Vegan Chocolate Mousse (or Pudding)

I have continued to purge and there is, in fact, a gigantic pile of items in my living room which are happily awaiting their trip to the goodwill.  I have not photographed these things, yet--I have other fish frying right now (namely some rather important papers which must be completed asap... the list is long, really).

At any rate, last night I was wishing a dear friend safe travels on her move to PA this weekend, and I took a "chocolate mousse" to her going away shindig.  A blog of recipes was requested, so I'm starting by posting the recipe I adapted for the "mousse."  I really think that we need a communal recipe blog, because I am a particular fan of the food Katie Finklea has made for me, and I'm sure I'm missing out on other deliciousness.

My recipe for this vegan "mousse" is an adaptation of about 6 different recipes I found online, but the main one is this recipe from the kitchn.  There's also a delicious recipe on there for banana ice cream.


Vegan Chocolate Mousse
The measurements on these ingredients are approximate, but very close to what I used.  (I didn't measure exactly. Your tongue will tell you when it's right.)
4 ripe avocados
6 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
3 Tbsp powdered pure stevia
2 Tbsp raw blue agave
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Saigon cinnamon

I pureed the avocado in the food processor until all lumps were gone, about 2 minutes.  Then add the other ingredients and process until well combined.  Viola: delicious.


What was interesting about the flavor to me was that my tongue was completely fooled by the flavor and texture.  (The texture really is somewhere between pudding and mousse.) My stomach was not.  The pudding/mousse had an avocado aftertaste, something like 5 minutes after consumption.  That was interesting.  But, it is really delicious nonetheless.

If I can get the coconut milk whipped cream to work (mine was pure liquid last night and did not make it to the party), it will be a delicious paring!  I actually suspect a touch of coconut milk as an extra ingredient in the chocolate pudding would also be tasty.

Bottom of the box



These are the few items that need to
be filed.  This is soooo much better
already!

I made it to the bottom of the box! 3/4 of it needed to be shredded or recycled and the rest needs to be filed.  It took 3 solid evenings to get through that one box.  I want to make a big deal about that because I am constantly holding myself up to a standard that is beyond my human grasp.  In my perfection based imagination, I should have had this one little office completely organized/purged/completed in one day.  The reality is that it one large box of papers required quite a bit of attention and discernment.  There were some papers in that box that truly are important for me professionally, so I needed to go through it item by item.  Even if no one is reading this blog (which initially I assumed was the case b/c it's been so long since I utilized it, but have now learned that a couple of people are reading...), even if no one reads, somehow posting this process on the internet both blesses the "slow" work I'm doing and holds me accountable to keep going (i.e. I now have to actually file those important papers in a helpful way and in a timely fashion).  The items that need to be filed are in a smaller box that has replaced the giant box.

Before
You can compare the sized of the box & amount of stuff by looking at how much
wall space you can see between the top of the box and the bottom of the self
portrait in this photo and the one below. 



After



No progress on purging tonight

I just got home from dinner out:  My lovely friends Jennifer and Artimus treated me to Thai food at SriPraPhai.  It was delicious!  We sat outside on the back patio and drank wine and talked.  It was soooo lovely and I so rarely go out like that in New York.  Who has a back patio here?  It was spacious, the weather was gorgeous, the temperature was perfect and the conversation was lively.  I want to do this more often!  We might go to Governor's Island this weekend!!  I'll post pictures if we do.