Desserts with 3 Ingredients" by keepupwithliv
My rating:
Keep reading for the full recipe!
*Disclaimers: I am not featuring this because it's "healthy" like the Youtube video title claims, and I'm definitely not paid to write this review. Also, I am not vegetarian or vegan but I have officially decided to practice Meatless Mondays in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. Click here to learn more about the positive environmental impacts of Meatless Mondays.*
It‘s not even Meatless Monday yet but I'm just TOO EXCITED to share this surprisingly satisfying vegan chocolate mousse recipe. Today, we’re going over a recipe that involves my all time favorite beans-- CACAO BEANS (aka CHOCOLATE).. well, in its purest 100% powder and nibs forms, that is. If you’re a chocoholic like me, then you probably always need chocolate at the end of your day. This has been my ultimate shameless quarantine treat, perfect for dessert or that late night craving.
What if I told you, you can have a decadent chocolate dessert while also being kind to mother nature? This is a very special plant-based chocolate mousse. I know what a lot of you might be thinking: “Shouldn't dessert be an indulgence?” The answer of course is a resounding “YAS, BB!”
Back when I was obssessed with “healthifying” every food (thank you no thank you diet culture), I actually discovered a wildly delicious 3 ingredient vegan chocolate mousse recipe by keepupwithliv on Youtube. Honestly, I've never made a mousse in my life and this was so incredibly easy!
I have come a long way in my relationship with food to arrive to the realization that some foods (like freaking chocolate or any dessert) don't need to be "healthified." From following many Registered Dietitians on Youtube like Abbey Sharpe and Tracy Lockwood Beckerman from Well + Good (dietitians have more credible certifications than nutritionists, article on this coming soon), I finally woke up to the fact that some foods are okay to enjoy just simply to be enjoyed! Sounds simple, but growing up in a fat-phobic and food shaming culture, this took a major breakthrough for me to acknowledge! All this being said, I am still giving this recipe 5 out of 5 forks because it is a more eco-friendly way to indulge in this fancy french goodness.
Now you might be wondering, "How will simply switching to coconut milk and taking out eggs help slow down Climate Change?"
Well BBs, scientists have warned that "Consumption of pork, milk and eggs will also need to decline sharply, all as the world’s population balloons by an extra 2 billion people by 2050. Researchers said there will need to be a global shift to a “flexitarian” diet to help keep the global temperature increase from breaching a 2C limit agreed by governments." (Why eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the planet in 2019 by Oliver Milman for The Guardian)
There is no escaping the world we've been neglecting, but we can potentially help it enough so that our children and grandchildren be able to breathe ok air, drink clean water, and plainly survive as we have. We owe them that much! With the continuous wildfires going on in California, it's clear that Climate Change has been and is immediately endangering humans. It will only get worse if we don't each take responsibility and do our part!
So with that, here's what you came here for—the actual recipe:
First make sure that you refrigerate the canned coconut milk/cream overnight. This way, you can scrape the harder part off into the bowl, and disposing of the leftover juice/loose liquid.
Then, use a hand mixer to blend out the coconut cream and soften it a bit.
Add the maple syrup (you can use honey if you don't have it), and you can definitely use more than two tablespoons if you want it sweeter!
Blend with hand mixer again until it is nice and smooth. Keep blending so you get the air in there.
Add in the 100% pure cacao powder. I've simply been using Hershey's Cacao unsweetened powder. The maple syrup will make it sweet, I promise. (PS: Yes kween, it needs to be 100% so you can get those antioxidant benefits! But also, don't forget CACAO is not COCOA. You're not making swiss miss, my loves. You're a 100% cacao babe now. Trust me, this is the real good stuff.)
Continue blending with the hand mixer.
Store in small-medium sized mason jars and enjoy!
Refrigerate and enjoy! (Depends how long you want/texture you like your mousse)
Optional: I like to serve mine with Cacao nibs on top. Let me tell you, since then I put cacao nibs on EVERY DESSERT. They are worth the extra $ since I’m obsessed with a little crunch and added chocolate-y vibe.
If you want to help displaced families affected by the wildfires, please donate to the relief fund links below:
Also, here's my dear friend Jordan. His childhood home burned down in one of the wildfires. He made an incredible, 360, Virtual Reality painting of his home on the Tilt Brush app. Click to watch and subsrcibe to his channel for VR gaming content if you're into that. Why wouldn't you be? It's sooooo cool!
See you on Meatless Monday!
xoxo,
franchette
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