Monday, October 20, 2008

Chocolate Mousse Torte with Fresh Berries

Chocolate Mousse Torte with Fresh Berries
By Matt Samuelson of the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute
Originally posted by Vegbaby

Crust:
1 cup shredded dry coconut
1 cup macadamia nuts or 1 cup soaked and dehydrated almonds, pecans, etc.
⅛-¼ cup packed pitted dates
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
optional: for extra rich crust add 1-1 1/2 tsp. coconut oil (I didn't use this)

Filling:
2 medium to large avocados (I think I used 3)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
¼ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp. organic cocoa powder or about 1/2 cup carob powder (I used cocoa)
½ cup plus 1 Tbsp. Rapadura sugar, sucanat, or other whole organic cane sugar (or agave/honey?)

1 pint strawberries, thinly sliced

Crust:
Place dry coconut in food processor with S blade and blend into a fine powder. Add nuts, salt and cayenne and blend until a texture of coarse meal. Break up dates or chop finely if very hard and distribute evenly on top of nut mixture. Homogenize until texture resembles a graham cracker crust. Mixture should be loose and crumbly and hold together when pressed tightly.

Press the crust into a 9-inch ungreased pie plate. Press firmly to get the crust to hold together. Place in the freezer or refrigerator to set up while making the filling.

Filling:
Place the avocados, vanilla, salt, cocoa, and sucanat in a food processor with the S blade and homogenize until completely smooth. (I did this in a strong blender.) Divide the filling into 3 equal parts. Spread a thin layer of filling on top of the crust. Next, place one layer of strawberries on the filling. Spread another layer of chocolate filling on top of the strawberries, and then layer more strawberries, another layer of filling and the remainder of the berries. Refrigerate for at least one hour prior to serving.

As I said, I actually ate the strawberry version at the festival when the chef who created this recipe, Matt Samuelson, made it for us. I liked it without better, but that's just me, chocoholic at heart. Matt didn't use the above measurements, by the way, because he was making a larger batch, I think, and he suggested adding cocoa and sugar until the mixture no longer tastes like avocado at all. It's unbelievable!
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