Avocado Chocolate Mousse – A Truly Healthy Dessert! Ready in 8 Mins
- Updated on Mar 06, 2017
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It’s time to try and answer one of the universe’s most perennial questions – is it possible to make a truly healthy dessert? This avocado chocolate mousse would like to know where it stands.
First, let’s break the question down. What exactly is meant by ‘healthy’? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines healthy as ‘indicating or promoting good health’. Ok, so far, so good.
That’s a pretty straight-forward explanation.
So what about ‘dessert’? Well, dessert is defined as ‘the sweet course eaten at the end of a meal’, and the example sentence given with it is ‘a dessert of chocolate mousse’. Perfect.
We’re clearly on safe ground with that one.
By my reckoning we’re now looking for a sweet course to be eaten at the end of a meal that indicates or promotes good health. Doesn’t sound too hard, does it?
So what’s good and what’s bad for me? And what’s in an avocado chocolate mousse anyway?
The main problem is, most sweet desserts are loaded with sugar. White, processed sugar is about the worst offender out there, so let’s give that one a miss.
We still need a sweetener so let’s take one with a few plus points. Regular or medjool dates are sources of fiber, calcium, iron, zinc, potassium and magnesium – among others.
If we’re having sugar, let’s at least make sure we have some with nutritional value. As a back up, we’ll keep an optional tablespoon of maple syrup should the cacao powder overpower.
Talking of cacao powder – the raw stuff is awesome! This article provides a good explanation of what it is, and although it also contains minerals and vitamins, its key role is working as an antioxidant.
This in-depth study also reports that amazingly, cacao even plays a role in reducing the risk of diabetes!
This is starting to sound good. Let’s move on to the true powerhouse of the recipe, the avocado. Wow, just wow. If you thought the rest sounded promising, avocados are almost too good to be true.
Huge amounts of monounsaturated (good fats) make sure your heart is looked after, lower your chance heart disease and stroke, and may help to prevent breast cancer too.
They also contain carotenoids too. Carotenoids play many roles in the body, including keeping an eye on…your eyes. Carotenoids need fats to ensure your body uses them properly.
See where I’m going with this? Yep, the fat in avocados means it self regulates – your body will take maximum goodness from them. Practical right?
To head back to the original question. Is it possible to make a truly healthy dessert?
That’s up for you to decide, but given the definition of ‘a sweet course eaten at the end of a meal indicating or promoting good health’, with this avocado chocolate mousse I’d say we’re on to a winner!
Ingredients
- 6 dates, dried (pitted)
- 10 tbsp water (10 tbsp = 150 ml)
- 1 avocado (medium)
- 3 tsp cacao powder
- ½ cup raspberries, fresh (other berries are fine too of course)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Roughly chop the dates into small pieces.
- Chuck them, the maple syrup and water into a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Peel and add the avocado and cocoa. The easiest way to peel an avocado is to cut it in half, make a nick on each side and peel it like a banana.
- Blend again until creamy.
- Quick taste test – if you’d like it a little sweeter than add that tablespoon of maple syrup and quickly blend again.
- Now garnish with berries of your choice, raspberries for example. Leave it in the fridge for an hour or so to cool.
NOTES
Nutrition
Comments
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20 comments
Very good! Next time I may add more cocao powder for an extra chocolatey taste. I only used dates for sweetener and it was sweet enough for me. Very lovely texture. I did use pumpkin seed milk instead of water. Thanks for the recipe!!❤️
Nice! Sounds awesome Mary. I’d never heard of pumpkin seed milk, but now I know 🙂
Turn out good. Good recipe. My sweet tooth was more than satisfied.
This is the best dessert I ever ate, seriously! Plus, it’s so healthy! Had to share it immediately with friends ! I love your blog and what you’re doing! 🙂
Woo! Glad you enjoyed it so much, Anika. Thank you for saying so, and we’re glad you found us, too!
Somehow I find adding the same amount of honey is way too sweet, ended up adding an extra tablespoon of cocoa and 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder…and still too sweet. So had to add in some soymilk+skim milk to balance out the sweetness. I think 6 dates are plenty sweet!
Thanks for the feedback! I’m sure your suggestions will be very handy for those with a slightly less-sweet tooth (or watching their sugar intake). I’ll check out your version too 🙂
The hardest thing about this dessert is letting it sit in the refrigerator for an hour. Truly wonderful and a keeper!
Haha that’s great Irene! Glad you enjoyed 😀