Oh man, do I have a recipe for you. As much as I love raw veggies, fruit smoothies, and mixed drinks, chocolate is the key to my heart.
Aaron’s birthday is coming up in a couple of days (29! how did that even happen?!), and fortunately, chocolate is also the key to his heart. Well, one of them. Things like scotch and coffee rank right up there too. Oh, and peanut butter. Only in the last few years have I appreciated the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, but it’s one of Aaron’s favorites. Rest assured, if there’s some sort of peanut butter chocolate dessert on a menu, he will order it. And I will say I’m too full to order my own and then proceed to eat half of his. He loves this about me.
I knew I wanted to make him some sort of chocolate peanut butter dessert for his birthday, but I wasn’t sure if I should bake cupcakes, a full-on cake, some sort of pie…and then I remembered Sally’s raw vegan chocolate mousse. I raved about this mousse once before – it. is. awesome. The ingredients are simple, the process is easy, and the result is insanely decadent without tons of added sugar or processed ingredients.
I got to work adapting her recipe, subbing peanuts for cashews and adding in extra cocoa powder (among other small changes). But then I thought – what if I covered the whole thing in homemade chocolate? Bingo.
It’s like a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake filling meets a peanut butter cup meets that chocolate magic shell we loved so much as kids. Need I say more?
- 1 C. Peanuts, soaked for 4 hours and drained
- ½ C. Water
- ¼ C. Cocoa Powder
- 1½ Tbs. Agave
- 1½ Tbs. Maple Syrup
- 1½ Tbs. Creamy Peanut Butter (salted or unsalted)
- 1 Tbs. Coconut Oil, melted
- ½ Tsp. Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract
- 6 Tbs. Cocoa Powder
- 2 Tbs. Coconut Oil, melted*
- Sweetener to Taste (I used 15 drops of liquid Stevia)
- Finishing Salt or Sea Salt & Fresh Raspberries for Garnish (optional)
- Combine all of the ingredients for the mousse in the bowl of a food processor.
- Process the mixture for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl every so often.
- Portion the mousse into 4 small dishes and place them in the fridge while you prepare the topping.
- For the chocolate, stir the melted coconut oil and cocoa powder together until no lumps remain. Add the sweetener to taste and stir again.
- Pour approximately 1½ Tbs. of the chocolate over each dish of mousse and return to the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow the chocolate topping to harden slightly.
- Sprinkle with finishing salt or sea salt (optional), then place the mousse back in the fridge for at least 30 more minutes until the mousse has chilled and thickened.
- Top with a fresh raspberry for a pop of color and enjoy!
Happy (early) Birthday, Aaron! Can you believe we met around this time twelve years ago?! Time flies.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks amazing! and Happy Birthday to your hubby!
Thanks, Amy!
omigosh, what a delicious dessert! i love that you SOAKED peanuts for the mousse! i have never seen that before! i love peanut butter more than almost anything, so this is the perfect dessert for me.
happy birthday to aaron!
I hadn’t seen soaked peanuts either, but it worked!
I love the combination of chocolate with peanut butter! This mousse looks bomb dot com.
haha Thanks, Michelle!
This is destiny, I say! Today is my Hubby’s birthday (the big 35!), and I’ve been scouring the interwebs looking for something perfect for his birthday dessert. Chocolate and peanut butter is his favorite combination, and this will be perfect! I’ll even have time to soak the peanuts because he doesn’t get home until 1:0o a.m. Can’t wait to taste this!
Happy birthday to your husband! Aaron and I loved this dessert – I hope you guys do too!
I need this mousse in my life. Looks amazing. And happy birthday to Aaron. My husband and I met 12 years ago too – it’s so weird to realize since I think we are still pretty young.
Thanks, Elina! I like to think we’re still pretty young too.
As I live and breathe. . . .there is no way this mousse would make past one afternoon under my supervision. No way.
haha It lasted nearly 4 days at my house, which is kind of a miracle. And that’s only because it got lost behind a giant head of cauliflower.
Wow! I’ve been craving chocolate and this looks ridiculous! Thanks for the recipe!
This sounds divine!! That chocolate topping
Thanks, Nicole! The chocolate topping by itself makes for a really good dessert.
This is yummy, but it’s not even close to mousse. It’s more like chocolate chunky peanut butter.
I didn’t find it to be like peanut butter in texture. More like a rich peanut butter cheesecake filling, but I’ve been eating raw desserts for a while, so perhaps my tastes are skewed! Glad you liked it, regardless.
It’s hard to go wrong with peanuts and chocolate!