Chocolate Chia Mousse
A common dilemma I have, especially during the week, is a love of dessert and a lack of time. One completely ineffective workaround I have for this is fancy chocolate bars that are vegan and dairy free, but I don't have enough self-control for those to last very long in my pantry. I also find that a lot of vegan desserts are deceptively unhealthy. Sure, they're void of animal products and fats, but the substitutes are usually heavy oils or coconut cream. Delicious, but not the sort of thing you want if you're getting up early the next morning to work out.
This recipe is pretty simple, and deceptively healthy thanks to its main ingredient of Chia seeds. Chia seeds are one of those cliché 'super foods' you keep hearing about, but for good reason given their nutritional profile. This is not a mousse in the traditional sense of the word. It's sort of a hybrid between a mousse and a pudding, thanks to the gelatinous texture that chia flour takes on. This recipe makes enough for multiple desserts, which, let's face it, is a huge bonus, because what's better than dessert for one night? Dessert for more than one night. Obviously.
Items required and directions are listed below--let me know what you think in the comments section!
Items You'll Need:
1/2 cup of Chia seeds. I ground mine into Chia flour, but you can keep the seeds whole.
2 cups of water or whatever milk you've got lying around. I made my own almond milk out of 1/2 cup of almonds and two cups of water. Not because I'm super fancy, but because I'm too cheap to purchase non-dairy milk.
2 tablespoons Cacao or Cocoa powder
2-3 tablespoons of honey or whatever sweetener you prefer…amount you use depends on your sweet tooth
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (If you're not into chocolate eliminate the cacao and up the vanilla extract quantity for vanilla mousse)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Optional Items:
Cacao nibs to sprinkle on top
Berries to sprinkle on top
Someone else to do your dishes b/c for some reason this simple recipe really made a mess of my kitchen and clean-up was the worst part
Directions:
Step One: Bring your water or milk to a simmer
Step One, Part Two: While your milk is coming to a boil, grind your chia seeds into a flour in a Vitamix or blender, unless you're planning on keeping them whole.
Step Two: Once your water/milk is simmering, add your cacao powder, honey, vanilla extract & sea salt. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.
Step Three: Take your pan off of the heat. In the same pan or a new bowl, mix your chia flour into the wet mixture. I used a separate bowl and added both in small increments to get an even texture, but you could dump the flour in all at once if you're feeling reckless. Just be prepared to stir quickly as the hot liquid activates the chia quickly, and it gets very viscous.
Step Four: Once combined, pour the mixture into whatever you're planning on serving the mousse in. I used four adorable ramekins because I needed to be able to take a cute photo, but if that wasn't the case I'd probably just shove the pan in the fridge for a while and eat it straight out of that. High standards, you know?
Step Five: Options! You can put whatever you want on top of the mousse. I went with a drizzle of honey and some cacao nibs, but you could go with plain, berries, mint leaves, xanax, etc.
Step Six: Let this sit in the fridge for at least four hours to set.
