“Diet” Chocolate Mousse (Tofu Dessert Recipe)

Last week I taught a cooking class for residents of a low income housing community.  It went really well and I loved all the participants.  At the end of class they asked me if I would come back (of course I agreed!) and one woman begged me to do a healthy dessert class.  Like many children, her daughter has a sweet tooth, so the mom is desperate for healthy ways to satisfy that adorable little girl’s cravings.  This chocolate mousse (adapted from Rocco DiSpirito’s “Now Eat This! Diet”) just might do the trick.  It may be “diet” dessert, but it doesn’t taste like diet food!I received a copy of Rocco’s new book in the mail last week and knew the instant I saw this dessert that it would be the first recipe I’d try.  I wouldn’t say that I’m a chocolate addict like lots of my friends, but once a month I definitely get a serious craving (if you know what I mean!).  This is that time, and I’ve been looking for a way to feed my craving.  For all you vegans out there, this is also a great way to satisfy your own cravings.  It’s kind of a vegan chocolate pudding recipe!

From Rocco’s description, I was expecting this to be almost the same as chocolate mousse.  It’s not really, so at first I was a little disappointed.  But once I got past my expectations and tasted the dish objectively, I was pretty pleased.  It definitely has a different taste than pudding or mousse because of using tofu instead of eggs and cream.  But it tastes good!  As Rocco says in the recipe head notes, there is a creamy mouthful thanks to the silkiness of the tofu.

I did make a couple small changes to Rocco’s recipe in order to save some money. Rather than buying a sugar free chocolate syrup, I increased the melted chocolate by an ounce.  I didn’t have instant espresso powder (and didn’t want to buy any), so I used a small amount of finely ground French roast coffee.  I also used 14 oz of tofu instead of 12 because it came in a 14 oz package.  As I mention in the recipe, make sure to immediately blend the melted chocolate and tofu in the food processor.  My cold tofu hardened the chocolate as I was adding the other ingredients.

The timing of this recipe worked out great because tofu was on sale at Safeway for $1.25 a package.  I ended up buying another package of silken tofu to play with and a package of firm tofu for stir fry later this week.

I wasn’t sure how the guys (Eric and our two exchange students) would respond to the dessert, they were as intrigued as I was at the idea of a tofu dessert.  I warned them it wasn’t the same as ice cream (which they love) before they ate it.  “THIS IS GOOD!!!”  One of our boys burst out after his first bite.

The recipe met with roaring approval, lots of man grunts around the table 🙂

Below is my rendition of Rocco’s recipe.  If you’d like more of his diet friendly adaption of comfort food favorites, you can buy “Now Eat This! Diet” on Amazon, or enter to win the book right here! That’s right, Rocco gave me four copies to give away!  Don’t miss out!

(If you decide you can’t handle the tofu version of chocolate pudding, I’ve got a killer orange chocolate pudding recipe as well.)