Chocolate Cashew and Coconut Mousse

This recipe I’m proud of. I want to make it for everyone I know, I want to hand it to people on the street and I want to feed The Chef litres of it because it makes him happy.

I’m a ‘feeder’ you see. A bit like those little old Italian Nanna’s who pile your plate up sky high and send you home with left overs. When I first developed this recipe, I tried it for the first time at about 1am when The Chef was still at work. I was so excited at how delicious it was, that I wanted to knock on the next door neighbour’s door with the mousse and a spoon and say ‘Here, try my mousse!”

This mousse is vegan, egg free, dairy and gluten free. You would never know it though, it’s silky smooth and packed full of flavour. It’s ridiculously easy to make and I hope it gives you’re belly as many smiles as it did ours.

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut cream (place in freezer for 1 hour to solidify)
• 1 cup cashew pieces soaked overnight in water
• Honey to taste.
• 2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 4tbp water for at least 15 mins.
• 1 tbsp chia seeds (extra)
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice). The mousse is also delicious using only 1/4 cup sugar.

To prepare:

• If using whole cashews, place in a ziplock bag and break nuts down using a rolling pin to hit the nuts.
• Place cashews in 3 cups water, and allow to soak for at least 12 hours. Soaking the nuts makes them soft and will easily blend to a smooth paste.
• Place can of coconut cream either in the fridge overnight, or if short on time in the freezer for 1 hour. This thickens the cream and gives body to the mousse.

To make:

• When ready to make the mousse, drain the water from the cashews and blend on high speed until a smooth paste forms. You may need to continuously turn off the blender to scrape down the sides and stir the mixture. This may take several minutes.
• If the nuts don’t completely break down, add a tablespoon of coconut cream at a time and blend (see step below). The nuts should break down with the addition of the cream.
• Open the canned coconut cream and carefully scoop the solidified cream from the top of the can (the water sinks to the bottom) into the blender with the cashews and blend to combine until smooth. (Underneath with be milky water. Set this aside for using in smoothies or curries)
• Continue to stop the blender and scrape down the sides of the container and stir to ensure a silky smooth mixture.
• Add the soaked chia and blend to combine
• Add the cocoa powder and coconut sugar to the mixture and blend to combine.
• Finally, sprinkle the extra 1tbsp of chia seeds on top of the mixture and blend to combine.
• Continue to blend for approximately 3 minutes. The longer you blend, the smoother and fluffier the mousse becomes.
• Chill mixture in the fridge for 1 hour to set. If you can’t wait that long you can eat straight away.

Serving ideas

• Pour into a container to set. To serve, scoop into a bowl.
• Pour mixture into glasses and set in the fridge.
• Layer the mousse in glasses with fresh fruit such as berries, mango or dragonfruit.
• Serve individual portion in cute maison jars with ribbon tied around the neck.
• Use the mousse in our upcoming tart recipe. Sign up to our mailing list (over on the right of the screen) to be notified of when the recipe is available. It’s delicious!

Nutrition:

Normally mousse contains melted chocolate containing fat and loads of sugar. It also contains whipped cream.
Although this mousse is not by any means calorie free, though it does contain MORE nutrition than normal every day chocolate mousse.

Chia – fibre, protein, iron and omega 3’s. The chia is used to set and thicken the mousse.

Coconut cream: Delicious flavour. It contains sarated fat, and half of this saturated fat is still the bad fat for our heart, though half is actually good. (I still only recommend coconut in moderation, you can read my article here).

Cocoa: Contains fibre, vitamins and minerals and gives that super chocolate hit, without the fat and sugar normally added to chocolate.

Coconut Sugar: Has a delightful caramel flavour and a GI of only 35, making it a low GI sugar. This means, it does not give your blood sugar levels the high and low peaks and troughs.

Cashews: Packed full of fibre and wonderful heart healthy unsaturated fats. They are also high in minerals such as iron, potassium, manganese and copper as well as phytochemicals to protect against cancers and disease.

Stay happy and healthy,
The Nutrition Guru

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