Chocolate Chia Mousse

I don’t know about you, but the region I live in has been unseasonably hot and dry since the beginning of March. With the warmer weather, and knowing that several more months of hot days are coming, I’m making a lot of no-heat desserts like this chocolate chia mousse.

If you love chocolate but your bar habit is a bit out of control (me) this is a healthy-ish way to eat all the chocolate you like, at any time of day. Sweeten with dates for a surprisingly filling and wholesome breakfast, or use maple syrup or honey for dessert. You can’t say no to chocolate mousse for breakfast.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can eat all three servings yourself, if you’d like, and still feel pretty good after. So if you want to go wild and keep it all to yourself, feel free. Unlike a regular egg yolk and sugar mousse it should give you more energy not less!

There’s a video of me making this recipe on my IGTV, and a sneak peek of my brand new, recently finished kitchen. If you’re a long time reader, you might know that I’ve been slowly working on the kitchen for some time in my terribly run-down house, but it was finally finished this past week. I’ll share some before and after pictures soon but if you’d like to watch the mousse being made and admire my tiny, but now pretty, kitchen, go check it out.

Ingredients

• One can full-fat coconut milk
• Bob’s Red Mill Organic Chia Seeds
• Cocoa or cacao
• Maple syrup, honey, or dates
• Vanilla or another spice

Method

This really couldn’t be simpler, and takes no time at all to make – it’s just a bit of waiting for the chia to set. Just mix the chia into the coconut milk and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Overnight is ideal, or if you mix it in the morning to make for dessert.

Once the chia has set, the mix will be thick and creamy. Blend this with the cocoa, sweetener, and spice, and serve with coconut whipped cream and berries (or yogurt, jam, whatever you like).

I go between my immersion blender or food processor for this, but if you have a high powered blender, it’ll make the smoothest, creamiest mousse and that’s ideal. With a lower-powered machine it’s not quite as smooth, but still delicious.

Substitutions

Maple syrup and honey can be used interchangeably, as usual, but make sure you don’t use honey if you’re serving this to vegans. I haven’t tried with agave (don’t like it) but other liquid sweeteners are probably fine, so use what you prefer.

This recipe is adapted from my chocolate chia parfait, which is sweetened with dates. If you prefer to sweeten with fruit, also use a quarter cup, or about 40g, of soft dates. I like dates when I want to have this more as a snack or breakfast as they add extra fibre and nutrients.

Other types of milk could be used instead of coconut milk, but I don’t recommend it for this recipe. Stick to a really high fat, creamy milk, that’s what makes it mousse instead of blended chia pudding – the coconut milk almost whips as it’s blended.

Vanilla is called for in the recipe card but as it’s gotten so expensive, I rarely use it anymore. Cardamom is my go-to alternative and excellent here, but so is cinnamon, coffee spice, or gingerbread spice. Use your favourite.

Cocoa or Cacao?

For this mousse, you can use them interchangeably and it doesn’t matter much in terms of flavour. Raw cacao is a bit stronger and bitter, whereas cocoa powder is milder. Don’t mix this up for hot cocoa drink mix, which is neither, but cocoa mixed with a sweetener and often milk powder.

Cacao powder has some additional health benefits, which you can read a bit more about in my raw chocolate recipe, so I usually mix the two to get the best of both worlds. Cocoa will make the mousse darker in colour than reddish cacao will.

More Chia Recipes

Tahini Banana Bread
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Rhubarb Chia Pudding
Olive Oil Granola

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