Layered Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse with Bourbon

My poor husband has been waiting for this mousse for months. I thought of the idea at least 3 months ago, told him about it and then never made it until today. This is a variation of my chocolate mousse with espresso, which is one of his favorites. Well, he also loves chocolate and peanut butter cups (which I don't make often) so I thought that he would like the flavor combination in mousse form. Needless to say, he loves it.

This dessert is very easy to make. The portions are intentionally small because the mousse is so rich and decadent tasting. I don’t like to have much at once and my husband can always eat two, so this small portion works well at our house. I have made the chocolate mousse for many people (never vegan) and everyone has loved it.

I included bourbon in this recipe since I knew it would work well with the peanut butter, and it is an amazing flavor combination. You can omit the bourbon if you wish, but it does add to the flavor and more importantly to the aroma, and only amounts to ¼ tablespoon per serving.

Layered Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse with Bourbon
Serves 4

Ingredients:

12.3 ounces of low fat silken tofu, firm
6 tablespoons of agave
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of Bourbon (used Woodford Reserve)
2 tablespoon of natural organic peanut butter
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
4 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Place the tofu, agave, vanilla extract and bourbon your food process and blend completely.

Remove ½ of the tofu mixture to be made chocolate shortly.

Add the peanut butter to the food processor and blend completely.

Put the peanut butter mousse in the bottom of 4 cups. Scrape the processor bowl well or wash it and return it to the machine with the reserved tofu mixture.

Add the cocoa powder to the food processor. Melt the chips in the microwave on 30% power until soft (I needed 3 minutes). Scrape the soft chocolate into the food processor and thoroughly blend.

Top the peanut butter mousse with the chocolate mousse. Cover the top of the cups with plastic cling film and refrigerate until firm (about 2 hours). Enjoy cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 190.82
Calories From Fat (45%) - 85.99

Total Fat - 10.36g
Saturated Fat - 3.47g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 135.81mg
Potassium - 215.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.62g
Fiber - 4.32g
Sugar - 2.43g
Protein - 9.66g

Comments:

This recipe has a little more fat than I would like, but much of it comes from the natural peanut butter so I don’t think it can be that bad for our health.

Chocolate, peanut butter and bourbon are a flavor match made in heaven. The chocolate layer is a little thick, the peanut layer softer, and together they are magical. If you want you can add some chopped peanuts or mini chocolate chips to either layer. I would put peanuts in the chocolate and chocolate in the peanut butter.

Sweet and Spicy Bourbon Glaze

Who doesn’t love a big flavored glaze to use with seitan, tofu or tempeh? This glaze is sweet, hot, salty and flavorful. I used the agave to reduce the refined carbohydrates as well as calories. The bourbon adds a nice depth of flavor to the glaze. The liquid aminos provided salty flavor with much less sodium than soy sauce. The ginger is included for antioxidants as well as spicy flavor. The harissa adds a nice background heat. My reaction when I tasted this sauce for the first time was, “Wow, I need to write that down before I forget what I did.” I hope you give this glaze a try. I think it is a winner.

Sweet and Spicy Bourbon Glaze
Makes about a ½ cup after it is reduced

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of bourbon
1/3 cup of agave
¼ cup of liquid aminos
1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger root
½ teaspoon of harissa

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat sauce over low heat until it has reduced by about a third. This took 15 minutes on my stove.

Uses for the glaze:

You can use this with seitan, tofu or tempeh. My favorite is to use it with seitan. I will be posting the instructions for the bourbon-glazed seitan later today.

Nutritional Information (for the entire recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 249.24
Calories From Fat (1%) - 1.76
Total Fat - 0.2g
Saturated Fat - 0.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 3873.04mg
Potassium - 154.93mg
Total Carbohydrates - 18.54g
Fiber - 7.44g
Sugar - 2.92g
Protein - 0.65g

Comments:

I wanted a different glaze for seitan and this is what I came up with. You could add a little freshly grated garlic to this, or a few kefir lime leaves (or lime zest). This sauce is very versatile. I also think it would be great on grilled pineapple. I think you will be hooked once you try this sauce/glaze.