Chocolate Chia Mousse with Cardamom Rose Coco Whip + Kale & Caramel Cookbook

This recipe is reprinted with permission from Kale & Caramel Cookbook. Copyright © 2017 by Lily Diamond from KALE & CARAMEL: Recipes for Body, Heart, and Table published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Photos copyright © 2017, Lily Diamond

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CHOCOLATE CHIA MOUSSE WITH CARDAMOM ROSE COCO WHIP

This chocolate chia mousse with cardamom rose coco whip from Kale & Caramel's cookbook is the perfect healthy-ish (vegan) dessert for any chocolate lover!

Course Dessert, Sweet Thangs

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 3 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Servings 6

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

Chocolate Chia Mousse Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/3 cup (plus 1 tablespoon) cocoa powder
• 2 pinches sea salt
• 2 1/4 cups nut milk of choice
• 1/4 cup (plus 1 1/2 tablespoons) pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Cardamom Rose Coco Whip Ingredients

• 1 13.5 ounce can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated upside down
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon rose water
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Mousse Toppings

• 1/4 cup cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoons dried edible rose petals, stems and leaves discarded

Instructions

Make the Mousse

1. At least 1 hour before serving, combine the chia seeds, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add your milk of choice, maple syrup, and vanilla and continue whisking until all cocoa powder clumps are dissolved and the chia begins to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or as long as overnight.
2. Transfer the thickened chocolate chia pudding to a blender and blend on high until very creamy and smooth. In a double boiler over boiling water, melt the chocolate chips until the chocolate is completely smooth.
3. Add the melted chocolate, orange zest, and cardamom to the blender with the blended chia pudding, and blend on low until all is incorporated. Taste and add a touch more sweetness or salt if you like. Scoop the mousse out of the blender into a bowl. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, to set.

Make the Coco Whip

1. Open the bottom of the can of chilled coconut milk, scoop out the thick coconut cream, and discard the rest of the liquid. In a large bowl, mis the coconut cream with the sugar, rose water, and cardamom. Whip with an electric mixer on high until the mixture becomes smooth, light, and whippy.
2. Top the mousse with cardamom rose coco whip and sprinkle with the cacao nibs and rose petals.
3. EAT UP.

I think within the blogging community we all have a story of the time that we first met Lily. She’s a bright light in this world and her ability to make quick (and lasting) connections with people astounds me. I was at an event in LA for a chip company when I first met Lily. (Obviously I already knew of her beautiful blog, Kale & Caramel, but I had never met her.) We talked briefly about me moving away from LA and about her transition from veganism into a more relaxed plant-based life after the death of her mother. And it was from that moment on that I knew I wanted to be her friend.

So I moved away from LA, and kept in touch with her over the internet. We would occasionally chat about food or boys or the industry over snapchat or instagram or email. Finally, I booked a trip back to LA and I decided to pitch her the idea of letting me shoot a video for her blog. I have always admired her work and I knew she didn’t have many videos on her site, so I thought this could be the perfect way to collaborate.  So I sent Lily an email asking her if she wanted to work with me while I was in LA. I hoped that *maybe, just maybe* she would say yes. But she did so much more than that. She let me in on a secret – she was writing a book, and she wanted me to shoot videos to help promote it. I was honored and shocked and so excited.

So I flew to LA and spent two days in Lily’s kitchen, watching her make wild magic and trying to catch every moment of it on film. Lily is a force of nature, in life and in the kitchen. So we danced and drank hibiscus kombucha and made some recipes from her beautiful book and shared stories of love. She even bought me donuts on my birthday. And from that day on Lily became a real life friend of mine.

Lily is a person will let you into her world and make you feel at home in an instant. She does this every time you see her, and she does this with her writing. This “cookbook” she wrote is so much more than recipes, it’s an invitation into her life. It’s a memoir. It’s an herb bible. It’s a work of art. Lily will welcome you into her world and teach you about life and love and foraging herbs all in one quick instant.

I am honored to know a lady as wild and strong as she is. And her recipes? Well they are always fresh and innovative and use ingredients in a way that my mind can hardly handle. She has a mastery of spices and herbs and flowers and uses them in ways that my Southern brain will never understand. But she is all Hawaii in the kitchen, she’s wild and free and light and lovely.

The recipes are all vegetarian and vegan and so intensely unique. The book is divided by herb and flower, and Lily explains how to incorporate these fresh items into your kitchen. She has recipes for face masks and body mist and salads and chocolate chia mousse. It’s highly educational, and incredibly beautiful to read and look at. So you should buy this book. For your soul. For your kitchen. For the springtime. And for the home inside of yourself.

I have also included all of the videos we shot together so that you can take a look at them and see Lily’s beautiful food in action. I feel so honored to have been able to capture an ounce of the beauty she gives to the world. Thank you for existing, my sweet friend, Lily. xoxo