4A slightly sweet, vegan chocolate mousse made with aquafaba and protein-packed peanut butter powder. Easy, light and perfect for a family or special occasion dessert. Top with crushed salted peanuts or pretzels for a flavour and texture contrast.
I adored every single second – even the rainy ones, of which there were quite a few. I will come back here and share our colour and food-filled trip once I’ve gone through all of my snaps (still on my phone): images, our itinerary, offbeat surprises (a cat festival!), super special moments (sunrise over Mt Fuji), as well as tips and links. I hope you look out for it. 🙂
I’ve made this pudding/dessert vegan as I always have aquafaba (chickpea liquid) stashed in my freezer, which whips up just like egg whites or double cream. And doesn’t taste at all beany, which is pretty incredible. But this idea is easily adapted to any non-vegan recipe you might already make and love.
The special ingredient in this chocolate mousse is peanut powder. If you haven’t used this odd sounding product, do look out for it at your supermarket. It is naturally lower fat, very peanutty, and is excellent to add to desserts, smoothies, shakes and bread where either the texture or extra oil/volume is unwanted. I would imagine that there are a number of people who don’t like peanut butter because of the texture rather than taste, so this is a good solution. The downside is that removing the fat also removes much of the nutrition so I wouldn’t use it as a health product as such. But I’m assuming that you are getting plenty of healthy fats and vitamin E in your diet anyway. As far as how to get this funky little product, I bought PB Fit brand from Sainsburys, but there are quite a few brands and stockists. There are now also organic versions, which I will look out for next time I buy some.
This recipe is based on my original aquafaba chocolate mousse from a couple of years ago, when I first heard of this way of using chickpea brine, and before it broke in the media. It is still my basic recipe and has been tried by many people with great results.
The second tip is to use room temperature chickpea liquid, either good quality, no-salt-added tinned chickpeas for your liquid (I use ones from Waitrose), or homemade beans that sit overnight in their liquid so that it thickens up. One tin’s worth is the amount needed for this recipe. Simply drain the chickpeas over a bowl and use an electric whisk/beaters to create a mass of white fluff in about 4-5 minutes. Honestly, it’s the closest thing to magic I’ve seen in a long time. And a great kitchen project for the British half-term holidays.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mousse Cups
A slightly sweet, vegan chocolate mousse made with aquafaba and protein-packed peanut butter powder. Easy, light and perfect for a family or special occasion dessert. Top with crushed salted peanuts or pretzels for a flavour and texture contrast. Enjoy! xx
The liquid from a tin of no-salt-added, room temperature chickpeas
100g (3.5 oz) best dark chocolate (vegan if needed), melted in a bain marie or microwave (this page from love food.com tells you about both methods) – allow it too cool a little while you sort the rest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
small (two-finger) pinch of fine salt
2 tbsp peanut powder
Chopped salted peanuts or crushed pretzels, to top
1. Using an electric whisk/beaters whisk the chickpea liquid until it looks like softly whipped cream – soft-peak stage. This takes between four and five minutes. Whisk in the salt.
2. Stir the vanilla and peanut powder into the melted chocolate (it will stiffen the mixture a bit), then either fold this into the fluffy mix or whisk it in with your electric beaters. If you do the latter you may the think you have ruined it as it reverts to its liquid state, but it sets beautifully. Taste for flavour and adjust as needed (remember – no raw eggs here!). You can add another tablespoon of peanut powder without affecting the result – except making it more peanutty.
3. Pour the mixture into 3-4 pretty serving cups or individual-sized dishes/small ramekins, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Garnish with the crushed peanuts or pretzels (both!?) just before serving.
Note: this keeps well for a couple of days in the refrigerator without any deterioration in taste or appearance. Result!
RIPE FOR PINNING!