Chocolate Mousse: Real Dessert for Real Chocolate Lovers - The Sweet Spot - Cooking

Forget the Detox, Pass the Chocolate Mousse

No Comments | Written on January 12, 2012 at 11:00 am, by Amy Palanjian

Chocolate mousse as part of a new year’s resolution? OK, hear me out. This story has a very happy ending.

Last year around this time, I did a goal-oriented cleanse: I had been having migraine-level headaches for nearly a decade and I’d had it with my head hurting every day. I gave myself a month to eliminate all potential allergens to see if I felt any better. After just three days, my headaches were gone and when I tested gluten products a few weeks later, it was clear that they were the cause of my headaches.

Now, fortunately, I am able to tolerate small and infrequent doses of gluten (hooray!) and I’m still headache free most days.While that cleanse was very important for my overall well-being, I am generally not a fan of that ritual as a reaction to the holidays. My eating motto: Enjoy life, bite by bite. There is such a thing as year-round moderation that allows one to enjoy dessert and sugar and alcohol each day (if so desired). I eat a plant-based, real food diet and I find that incorporating moments of indulgence in each day makes me a much happier person.

And it makes for a much more even year in terms of my mood because I’m not making drastic changes all the time.

Lately, the sort of indulgence that I’ve been craving has been the calcium-filled kind: yogurt sweetened with honey or preserves, cottage cheese with a swirl of honey, and, surprisingly, chocolate pudding and mousse. When I lived near a Whole Foods market, I would have taken care of this mousse craving by picking up a single-serving container of their prepared Vegan Chocolate Mousse. It’s so crazy delicious. But now, since the closest one is two hours away, I have to make it at home and this Chocolate Mousse with Sauce (or without the sauce, if you want to skip a step and some ingredients!) is my go-to recipe.

Yes, it’s rich from the whipping cream, but it’s low in added sweeteners and it’s made with real ingredients, which means that I’m likely to be satisfied with a reasonable portion. And that—eating the real version of what I am actually pining for—is exactly how I plan to spend the rest of 2012.

Variations:
Prefer a slightly lighter version? Try this Chocolate Ricotta Mousse.
In the mood for white chocolate and berries? Make Berries and White Chocolate Mousse.
Want the easiest mousse ever? Dig into Melted Ice Cream Mousse.