Easy Recipe: Dairy Free Chocolate Mousse (or Pudding)
Posted in Coconut, Dairy and Dairy Free, Dessert, Easy Recipes, Paleo and Primal | 22 Comments
Whoa, it’s been AGES since I even thought about making pudding.
Not only have I not made pudding in ages, but I don’t think I even considered the idea of making it from something other than milk. Well, I got turned around when I saw a recipe recently for an apparently vegan chocolate pudding. Yes, vegan. I’m not vegan, we all know this by now. In fact, I wonder if sprinkling some crispy pastured bacon bits on top of this would be good…hmm. Okay, I’ll come back to earth.
I think this recipe is going to help me stay on my dairy free test over this next month. I’ve been on and off of different elimination diets over the years and I’m testing dairy again. Amen for avocado. Amen.
Wondering why I think avocados are so great? Here’s the lowdown on this creamy fruit:
- 1 avocado that yields about 130g of fruit contains 227 calories, a whopping 9g of fiber and 3g of protein. Most people are concerned about the fat content in an avocado, but have no fear, this is a HEALTHY fat. And it comes packed with fiber, so enjoy this treat from nature.
- In that same 130g serving, avocados are high in:
vitamin C- 20% of your RDA
vitamin K- 36% of your RDA
folate – 30% of your RDA
potassium – 20% of your RDA
source: nutritiondata.com - The healthy fats in an avocado (including oleic acid) aid in the absorption of carotenoids and lycopene. These are nutrients found in fresh foods like carrots and tomatoes. Adding avocado to recipes that include other vegetables can help your body to absorb the nutrients. Yum!According to whfoods.com,
Adding avocado to salsa increased lycopene and beta-carotene absorption 4.4 and 2.6 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these nutrients absorbed from avocado-free salsa. Since avocados contain a large variety of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, as well as heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, eating a little avocado along with carotenoid-rich vegetables and fruits is an excellent way to improve your body’s ability to absorb carotenoids while also receiving other nutritional-and taste-benefits.
sources: whfoods.com and nutritiondata.com
Dairy Free Chocolate Mousse
(or Pudding, if you prefer to call it that)
Yield: Approximately 3 servings.
Click here for estimated nutrition facts.
(use all organic ingredients when possible)
Note: This recipe is safe for my 21-Day Sugar Detox program as-is, but if you’d like it to be sweet, 1 Teaspoon of maple syrup blended in should do the trick!
Ingredients
1 avocado
1 medium-large banana
2 Tbsp coconut or almond milk
3-4 Tbsp Carob or Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 tsp real vanilla extract
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of sea salt
Optional Ingredients:
1 Tbsp cacao nibs (as garnish, do not put in food processor)
a pinch of green leaf stevia (while not on The 21-Day Sugar Detox)
or 1 Tsp maple syrup (while not on The 21-Day Sugar Detox)
Preparation
- Halve the avocado and remove the pit. Scoop out the fruit into a food processor with the banana, coconut milk (or other) and carob or cocoa powder.
- Add any other ingredients and allow it to blend together until completely combined.
- I use a small hand blender attachment that has a mini-food processor, but you can use a food processor or blender most likely. Depending on how much you’re making, you may need to do a lot of scraping down of the sides of the processor. You could also whip this by hand or with beaters.
Try this out and let me know what your favorite way to make it is! Feel free to share your tips below for other ways to make it. I’m already mulling around ideas of variations I want to make as soon as possible.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Day 53 | Food, Fitness, & Fotografía - [...] Oh. My. God. I have discovered primal dessert GOLD. Chocolate pudding. We recently started a Whole30-esque lifestyle change and ...
- Day 74 « Food, Fitness, & Fotografía - [...] fever + achiness + rain = sad Jenni. Enter: chocolate pudding. Same recipe from Day 53 (recipe here). Went ...
- Boxing Take 3 « Muck Ruckers - [...] Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding from BalancedBites.com (my new favorite website) [...]
- Paleo Challengers: Pinched, Weighed & WOD’d « Paleo Dammit! - [...] Chocolate Pudding Recipe I mentioned this morning can be found here. I used a ripe banana plus a couple ...
Thank you, this sounds wonderful. Banana pudding with vanilla sounds like a perfect combination for me.
We just made this – it's fantastic! The only thing we changed was the sweetener – we didn't have any stevia, so I used a little blue agave nectar. FANTASTIC – this will always be in our fridge. Thank you!
@Gina- Awesome! If you use really ripe bananas you can try it without any sweetener too. Maybe try some organic honey next time loosened up in some warm water. I'm so glad you tried it- what made you want to make it? Are you dairy free? Just looking for a change?
I have stopped using Agave for a few reasons, mainly that I learned about how highly processed it is via the Weston A Price Foundation- link: http://www.westonaprice.org/Agave-Worse-than-Sugar-Nutrition-Foundation-Warns.html
Diane
This is great!
What a treat…as I'm working on dairy free to try to clear my skin. This texture is really welcoming!
Dayle
@Dayle- Cool! Let me know if you try it with any variations and how it works for you.
Diane
I might try with shredded coconut or more cinnamon and orange peel…maybe hazelnuts?!
Thanks for the info re: agave, Diane. We definitely won't be using it anymore! I'll try the riper banana route. Made another batch w/more cinnamon in it this time. Incredible! We're trying to get healthy – cutting out all sugar, flour and going as gluten-free as we can. It's been a week and a half (coming off a baaaaad diet for years) and already my sweets cravings are gone. But if I *do* want sweets, this pudding is first on my list!
Gee, never would've thought to make pudding from avacado, but it makes perfect sense now that i think of it. Thanks! I'm excited about trying this.
I have had a recipe like this floating around for ages and still haven't made it. WHAT am I waiting for??
@Michelle- DO IT NOW!!!
So yummy! Perfect for a sweetener-free dessert…which is SO my thing right now.
Thanks for always inspiring me!
Diane
soooo good, i also added a few scoops of whey protein…mmmm
I made this last night for my girlfriend. She loved it…. It was the first time I made her dessert in 4 years.
Thanks Diane.
I guess this will also work with pureed chestnuts instead of the banana?
Bina
(Thanks to Sean Croxton for directing me to your blog)
Andrew- I love that!! How sweet of you.
Bina- I haven't tried that but I might. The banana adds some sweetness and I don't sweeten mine with stevia but if you were doing the chestnuts and stevia that might work. Let us know!
I grow my own stevia plants.
How many leaves of the plant would be equivalent to a punch of 'green leaf powder'?
@Simon- it's hard to say. Maybe a leaf or two? Just try it out then make it into a powder maybe in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle? Let us know!
Thanks for sharing this! I can't wait to try making it. Good dessert for little treat in line with primal/paleo standard.
One more thing, can I use honey for sweetener if I don't want any banana taste in there?
I made this tonight for dessert. It took all of 5 minutes in the Cuisinart, which was awesome, and it was fantastic! I have to admit I had no idea how avocado would work. Thank you!
I like to add some cayenne pepper and cinnamon – sweet and spicy goodness!
Just made this tonight, with a pinch of salt and a little lemon zest. I love the idea of cayenne pepper!
I am new to being dairy free. I found out that I am lactose intollerant as well as allergic and probley have been all my life and I am in my 30′s. This new life style has not been an easy transition and feel like I have trouble finding good tasting dairy free foods. I want to tell you thank you! I loved this it tasted great and it is something I can share (if I can stop eating it all) with others!