Raw Chocolate Mousse

If you were too look at me - you'd not say I was fat. But when I look at me, I say OVER WEIGHT. Now let me put that in perspective! If I could lose 5 kilos, I would be in seventh heaven. So I'm just trying to aim for one kilo at the moment. Just one kilo - now don't you think that that would be easy? 
Do I have to give up all chocolate, alcohol and pasta to achieve this? I don't think so!

I've attempted to dig through my recipes and find something that's decadent, delicious but low calorie. I needed something for dessert that I could share with a friend, but not with too much sugar.  I never tire of the taste of Chocolate Mousse, just tire of the calories and the expanding waistline. 
So here's a vegan/healthy alternative. Tastes amazingly creamy and you will be totally blown away by how easy this is to make. Great for your vegan friends and those that love chocolate. Eating some of this may just help with that kilo weight loss! or maybe not!

RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

INGREDIENTS - Serves 2 people - so increase the quantity for more servings.

1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
1 ripe avocado
2 tsp water
2 heaped tablespoons of raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons agave syrup, more or less to suit taste


1. Melt the coconut oil and when it cools add this to the avocado flesh, cacao powder, and water in a food processor. Add a little more water if the mixture looks too dry.

2. When this is all smooth and shiny, tip into a bowl and add agave syrup to taste.

3. Place covered in the fridge for at one hour and serve with fruit and yoghurt. Or just by itself!

Pear and Almond Dessert

Dropped in to collect some fruit from one of our local growers yesterday, Magarey Orchards. I picked up some lovely plums, exceptionally sweet and perfect for making jam. Once I started to cut them up I was quite overcome by their amazing colour and fragrance.

Also, there were some good looking apples and pears which I had in mind for chutney or pickle. But then my daughter and I spent a few hours making Plum Leather and dried plums. And I also made a batch of Plum and Cinnamon Jam, so I was all out of puff and decided to put chutney on hold.

I decided instead to settle on this lovely pear dessert. It has a nice gingery sauce on the bottom with a fruity cake topping - how can you resist this?

There is something really nice and flavoursome about this dessert and I have often cooked it in winter but today I am wondering if it might be an interesting dessert to eat cold - something I have never tried.

I  also whipped up some Spiced Pear Muffins, and I will include this recipe in my very  next post. Keep a look out later in the week!

Pear and Almond Dessert

Ingredients

Topping

11/4 cup S R Flour

180g butter

2/3 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup almond meal (ground almonds)

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup flaked almonds

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 large ears, peeled and sliced thickly

Sauce

2 tablespoons caster sugar

30g butter

2 teaspoon powdered ginger

2 tablespoon custard powder

11/4 cup milk

Make the sauce first. 

In a small saucepan, mix caster sugar, ginger and custard powder with a little of the milk to form a smooth paste. Add the rest of the mix and on a low heat, heat until the custard thickens. Beat in the butter and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs, one at a time and mix in thoroughly. add vanilla essence.

In a separate bowl, add flour, caster sugar, and almond meal. Mix the wet mixture into the flour and continue to mix until the flour is completely incorporated.

In a greased oven proof container, around 8 cup size,  spread custard sauce. Then add the pears in a single layer. Spoon over the 'cake' mixture and spread evenly over the custard. Take the flaked almonds and sprinkle generously all over the topping.

Cook in a preheated  moderate oven 180 º for approximately 1 hour until the top is nicely browned. Using a skewer, insert into the middle of the cake mixture and if it comes out cleanly, then dessert is ready. 

Serves 6 people