Blackberry Fool

One of the dishes we learned this week at cooking class was blueberry fool. However, that recipe was made traditionally with heavy cream. It tasted good, but my stomach was very upset from the fat for hours after class. Of course I wasn’t going to serve my husband all that saturated fat and sugar, so I decided to try to make a healthy version. This is my first attempt at making a low sugar, low fat berry fool, or mousse and it exceeded my expectations for a first attempt.

The chia seeds were used to give the tofu a thicker texture. That part of the experiment worked well. What I didn’t like was the grainy texture that the mousse had initially. I allowed the mixture to sit overnight in the refrigerator and the graininess almost completely went away. I added coconut milk for a little fat so the mouth feel would be a little closer to the original. Again, the coconut milk did what I had envisioned. The stevia was a little too dominant in the final flavor of the dish. Next time I will reduce the stevia a little, or substitute agave for a portion of the stevia.

Blackberry Fool
Serves 4

Ingredients:

12.3 ounce package of low fat silken tofu
½ cup of light coconut milk
1 tablespoon of chia seeds, ground fine in a spice mill
3 scoops of stevia powder (each scoop, which came in the container = 1 gram)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of raw amber agave
1 cup of fresh blackberries

Directions:

Put everything but the fresh berries into the food processor and puree until thoroughly combined. Allow the mixture to stand for 20 minutes so the chia seeds can absorb the water and puree again. Refrigerate the tofu mixture overnight to allow the seeds to completely absorb the liquid and lose their grainy texture.

Lightly mash ¾ of the blackberries into the tofu and spoon into individual serving cups. Alternately you can layer the berries and tofu in the dish. Top with the remaining berries and drizzle each serving with ½ teaspoon of agave and serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 65.57
Calories From Fat (25%) - 16.23

Total Fat - 1.92g
Saturated Fat - 0.56g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 75.37mg
Potassium - 121.59mg
Total Carbohydrates - 6.91g
Fiber - 2.88g
Sugar - 2.31g
Protein - 6.32g

Comments:

The nutritional statistics associated with this recipe are amazing. I love that this recipe is low calorie, contains omega 3 fatty acids, and soy protein. I can't find anything not to like about this recipe from a nutritional perspective.

The final texture of the tofu base was quite good. The chia seeds and coconut milk changed the texture enough that the tofu didn't have a tofu mouth feel. The flavor was good, but not quite perfect. The stevia was a little too dominant in the end. My husband thought maybe a little more vanilla and sweetener would be good in this recipe. He did tell me he liked it a lot and thought it was “almost perfect”. Now, I was more critical of the recipe, but sometimes we don’t agree on everything.

I like the concept of a vegan berry fool so I will be working on perfecting this in the coming month. My husband loves dessert and I want to perfect this so he has another option in addition to my tofu chocolate mousse.

Update:

We had the remainder of the blackberry fool this morning with breakfast. This time I mashed most of the berries in the tofu (which is more like the classic). The mashed berried added nothing in terms of taste. They did mask the slightly brown flecks from the ground chia seeds. You can make this either way, layering or mashing the berries.