Chocolate Avocado Mousse

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is a very long delayed post. This is the final assembled version of my chocolate avocado mousse that I told you about. After leaving the macadamia sludge in the freezer and the mousse in the fridge for a day or two while I procrastinated (yes, I even procrastinate when it comes to desserts) I finally pulled everything out to soften before I attempted assembly.

As you can see, I wasn't all that successful. It's harder than it looks to get everything even. In hindsight, I probably would have been better served had I returned the macadamia sludge to set again as then the base would have been firmer and wouldn't have been as sensitive when I added the mousse. Secondly, I would have paid better attention to my ratios as I think there was visually a little too much macadamia sludge to chocolate mousse ratio.

I should probably stop calling it sludge. If you saw it though you would agree it me. It looks like sludge. It's the tastiest sludge you ever did eat though.

Once you've layered the base and the mousse, Skye recommends putting the desserts into the freezer and removing them about half an hour before serving. Skye also recommends using a glass that's about twice the size of a shot glass. You should listen to Skye. I used a small glass but it was substantially larger than two shot glasses. The dessert is very rich and I could not finish the glass. Luckily, it refreezes really well.

I really really enjoyed it. Even if I thought it was a little off-balance visually, I was very glad that I had over-estimated how much of the macadamia base to use. The creamy nuttiness was a perfect counterpoint to the deep and rich mousse. Having the dessert frozen and then slightly defrosted really brought out the wonderful textures. I'll definitely make it again, but I might experiment to try and make the mousse slightly less rich. I'm not sure how, but I'll think of something.

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

adapted from Wild Sugar by Skye Craig

Mousse

2 avocados

7-8 tablespoons light agave nectar

1/4 tablespoons coconut oil

50g dark chocolate - I used a 65% couverture

1/4 cup coconut milk

3-4 tablespoons cacao powder (Skye's note: (use 3 and then taste to see if you can still taste the avocado. If you still can, it possibly needs more cacao and agave. Different brands of cacao powder have varying strengths. Keep adding more agave and cacao powder until it is the perfect sweetness and chocolatey enough for you. You shouldn’t be able to taste the avocado.)

Macadamia base
1 cup raw macadamia nuts
1-2 tablespoons light agave nectar

Base:

Pulse the macadamia nuts in a food processor. Once the nuts are about half the size of the original chunks, take half of the mix out and set aside in a bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the light agave nectar and continue to process the remaining mix in the food processor until it forms a smooth paste. Pull the smooth nut mix out of the food processor and combine with the nuts set aside in the bowl.

Mousse:

Place dark chocolate into food processor and pulse until chocolate is in small pieces. Set aside in bowl. Combine avocadoes, cacao, agave, coconut oil and coconut milk in a blender until smooth, creamy. Taste and adjust if need be, as produce is always different. If you want your mousse to be sweeter, add more agave nectar. Less sweet, more avocado. More chocolatey, add cacao powder, less chocolatey, more avocado. Fold in chocolate.

This is the dessert that started it all: You Make Me Blush from Wild Sugar.