Spiced Chocolate Mousse & The Kinfolk Table

Hello :) A little belated now ... but I hope everyone had a nice christmas and new years eve !! I'm looking forward to 2014, it's gonna be a good one! Finishing my degree in nutrition and figuring out what the heck I'm gonna do afterwards, overseas travel (currently thinking New Zealand in July), continuing internships/work and other such things. And I just ordered a fancy new blender yesterday, so I'm excited to be one of those people who sip on daily green smoothies. Oh yeah!

Now onto today's topic ...

Kinfolk magazine released a cookbook, which I bought about a month ago. If you like the magazine, I think you'll love the cookbook. There are recipes collected from various bloggers, bakers, writers, artists etc and is separated into different cities which are Brooklyn, Copenhagen, Oregon, Portland and the English countryside. The images of Copenhagen had me wanting to go back straight away! The book is beautifully styled and I have already made a few recipes with great success. 

The first recipe I made was a cucumber & fennel salad. Sure, it's super simple, but is just so darn fresh and summery. You just finely slice some cucumber and fennel, and top with dill, olive oil, lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon. This would be the perfect light lunch, accompanied with some grilled fish perhaps.

Another recipe I have made a few times, is a spiced chocolate mousse, which was contributed by Sarah Britton of my new roots (you're crazy if you haven't bookmarked her blog). For some time, I've seen many mousse recipes with an avocado/raw cacao base, but have never actually made any. Well I ain't going back now! It was super scrumptious, so here's the recipe ... 

But first, how lovely are these photos of Sarah Britton in the cookbook.

Recipe: Spiced Chocolate Mousse (adapted from The Kinfolk Cookbook, recipe by Sarah Britton). Serves 2 (or 4 small portions).

Ingredients-

1/4 cup hemp seeds 

2 heaping tablespoons raw cacao powder

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1 large banana, frozen and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons raw honey, agave, or pure maple syrup

pinch cayenne

pinch of ground ginger

pinch of sea salt

cold water, as needed

Directions-

Blend the hemp seeds, cacao, avocado, banana, honey, cayenne, ginger, salt in a blender until smooth. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time to adjust the consistency to taste. Serve immediately. 

Note- the hemp seeds may be replaced by raw almonds, raw cashews, or raw sunflower seeds. Soak the nuts or seeds in water for about 10 minutes or until softened prior to processing with the recipe. 

I had some fun while prepping the mousse ... 

I used sunflower seeds instead of hemp seeds as suggested, and used ground cardamom instead of cayenne. Adding the frozen banana in there is great, because it means you don't have to refrigerate the mixture (like most other recipes suggest) & you have a cool dessert (literally) ready to serve immediately. It's a good idea to keep a few frozen bananas in the freezer for this purpose! Definitely a recipe to bookmark !! You can't even tell there's avocado in there, it just gives it a creamy richness. 

Ok to finish this post, I have a favour to ask. You see, I'm kinda curious to see who reads this blog (is there anyone out there?!), and was hoping you could comment with your name, age, country and maybe your profession or fun fact. It'll be fun reading responses and to see who reads this blog! Thanks so much!

Hannah x