I gave up chocolate for two years when I was a teenager.
My skin had always been perfect and suddenly it was, well … you know. Spotty. So I stopped eating fried foods and chocolate.
I don’t remember much about my skin during those two years — but I do remember Life Without Chocolate.
What is it about chocolate?!
Clearly, it’s not addictive — or I couldn’t have given it up for two years. (Trust me, my willpower isn’t that good.)
But there is something so intensely, almost spiritually, satisfying about chocolate, it defies description — at least by me.
Fast forward to last weekend.
I was going to watch the baseball playoffs with friends, and it was my turn to bring dinner.
I came up with the menu pretty quickly:
- Wild Coho salmon sauteed in a hint of olive oil, with garlic, Dijon mustard, soy sauce and hoisin sauce
- Roasted asparagus and crimini mushrooms
- The amazing quinoa recipe I’ve already told you about.
I was good to go — when for some reason I flipped through the pages of The Whole Foods Market Cookbook. (I promise this is the last time I’ll mention this book — and no, they really aren’t paying me. But they should be.)
I saw a recipe I hadn’t noticed before for Silken Tofu Chocolate Mousse.
Huh.
I’m not a big fan of tofu — I often sense a chalky aftertaste that puts me off it. But this had all the flavors I love: chocolate, coffee, almond, vanilla. And it sounded so bizarrely healthy for a dessert.
Best of all: It looked like it would take about 3 minutes to make.
So here you go — a recipe for one of the most intensely flavored and delicious chocolate desserts I’ve ever made (and you have to believe me when I say I’ve made a lot of chocolate desserts!)
I do want to mention that the flavors were so strong, we needed to cut it with whipped cream (my choice) or serve it over vanilla frozen yogurt. No one was disappointed.
This mousse is incredible.
Silken Tofu Chocolate Mousse:
- 12 oz. silken tofu, drained
- 1/4 C plus 3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s special dark)
- 1/3 C pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbs instant coffee granules (decaf for me)
- 1 Tbs pure vanilla extract (yeah, it’s a lot — but it works)
- 1 oz Amaretto (about 2 Tbs)
(It also calls for 1 Tbs orange zest, but I have a personal dislike of chocolate mixed with orange, so I just left it out.)
Toss everything in a food processor for 1 1/2 minutes until smooth. Pour into individual cups or a larger serving dish and chill at least 6 hours.
Let me know what you think — and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!
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