Healthy Chocolate Mousse

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Would you like to hear a funny story about chocolate mousse?

One Christmas I decided to get fancy with dessert.  Not only did I want to wow everyone with a decadent chocolate mousse, but I had visions of piping it into dishes like a pastry chef.

I made the mousse the day before Christmas, and I must say…it was outstanding.  Just as rich and decadent, light and fluffy as you might imagine.  Because I wanted to pipe it out, I decided to store the mousse directly in the Ziploc bags I’d be using instead of piping bags, which I did not have.

Fast forward to dessert time.  Taking my bags out of the fridge, I thought they felt a bit heavy.  All of the air that I had painstakingly incorporated into this fluffy dessert was gone and I was left with bags of a dense, fudge-like substance.  Not to be deterred, I set about my piping.

What came out of the bag was not something that you’d expect to find on your dessert plate.  It looked more like something you’d expect to find floating in the toilet.  Complete with ends that tapered to a point.  When I served said ‘logs’ we all got a good laugh.  I’m pretty sure I peed myself a little.

That’s not the mousse we’ll be making today.  But I still can’t make any promises about the consistency if you choose to store it in a plastic bag.  Pipe at your own risk.

Healthy Chocolate Mousse

I am not lying to you.  It really is healthy.  And you could make it healthier by cutting back on the sugar even further.  I kept reducing until I settled on what my family prefers.

I’ve told you that I sneak things past my kids regularly.  Even then, I don’t outright lie.  My chocolate pancakes are one example of healthy that doesn’t taste healthy.  This chocolate mousse is another.  We love it!!

Let me say two things.

First, if you know my kids, and you reveal my secrets to them….I know where you live.  Ha ha!  I’m just kidding.  Except I’m not.

Second, please don’t let the ingredients scare you off.  Trust me on this!

There is no way on God’s green earth that I could convince either of my boys to eat anything with the word “coconut” in it.  They are certain they don’t like coconut.

But they love this!

This chocolate mousse is lighter in taste than traditional chocolate mousse.  While still decadent and creamy, it’s not quite as rich.  And I’m ok with that, because I feel good about making and eating it a lot more frequently.

The secret to this recipe is coconut cream.  It comes in a can.  I get mine at Trader Joe’s.  You can find it in the Asian foods area at your grocery store, too.  I made the mistake once of using a can of coconut milk, draining off the liquidy part and using just the thick coconut cream.  It works, but the problem with it is that there’s hardly any in the can!  Getting a whole can of coconut cream gives you a lot more useable product.  (Note:  you do NOT want “cream of coconut”).

Open your can and scoop the thick coconut cream into your mixing bowl.

Add your cocoa powder, vanilla and sugar and begin whipping, using whisk attachment.  It would be easy to whisk it by hand, too.   You can adjust the sugar to your taste.

Once it is smooth and fluffy, transfer it to a bowl and chill in the fridge.  It only takes a minute or so to mix up!

After it chills in the fridge for a couple of hours, it firms up into that airy texture you expect from a mousse.

We like ours best with a little dollop of whipped cream sweetened with just a little sugar.  But it’s yummy all on its lonesome as well.

Creamy.  Rich.  Chocolatey.

Yum!

You should make this chocolate mousse today.