& 2018 Top 5 Recipes from My Berry Forest
Are you ready for 2019? I’ve lived in my pyjamas for a few days, just relaxing and enjoying lazy moments with my family. Now I feel like it’s a good time to look back and discover the food highlights of 2018! One of the highlights for me is this vegan aquafaba milk chocolate mousse, which I made earlier this year for the very first time and have made several times since. It is incredible what you can make from chickpea brine!
To read this post in Finnish, click here.
Vegan aquafaba milk chocolate mousse – the fluffiest chocolate dessert!
I know there are a few (hundred thousand) aquafaba chocolate mousse recipes on the web, but I really wanted to share this classic recipe on my blog too, because chocolate mousse used to be my favorite dessert when I was little.
My mom and dad used to make it for our weekend dessert every week. I remember vividly the rich milk chocolatey flavor, and the most amazing fluffy consistency. My vegan aquafaba version comes pretty close – I use half vegan milk chocolate and half darker chocolate to make this irresistible dessert. And it is SO FLUFFY all thanks to chickpea brine – the miracle ingredient. If you whip it long enough in a clean ceramic or glass bowl, this is what you get:
This is definitely not a sugar-free recipe, but then again this is an actual dessert, and not one of my many refined white sugar free breakfast dessert-snacks. This fluffy vegan mousse is something I crave for dessert after a cozy meal. Especially during winter time when all I crave is chocolate for dessert 🙂
Here’s a little throwback to the most popular recipes from 2018 and also a classic oldie goldie brownie recipe. Hope you enjoy these sweet recipes!
1. Berry Cream Overnight Oats Parfait
This creamy & cutely colored berry breakfast was featured on Buzzfeed and it became an instant hit. The ingredients are pretty basic: berries, rolled oats, coconut milk, plant-based yogurt and whipped cream, chia seeds – but together they are magical!
2. Fudgy Eggplant Brownies with Peanut Butter Frosting
This oldie but goldie recipe has been on the most popular recipe list from the very start. It’s an unusual recipe with oven roasted soft eggplant included in the thick batter. I’ve tweaked this recipe many times, but this is the original, and it is yummy if you’re looking for a bit healthier than usual brownie recipe. The frosting btw is amazing not just with these brownies, but with any cake / cookie / toast, even on top of smoothies & oatmeal.
3. Creamy Vegan Mocha Smoothie
I’m not surprised to see this creamy one on the list. It’s one of my all time favorite smoothies and also one of the best nine pics of myberryforest Instagram in 2018. With coffee, chocolate and rolled oats, it’s a 3-in-one breakfast not to miss if you like mocha flavor!
4. Chocolate Cake with Gingerbread Caramel
My 2018 Christmas cake is also my favorite cake of 2018 so I’m more than happy to see it on the top 5 recipes list. The combination of chocolate, gingerbread caramel, fluffy cream and berries is very tempting, even after Christmas.
5. Refreshing Banana-free Smoothies
January is here in a few days, and the search for healthy smoothies and wholesome meals is on the rise. I’m pretty surprised to see this collection of healthy smoothies as the 5th most popular recipe of 2018, but I’m also glad it is. This recipe post is like a little journey down the memory lane: I began my vegan life by adding daily smoothies into my diet. After smoothies I started experimenting with buddha bowls, and then came the amazing vegan sweet treats…Â
I will continue my vegan journey in 2019 hoping to inspire you to try colorful plant-based recipes which are good for your health & good for the planet. THANK YOU for being here, for reading my posts, for making my recipes. Sending much love and Happy New Year wishes from the berry forest!
Love,
Tiina
Recipe: Vegan aquafaba milk chocolate mousse
Ingredients
- 70 g / 2,5 oz vegan milk chocolate
- 70 g / 2,5 oz vegan dark chocolate
- 150 ml – 170 ml chickpea brine
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- whipped cream, berries and shaved chocolate for serving
Instructions
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Melt chocolates in a water bath and let cool
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Whip aquafaba in a clean ceramic or glass bowl until it’s fluffy. This might take anything between 5-10 minutes.
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If you’re using a salty brine, you should add some sugar at this point and continue whisking
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Whisk in the cooled melted chocolate. At this point the mousse might lose some of its fluffiness but don’t worry, it will be fluffy again after a while in the fridge
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Let mousse set in the fridge for at least 3 hours (or overnight) in a well covered container
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Although not shown in the photo: serve mousse with whipped cream and berries are yummy too. You could also add shaved chocolate on top!
Vegan Aquafaba Milk Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 2,4 oz / ~70 g vegan milk chocolate
- 2,4 oz / ~70 g vegan dark chocolate (60-70%) Please use good quality delicious dark chocolate. The “creamier” (vs bitter) the flavor, the better the mousse will taste.
- 0,7 cups / ~170 ml chickpea brine preferably unsalted
- optional: 2 tbsp sugar
- For serving: plant-based whipped cream (although not pictured here) and berries
Instructions
- Melt milk chocolate and dark chocolate in a water bath and let cool for a while.
- Whisk the chickpea brine in a clean ceramic or glass bowl with a hand mixer for 5-10 minutes or until the brine has turned into a thick white fluff, which doesn’t drip from the edges when you turn the bowl upside down.
- If you’re using chickpea brine with salt, you might want to whisk some sugar in the brine to make it sweeter.
- When the melted chocolate has cooled down mix it into the fluffy aquafaba until you get a chocolatey fluff. This is best done with a silicone spatula / spoon. Note: the aquafaba is not as fluffy as before when adding the chocolate, but it will be more mousse like when you let it set in the fridge.
- When the aquafaba and chocolate is thoroughly combined put it in a glass container or bowl and cover it. Let set in the fridge for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
- Although not pictured here, this mousse tastes best with plant-based whipped cream. And of course you can add berries on top too 🙂
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