Ok so, this #healthy2018 post is kind of long but totally worth it. Have you heard about aquafaba yet?? For anyone who is vegan or doesn't do dairy this stuff is the bomb!! I have been exploring the vegan world for the last few months while learning more about nutrition as a whole. My youngest daughter and grandsons are allergic to milk as well so I have been trying to replace dairy in recipes. Looking for ways to reduce animal protein leads to replacing it with plant protein, which can be a tricky area especially in baking and sweets. In my searches, I kept hearing about aquafaba!
Aquafaba Chocolate Mousse
Aquafaba is the bean juice you usually pour down the drain after soaking them or opening a can. Chickpeas are usually used but it works with other beans too. The plant based protein from the chickpeas in the liquid are what makes aquafaba an amazing substitute for eggs in baking, raw foods and drinks. Plus...it's good for you!! Keep in mind aquafaba is so new to the cooking world that there hasn’t been much research conducted on the nutritional value, but we do know chickpeas are nutritious so......do the math! Egg replacers are expensive and mostly kind of gross so trying this is a no brainer. PLUS....someone told me you could make it taste like whipping cream with the help of a hand mixer. What!!?! It. Is. On.
Playing trains while I whipped this up! 😍
It's existance is owed to a french cook named Joël Roessel. He created a recipe for vegan meringues using the liquid saved from a can of chickpeas. Enter Goose Wohlt....a software engineer from Indiana who's wife discovered Roessel's tutorial on the meringues. He became obsessed with the miracle egg substitute and runs a Facebook page (Vegan Meringues-Hits and Misses) dedicated to it. In 2015 Goose and his 45,000 followers decided on the name Aquafaba for the ingredient....Latin for water and Latin for bean. He legally registered the ingredient as Aquafaba and the rest is history!
So. Good.
Now. I used the aquafaba from a can of organic chickpeas, but some would say there are a few problems with that. Most cans contain BPA, and we try to avoid that. It is more expensive than soaking your own, but I really wanted to try it out today. I will include directions on how to prepare aquafaba from scratch at the end of the post!
VEGAN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE/AQUAFABA CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
How To:
Pour your plant-based milk in a glass or metal bowl and place it over a saucepan with about 2" of boiling water. Or, if you have a double boiler use that.
Add chocolate chips or pieces to the milk
Turn element off and let it sit until the chocolate starts to melt, then stir it with a spatula until fully melted and combined. Take the chocolate off the heat and set it aside to cool.
In the meantime....
Pour the aquafaba into a big, super clean mixing bowl. The tiniest drop of oil will deflate the peaks you are looking for.
Add the lemon juice It helps the peaks to stay stiff for a bit longer and whip the aquafaba with a hand mixer until it forms mounds, (4-7 minutes) then add the sugar and whip it until peaks form. This can take from 7 and 12 minutes more.
4 minutes
7 minutes
By minute 10 I was really excited! It was totally working!!
And suddenly there were peaks!
Lots of peaks...
By now the chocolate should be cooled but still liquid, add about a tablespoon of the whipped aquafaba to it and fold it in using a spatula.
Once you fully combined the two, add the chocolate mixture to the big mixing bowl of aquafaba and carefully fold the chocolate into the remaining aquafaba.
Fold gently
Keep scraping the bottom and edges of the bowl to fully incorporate the chocolate
Make sure the chocolate and aquafaba are well combined, the mousse may deflate a little bit, but that’s ok, it will still set.
Almost there...
Pour or ladle the mousse into jars or glasses and pop it in the fridge. Let it set over night or for at least 3 hours.
After 2 hours (because I could not wait!!) they were nearly set. They taste amazing.....you really have to try it to believe it! I will be making aquafaba everything now....I can totally see how it would work as an egg replacer in baking. #aquafaba blew my mind!!!
I hope you try it! The written directions for the Chocolate Mousse as well as for the aquafaba from dried chickpea recipe are below.
VEGAN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE/AQUAFABA CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
1/3 cup coconut milk or other plant based milk
1 cup of chocolate chips or 175g of soild chocolate broken into pieces dairy-free chocolate for vegan
240 ml aquafaba
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon agar syrup
Pour your plant-based milk in a glass or metal bowl and place it over a saucepan with about 2" of boiling water. Or, if you have a double boiler use that. Add chocolate chips or pieces to the milk. Turn element off and let it sit until the chocolate starts to melt, then stir it with a spatula until fully melted and combined. Take the chocolate off the heat and set it aside to cool.
In the meantime....
Pour the aquafaba into a big, super clean mixing bowl. The tiniest drop of oil will deflate the peaks you are looking for. Add the lemon juice It helps the peaks to stay stiff for a bit longer and whip the aquafaba with a hand mixer until it forms mounds, (4-7 minutes) then add the sugar and whip it until peaks form. This can take from 7 and 12 minutes more.
By now the chocolate should be cooled but still liquid, add about a tablespoon of the whipped aquafaba to it and fold it in using a spatula. Once it is fully combined, add the chocolate to the big mixing bowl and carefully fold it into the aquafaba. Make sure the chocolate and aquafaba are well combined, the mousse may deflate a little bit, but that’s ok, it will still set. Pour or ladle the mousse into glasses and pop it in the fridge. Let it set over night or for at least 3 hours. Enjoy!
AQUAFABA FROM DRIED CHICKPEAS
Soak overnight:
2 cups of dry chickpeas
8 cups of water
Toss the soaking water and rinse the chickpeas. Grab a big pot with a lid and add the soaked chickpeas and 8 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Skim any foam that has come to the top, reduce the temperature to medium-low and simmer the chickpeas with lid on until tender.
Allow about one to one and a half hours for this.
Once the chickpeas are cooked, turn the heat off and leave them to cool in the cooking water completely before draining with a strainer or slotted spoon.
Make sure the strainer or spoon is super clean as even trace amounts of grease or soap inhibit aquafaba’s foaming properties....especially important if you are trying to whip your aquafaba into a meringue or mousse!
Let aquafaba come to room temperature and then transfer to a clean glass container and fridge it. Once chilled aquafaba will turn gelatinous and resemble an egg white!!
If your aquafaba seems too watery, pour back into a pot and reduce over medium-loe heat for around 30-40 minutes or until reduced by about 25%. Cool and proceed as above.
Use it as a substitute for eggs and egg whites wherever needed:
1 Tablespoon equals one yolk
2 Tablespoon equals one white
3 Tablespoon for a whole egg
You may need to play with it since the liquid consistency can vary.
Thank you for reading! Take care of you and yours ❤