Avocado Chocolate Mousse Recipe

What Is Avocado Chocolate Mousse?

Avocado Chocolate Mousse is a dessert blended cold, with ripe avocado pulp providing the fatty body that cream and egg yolks give a classic mousse, while dark chocolate and dates carry the flavor. The texture is dense and smooth, and it is served cold in small individual bowls.

What Makes This Recipe Anti-Inflammatory?

Ripe avocado supplies oleic acid, the monounsaturated fatty acid that makes up most of its fat. That same pulp brings lutein and vitamin E, two compounds that act as antioxidants in the body.

Cocoa contributes flavanols, including epicatechin, present in both the 85 percent chocolate and the unsweetened cocoa powder. The dates add polyphenols alongside their sweetness. This mousse contains no cream, no egg yolks and no refined flour, and its sweetness comes from the dates, with the small amount of sugar in the 85 percent chocolate as the only other source.

Ingredients

• 2 large ripe avocados (about 8 ounces each), halved and pitted
• 3 ounces dark chocolate (85 percent cacao), chopped
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 4 Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries

Directions

Step 1

Warm the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 2 minutes, until it steams at the edges without boiling. Pour the warm milk over the pitted dates in a small bowl and let them soak for 10 minutes. They are ready when the flesh sinks without resistance as you press it with a spoon.

Step 2

Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir for about 3 minutes, until the chocolate turns glossy and free of lumps. Lift the bowl off the saucepan and let the chocolate lose a little heat.

Step 3

Scoop the avocado flesh out of the skins with a spoon and transfer it to a food processor. Add the soaked dates with their coconut milk, the cocoa powder, the vanilla extract, the ground cinnamon and the fine sea salt. Blend for 1 minute, scraping down the sides twice. The mixture is ready when it looks smooth and completely free of date lumps.

Step 4

Add the melted chocolate and blend for 30 seconds more. The mousse is ready when it darkens, thickens and holds the mark of the spatula drawn across its surface.

Step 5

Divide the mousse among four small bowls and smooth the surface of each one. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until the surface feels firm to the touch. Top each bowl with fresh raspberries just before serving.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

InflammaScore

2 Good! Very low inflammation potential

Q&A

Q1: What can I use instead of Medjool dates?
A1: Use 8 Deglet Noor dates in place of the 4 Medjool. They are smaller and drier, so the count doubles. Soak them for 20 minutes in the warm coconut milk instead of 10. Press one with a spoon before blending, and keep soaking until the flesh gives way without resistance.

Q2: Why does my mousse taste like avocado or show green streaks?
A2: Underripe avocados, too little cocoa powder or too short a blend are the usual reasons. Choose avocados that yield to gentle thumb pressure, measure the cocoa powder exactly and blend the full minute, scraping the sides twice, until no green streaks remain.

Q3: How long does the mousse keep in the refrigerator?
A3: It keeps for two days in the refrigerator. The surface darkens because the avocado oxidizes where it meets the air. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of each bowl to limit it, and stir the mousse before serving if the top has changed color.

Q4: Can I prepare this dessert ahead for guests?
A4: Yes. The mousse needs at least an hour in the refrigerator and keeps for two days, so you can make it the day before. Leave the raspberries off until just before serving, because they soften and release juice on top of the set surface.

Q5: What kind of chocolate should I use?
A5: The recipe calls for dark chocolate with 85 percent cacao. A lower percentage brings more sugar and less cacao per ounce, so the mousse turns out sweeter. Milk chocolate changes the texture as well as the sweetness, because it mixes cocoa with sugar and dairy.

This dessert comes together in a food processor and then waits in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. The raspberries go on at the last minute.