Dairy Free Chocolate Mousse
This high protein, dairy free Chocolate Mousse is made with anti-oxidant rich dark chocolate and contains no dairy products –a double win. I’ve also used coconut palm sugar rather than agave to sweeten it. Many people do not like agave nectar, believing it is an overly processed sweetener (the agave nectar
Summer is moving along for us over here. The boys made over $300 at their lemonade stand last weekend during the Mapleton Hill rummage sale. They ran the stand with 2 other friends and baked tons of cookies from scratch for their little business. I was so proud of them. Maybe at their next stand they’ll sell this high protein, dairy free chocolate mousse! I would love that.
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 cup chocolate drops
- 4 eggs, separated
- ½ cup cream/fat from coconut milk
- In a medium pot, heat water to boiling
- Reduce heat, then stir in palm sugar until dissolved
- Remove pan from stove and cool palm sugar mixture for 8 minutes
- Add chocolate, stirring until melted
- In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks until pale yellow
- In another medium bowl beat egg whites to stiff peaks
- Stir egg yolks into chocolate mixture (yes, into the pot)
- Stir egg whites into chocolate-yolk mixture until well combined, then stir in coconut fat
- Pour or spoon mousse into jars, then place in refrigerator overnight to set
- Serve, grating some chocolate on top if desired
If you can’t eat eggs, check out my vegan Mocha Mousse recipe. And if you would like more information on agave nectar, see my post called The Great Agave debate. It contains a lot of useful information and the comments section of that post is chock full of good stuff!
The winner of last weeks giveaway for More Than Alive products is Kristi W!
For other chocolate mousse/pudding ideas check out recipes from these groovy bloggers:
-Coconut & Raw Cacao Pudding dairy-free, vegan from Kelly of The Spunky Coconut
-Gluten-free No-Soy Dairy-free Chocolate Mousse Recipe from SeaMaiden of Book of Yum
-Easy Chocolate Mousse from Kelly of Celiac Chicks
Update: (i) Dagoba dark chocolate is no longer formulated dairy-free (as a reader below kindly pointed out to me), to make this dairy free I recommend trying Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
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This recipe is perfect for my daughter who is cow milk free (goat works for her but she hates it). I am wondering how many cans of coconut milk it takes to get that much fat- two maybe?
Holly
I get a solid cup out of a standard can of coconut milk. I have a great vegan brownie recipe that uses the coconut “cream” in place of the eggs and butter.
How do you actually get the fat from the coconut milk? x
I just open it. All the fat (I prefer the word cream) rises to the top. Just scoop it out. I don’t pre-chill it or anything. Just make sure you buy regular and not Lite (which just has more water added) and don’t shake it up a bunch (although this doesn’t really incorporate it…I always have to stir or whisk if I want to just use the coconut milk normally.)
I wanted to take the time to say thanks for the 3 cookbooks you donated to our group and the signed copy you addressed to me personally. As soon as I’m finished my weight losse diet (5 lbs. to go) I will be cooking up a storm!
The two dieticians in our group were going to use theirs for coulseling newly diagnosed celiacs. Therefore, I think you’ll have some exposure in our little town. Also, the chef who prepared our meal borrowed another member’s copy for his personal use. He is a very popular and successful caterer in our town.
We wish you great success with your cookbooks!
Regards,
Susanne Dickerson
I can’t wait to try this Elana. I make dairy-free chocolate pudding for the kids all the time, but this would be a wonderful change. I’m wondering if it would set up firm enough to fill a lightweight chocolate cake recipe I have? Hmmm. Looks like I will be doing some experimenting!
Looks so delicious Elana! Thanks for your creativity and your delicious, healthy recipes!
Yum! I am really enjoying te recipes I’ve tried. We are grain free and I really try to limit dairy and no longer use any Cain sugar products. For me, grains & sugar trigger major migraines & major depression. This sounds fabulous. The agave & honey (in limited amounts) seem to be okay. I’m assuming it has to do with blood sugar spikes. How does the coconut sugar compare with agave? Thank you so much for all of your healthy recipes. I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of your book, tomorrow. :)
Tofu + melted 99% dark chocolate + agave syrup in a blender = delicious mousse too. :-)
Elana, sounds lovely!
But how do you get the fat out from the coconut milk?
I have seen Kelly at the Spunky Coconut put the can in the fridge overnight and the fat will be at the top the next day so you can carefully scoop it out. Hope that helps :)
Thanks, I’ll give that a try :)
This might just have to be dessert for us tonight! Thanks for sharing…your posts are always fun to look at!
AHHH YUM YUM looks like the PERFECT breakfast (minus the sugar).
One word–exquisite! Oh, and woohoo for the boys! Up and coming entrepreneurs I’d say. ;-)
xo,
Shirley
Sandra, the fat is usually already separated when you open a can of coconut milk. It’s very firm and floats to the top of the can, so it’s fairly easy to fish it out with a rubber spatula and leave the watery part behind. Pretty nifty!
Elana, this recipe looks amazing!
Can you substitute organic coconut oil as the coconut fat?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate mousse! Or I should say lovED, back when I ate dairy. I’m very excited at the idea of making a DF version. I can’t find coconut sugar where I live and haven’t ordered it yet, but like you, I dont mind agave. Any idea how much agave you would use instead of the coconut sugar?
NOT dairy free!
Elana – I hate to tell you this, but the recipes you share as dairy-free that use the Dagoba dark chocolate chips are NOT dairy free. That was a costly mistake I made – trusting you instead of reading the package – at the health food store last weekend. Very disappointed and concerned for others that might trust your dairy free seal of approval for these chips and purchase them from Amazon (where their ingredients are NOT shown.)
The ingredients on my bag of Dagoba’s Chocodrops (dark chocolate chips 73% cacao):
Organic dark chocolate (cacao beans*; cane sugar*; cacao butter*; non-GMO soy lecithin)
Milk* (less than 0.1%)
*organic
Last I checked, even 0.1% of milk is still dairy and as someone whom I’m sure understands the importance of even trace amounts of gluten, that trace amount of milk matters. Please, please, please don’t state that these are dairy free and then link to an amazon page that doesn’t even show the ingredients.
Dear Sonya,
Thanks for your comment. The ingredients in this product have been recently changed to include dairy; it was formerly dairy free and I had been in touch with the company about this issue many times.
That said, each time I write a recipe, I do not contact the manufacturer of the ingredients in that recipe for product information. Product formulations do change. Therefore, all of my links are references and suggestions.
On this site I provide over 500 recipes free of charge. Currently there is no advertising.
I devote and invest a great deal of time here. As a reader, you are invited to take a glimpse into my kitchen and try my family’s recipes. It is the responsibility of the reader to look out for their allergies and constantly check ingredients. This is something that I do for my family. Your family is blessed that you do it for them.
I will be going through the 500 recipes on this site to amend/edit each one that contains Dagoba.
Thanks again for taking the time to speak out; I greatly appreciate it.
Elana
Elana,
Thanks so much for your comment and for the recipe update. I know you can’t be responsible for products changing and I apologize if my reaction was over the top. In re-reading your recipe, the recipe itself is dairy free, assuming you can find chocolate chips without dairy. I’ve not been successful with this, but grabbed some Enjoy Life chips that seemed to be safe at the same time I grabbed the Dagoba chips. It was *totally* my fault for not reading the bag before purchasing – and I’m all the more aggravated with myself because I specifically did not order them off Amazon since I couldn’t read the label. (2 months into food intolerance issues at my house and I got a little sloppy…)
As a chocoholic who is now dairy, corn & gluten free I am very grateful for the time and energy you put into your site and have enjoyed the availability your recipes as a base for my creative license. That gratitude didn’t come out in my initial comment. I’ll look for the 2 types of chips you mentioned and see if they are suitable for me. I definitely want to find a way to make this even if it means making my own chocolate chips from cocoa powder and coconut oil. :-)
Thanks again
~Sonya
I buy a brand of chocolate chips called Guittard, and they come in a red foil wrapped package. They are made in a gluten and peanut free facility, and the vanilla is made with actual vanilla not from any grain – not even corn. So basically it is corn free too. Unfortunately for me, my problem is the sugar!!
I’d love some sugar free recipes! I’m currently not able to have any sugar in any form. Eggs are fine though and lots of protein is always great.
I’m getting hooked on this string of amazing desserts! First that apple blackberry crisp and now this. Wow, I’m impressed. I’m saving these recipes for summer dinner parties. =)
Thanks!
Melissa
OMG. It looks so creamy! I’m making this stat!
OK! Three things… 1) This looks amazingly good just like everything else you have made and put recipes up for. I have had amazing succcess with your recipes and I never quite feel so guilty eating them because of the healthy ingredients. 2) We can use Agave instead of Palm Sugar? If so, does that change the recipe at all? 3) What exactly is fat from coconut milk?
Thanks Elana! :)
Love your recipes!
I have two questions about this one:
Do you turn the heat back on after you add the eggs? I can’t imagine them cooking otherwise.
And, have you thought of any substitutes for canned coconut milk. We’ve been trying to eliminate BPA from our lives, and canned coconut milk is one of the most highly contaminated canned goods, so we no longer purchase it.
Thanks!
I have heard that Native Forest brand coconut milk is in a BPA free can, but you would have to check with the company yourself to confirm. I think I read about it over at Kelly’s website: The Spunky Coconut because she looks for products in BPA free containers. Hope that helps.
This is totally awesome. I really want to make these!
A make a vegan version of this with silken tofu, and it’s every bit as rich and decadent as the traditional cream-filled mousse. I’d love to see some of this at a lemonade stand!
I freaking love you!!!!!!
I have been using palm sugar for quite a while now, I use it in these cookies and it is the best ever! http://hannahsharvest.com/2010/05/19/really-the-best-cookies/
Can’t wait to make this.
I think this is definitely worth a try. The photo looks delicious!
This looks like a dream!
Sounds so delicious, Elana! And so good for the thyroid too! Gotta love coconut milk/cream.
And I love how you give shout outs to other recipe bloggers — says alot about you. :)
As a brand new dairy and gluten free person, I look forward to learning so much from you! These look absolutely scrumptious- thank you!!!
Thanks for a non-agave recipe!
My daughter may be sensitive to Cane Sugar. So, no chocolate chips or any sweetened chocolate for us. I made this tonight and instead of 1 cup chocolate chips I used:
8 Tablespoons Earth Balance Spread
14 T Cocoa powder (pure powder, not hot cocoa mix.)
11 T palm sugar.
I melted the earth balance in the microwave, added the palm sugar then cocoa powder and mixed. I followed the rest of the directions exactly except it didn’t sit overnight. Our eggs are from our chickens so are pretty big.
This was truly awesome. When I first mixed it all up, it tasted like chocolate coconut. Interestingly, 5 hours later when we ate it the coconut taste was gone.
One comment on the cocoa powder. I had measured 15 T of the cocoa into a bowl then changed my mind on how much to start with. I remeasured it out of the bowl and ended up with a fair amount left even though I used 14 T. So, maybe sifting it would equal the amount I used. I’d say experiment with it and see how much you like.
Since we weren’t sure how this would turn out, I also made a crustless (we’re also going almond free right now) strawberry pie. Plus I made whipped cream with the coconut palm sugar. The whipped cream had a caramel flavor to it. Everyone LOVED the whipped cream. We had pie, chocolate mousse, and whipped cream on every plate. What decadence!!!
(I use my adaptation of a Joy of Cooking strawberry pie recipe. The glaze is mainly blended strawberries with a bit of sugar and corn starch. Best strawberry pie I ever had when you use table sugar. Okay, but not as good, when made with palm sugar.)
I use Rapunzel chocolate bars. It is dairy and soy free. It tastes awesome.
I have to wonder why companies use soy, if it’s not necessary.
I don’t see dairy on the ingredient list, but if you are concerned I’d email the company. Amazon sells it too.
I think ghiradelli chocolate chips are dairy free. That’s what a gluten free/lactose free friend told me.
Please tell me what the coconut fat is? It is not the same as coconut oil is it? I have a can of coconut milk but how do you get the “cream” from that? Pardon my ignorance! Once I find out about this I plan to try this scrumptuous pudding recipe.
On another note, who can tell me how they keep/organize all these lovely recipes from Elane’s Pantry? I copy out all the ones that I think I’ll make and I’m getting mounds of paper, besides what I’ve filed in an enormous binder. They’re all so precious. Does anyone have any good ideas they can share about how they organize all these, or keep them in their computer?
Thanks so much!
Regarding the coconut cream–I opened a can of regular coconut milk (not the “light” stuff) and just scooped out the cream. There was ample cream in my can.
As for saving recipes, I have a folder on my computer for recipes. Within that folder I have many subfolders. You have to decide for yourself what you want to call each of your folders and subfolders. Perhaps, though, you could have a
“Recipe Folder” then subfolder
“Gluten Free” then subfolder
“Elana’s Pantry” then subfolders
1 “Deserts”
2 “Crackers”
3 “Breads”
or whatever makes sense to you.
You can also have subfolders that say, “Good” “Okay” “Icky” “Haven’t Tried.”
I found the chocolate mixture too thick to mix with the egg whites and lost a lot of volume. I’m wondering why the coconut fat is added after the egg whites -It would seem to me that the extra liquid would thin the chocolate and make it easier to mix with the egg whites. Thanks!
Thanks for the awsome new recipe, can’t wait to try it. Today I baked your chocolate cake, and can’t wait to dig into it either. I am concered with the Marshmellow frosting though, It’s only egg whites and Aguave, and doesn’t appear to be cooked, so how does that work, I thought there is a major concern for eggs that are not cooked. with Ecoli and other bad bacterias that make people die. I am also a nursing mom, and so I am wondering too if that would be a even higher risk for me eating it. I would really like to hear back from you Elana, Thanks
Seriously, this is the most delicious mousse I have EVER had! We are gluten and dairy free so this is a real treat! Honestly, I almost cried!
My family loved this mousse. And it was so easy to make. It was nice to make it a day ahead of time, so I wouldn’t have to think about it the next day. I made it for Easter and served sliced strawberries on top – yum!
Have you ever substituted any of the non-dairy items for the water? I’m afraid to put the chocolate in the water because it might seize up