Chocolate Coconut Mousse

2013 was the year for chia seeds. From what I can gather, 2014 is the year for coconut products.

This weekend I explored ExpoWest, one of the biggest trade shows for all the natural products on the market. We’re talking every company that has a product in Whole Foods or dreams of being carried in Whole Foods has a booth sharing samples and product info. I logged over 12,000 steps that day and stuffed myself silly with an assortment of hippie snacks – hibiscus & pink peppercorn kale chips, sprouted watermelon seeds (actually good), and gourmet bison jerky.

I go every year to see what’s new in the food and supplement world, but mostly to find what ready-made foods I can recommend to my clients with food sensitivities.

This year, some of my favorite products were the oodles of coconut chips – including most surprising  – salt and vinegar coconut chips. If you’re a S&V potato chip fan, you’ve got to hunt these down.

Alas, today’s post isn’t about coconut chips, but it does feature another form of coconut: coconut milk.

The following recipe was dreamed up back in January when I was eating from a select list of foods due to food sensitivities. I was needing a dessert that was satisfying and contained only ingredients that my body could tolerate.

This chocolate coconut mousse features only 3 ingredients and takes minutes to whip up. It’s truly an indulgence that you can feel good about.

Bonus digestion-fixing points go to coconut for naturally containing compounds that heal your gut – namely a fatty acid called lauric acid, which stimulates your immune function and has anti-microbial properties (in other words, they keep your good gut bacteria happy and crowd out the bad guys). For more reasons to love coconut, read this post.

The most important factor in making this recipe work is choosing the right coconut milk. Most of the canned coconut milk on the market includes thickeners, emulsifiers, preservatives and/or whitening agents.

Even worse is when they sell reduced-fat coconut milk. Without the fat, this mousse will not work, so please leave those fat-deprived products on the shelf where they belong.

My favorite brand is Natural Value, which is organic, packaged in a BPA-free can, and contains no additives. Of course, you can always make your own homemade coconut milk, but you’ll have to let it sit in the fridge before using it in the following recipe so the fatty layer rises to the top (see below).

Chocolate Coconut Mousse

Ingredients

• 1 can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated for at least 2 hours
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp+ coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Directions

1. Carefully scoop out the top layer of coconut milk with a spoon. Full fat coconut milk without additives will separate into a solid fatty layer (coconut cream) and a thin watery layer. You want to use the coconut cream layer for the mousse and leave the watery layer behind. Refrigerating the coconut milk ahead of time will ensure that the fat and water separate.
2. Blend all ingredients using either an immersion blender, beaters (like you use for baking), or a food processor until smooth. Taste test and adjust cocoa powder and sweetener to your liking.
3. Serve and enjoy!

Easy enough, right?

If you want to make this chocolate coconut mousse even fancier, you can always add in vanilla, almond, or peppermint extracts or top with fresh berries.

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think in the comments below.

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Until next week,

Lily

P.S. I’m teaching a webinar on gestational diabetes on Wed, 3/12/14 at 11am PST. It’s designed for Registered Dietitian/Nutritionists and Certified Diabetes Educators.  However if you know any pregnant women who have gestational diabetes that would like a little guidance, this FREE webinar might help them out. Chances are, their doctor, dietitian, nurse, or diabetes educator will be listening in with them. 🙂 You can  listen in via this link.