Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Spicy, Sexy, Vegan Chocolate Mousse. Who Says Valentines Has To Be Only One Day??

   
   I was hoping to get this up and posted before Valentines Day as that seems to be the day when Chocolate in all shapes forms and hues rules. But who the hell am I kidding? A day without chocolate if one is a chocolate freak is a day of misery, and now that we all know how good deep dark chocolate is for you, there is no need for shame, or hiding.

    "Hey, back off I'm just taking care of my heart health here..."

   Since I've been wearing a -32 c degree device on my head once a week for 5 and 1/2 hours  I found myself looking for something warm and tasty to sip while chilling. I asked around for some suggestions, preferably something chocolate, and my friend Janis Handiman Tester of  Bite Me New England came to the rescue. Janis sent me a formula for Mexican Hot Chocolate, that smelled so good when put together that I couldn't just drink it. Alan and I had our friend Mr. X take a sniff and he said, that's got to be a mousse!!! And so it was.  First of all here's the basic formula and then what I did to turn it into a vegan mousse.

Janis' Mexican Hot Chocolate

1/2 C Sugar
2 Tbl whole almonds
1 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 C Dutch-process Cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Makes 1 Cup mix (enough for 16 servings)
 
Combine the sugar and almonds in food processor and process until the almonds are finely ground.  Add chocolate, cocoa, vanilla cinnamon, and cloves and process again until mixtures is finely ground.  Store in an airtight container.
To make 1 cup hot chocolate:
Heat 1 cup milk with 1 Tablespoon mix and whisk until frothy.
 
And now for something not quite completely different....
 

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Mousse

Here's What You Need:
3 Tbs of hot chocolate mix
1 can of full fat coconut milk
6 oz semi or bittersweet dark chocolate
3 Tbs pistachios
 
Here's What To Do:
Chop the chocolate  into chunks.
 

Set them aside.


Heat up one can of coconut milk.


When the coconut milk is warm (not boiling!!) add in the chunked chocolate.


Melt the chocolate into the warm coconut milk. Stir it and make sure it's well blended.
Add in 3 Tbs of the cocoa mix.


Blend that into the warm chocolate mixture.


Take the pot off the heat and let it cool a bit, then pour it into individual serving dishes.

Put them into the fridge to chill for about 3 hours.
When you're ready to enjoy, chop up 3 Tbs of pistachios and sprinkle a bit ob top of each mousse.


You can serve it as is, or chill a can of coconut milk overnight, scrape off the thick cream  that rises to the top and whip it as you would cream.


Of course we had to take a sample over to Alan's pal and co-taster Needleman at Salsa Trading.


It was a hit, and Bruce couldn't believe it wasn't dairy!!

   So there it is, Janis' cocoa in a different form.  Coming up next, we go to Alpine Grass Fed-Heights. Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori

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