A celebration of the importance of soil health and growing produce locally, this is a grown up chocolate dessert (but the kids love it too). The mousse is made with a secret ingredient… Dutch cream potatoes! It’s creamy, crunchy and sweet with deliciously warming spices. Low fat, gluten and refined sugar free, it sure has that ‘wow’ factor to impress your guests.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Dutch cream potatoes, peeled and steamed*
½ cup soft medjool dates (about 6 or 7), pitted
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup soy milk
½ tsp orange zest
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp sea salt
Almond bark
2 cups almond flour
3 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of sea salt
Chocolate soil
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup pistachios
¼ cup almond meal
⅓ cup medjool dates (about 4), pitted
¼ cup cocoa
pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp cacao nibs
Garnishes
2 tbsp pistachios, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp small fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp freeze dried raspberries, coarsely chopped
METHOD
Make the chocolate soil by adding the sunflower seeds, pistachios for a food processor and blitzing until it resembles a coarse crumb. Add the almond meal, dates, cocoa and salt. Pulse until the mixture resembles soil. Add cacao nibs for an extra crunch.
Make the chocolate mousse by placing the cooked potatoes, dates, cocoa powder, soy milk, orange zest, cardamom, and sea salt into a high speed blender and puree until smooth. If you don’t have a high speed blender then soak the dates in hot water before blending (or you can also use a food processor). Taste and add more sweetener if desired. Puree until as smooth as possible. Set aside in the refrigerator to form a thicker consistency.
To make the almond bark, first preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Mix the almond flour, maple syrup and salt in a large bowl until the ingredients come together into a ball. Roll the ‘dough’ between two sheets of baking paper until it’s less than 0.5cm thick. Cut into wedges with a sharp knife, or leave as a whole sheet, and bake for 10 minutes until golden and crunchy.
To plate up, sprinkle a little of the soil into the bottom of a wide mouth tumbler. Add a generous dollop of mousse. Sprinkle with fresh mint leaves, chopped pistachios, a few pieces of freeze dried raspberries and cacao nibs.
Serves 6
Zero waste tips:
Don’t throw away your potato peelings! Using clean, scrubbed potatoes, reserve the peels and add a little sprinkling of salt. Air fry for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. These make a delicious and nutritious snack!
Collect up your date pits and use them as a caffeine-free coffee alternative! Roast them in the oven and then grind into a fine powder. Use them as you would use ground coffee.
Buy your spices, sugar and freeze dried raspberries in bulk at Adelaide’s Finest Supermarket
Comments