Mexican Chocolate Mousse Bars
Prep Time
45 minutes, plus soak / dehydrate / freeze times
Number of Servings
30 bars
Ingredients
Blond Buckwheat Crunch Base
- [q:1 1/2] cup soaked and dehydrated almonds
- [q:1/2] cup sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat
- [q:1/2] cup activated gluten-free oat flour
- [q:1/2] cup coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp mesquite powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- [q:1/4] cup melted virgin coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- [q:1 1/2] tsp vanilla extract
Mexican Chocolate Mousse
- 2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped ripe avocado (about 3 small avocados)
- [q:3/4] cup cacao powder
- [q:1/2] cup coconut milk
- [q:2/3] cup coconut nectar
- [q:1 1/2] tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- [q:1/8] tsp Himalayan salt
- Pinch of ground cloves
- [q:1/8] tsp cayenne pepper
- [q:1/4] cup melted virgin coconut oil
Enrobing Dark Chocolate
- [q:1/2] cup chopped cacao butter
- [q:1 1/2] cups chopped cacao paste (also known as cacao mass or cacao liquor—NOT chocolate liqueur)
- 6 Tbsp coconut nectar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Prepare Almonds
- Place almonds in a glass jar or bowl filled with enough filtered water so they’re submerged. Cover the jar or bowl with a clean towel.
- After 8 to 12 hours of soaking, strain and rinse well. Dehydrate on a lined dehydrator tray at 115° for 24 hours, or until fully dried.
- Prepare Buckwheat
- Soak the raw buckwheat groats in a bowl with enough filtered water to cover the groats. Soak for 20 minutes.
- Rinse well in a strainer. Leave groats in the strainer and place over a bowl to catch excess water.
- Place a clean tea towel over the top of the strainer and set aside at room temperature for 24 to 36 hours to sprout, rinsing 2 to 3 times a day.
- The sprouting process is complete when the tail is the same size as the width of your pinky finger. Rinse well one more time, strain, and spread on a lined dehydrator tray.
- Dehydrate at 115° for 8 to 12 hours, or until dried. Store at room temperature until ready to use.
- Prepare Oat Flour
- Soak 5 cups of raw oat groats with enough filtered water to cover. Soak for 6 to 8 hours, strain, and rinse well.
- Spread groats on a lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 115° for 12 to 20 hours, or until dried.
- Ensure your high-speed blender container is fully dry, and then blend the dehydrated oat groats in two separate batches until flour is formed.
- Sift the oat flour through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve over a dry bowl to remove any leftover unblended, hard granules. If the flour still looks grainy, repeat the blending and sifting process.
- This recipe yields [q:3 1/4] cups of activated oat flour. Store unused flour in the freezer for optimal freshness.
- Make Blond Buckwheat Crunch Base
- in a food processor, process almonds, buckwheat, oat flour, coconut sugar, mesquite powder, and cinnamon until mixture resembles coarse flour.
- Add melted coconut oil, tahini, and vanilla. Process again until batter starts sticking together.
- Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and, using your hands, press blond buckwheat crunch base into bottom of pan, creating an even layer.
- Using back of a spoon, firmly smooth out layer and set aside while you make Mexican Chocolate Mousse.
- Make Mexican Chocolate Mousse
- In a food processor, process avocados, cacao powder, coconut milk, coconut nectar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and cayenne pepper together until mixture is smooth. This will take a couple of minutes, and you will need to scrape down sides of food processor.
- Add melted coconut oil and process again until mixture is well combined.
- Prepare the Bars
- Pour mousse on top of crust in square pan, and even out the layer using an offset spatula. Chill pan in freezer for 8 hours or overnight, until firm.
- Remove pan from freezer and trim edges with a knife to create a clean line on all four sides. Slice into 2x1–inch bars (you can use a ruler to mark each cut with a knife). Make sure to clean your knife in between each slice.
- Line a cutting board or tray with parchment paper and transfer bars to prepared surface. Place bars back in freezer for a few hours to firm up before enrobing.
- Make Enrobing Dark Chocolate
- In a stainless steel or heatproof glass bowl, combine cacao butter and cacao paste and melt them down using the bowl over bowl method, being careful not to burn chocolate.
- For bowl over bowl method, fill a stainless- steel bowl with boiling water from a kettle.
- Place ingredients to be melted in a second stainless steel bowl (bigger than bowl of boiling water), so it doesn’t rest on water.
- Rest larger bowl with ingredients in it on top of smaller bowl with boiling water. Stir until ingredients are melted.
- While bowl is still over hot water, add coconut nectar and vanilla and stir until combined.
- Remove bowl from heat and let chocolate sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to cool. (If you use the chocolate while it’s still hot, the bars will melt.)
- Transfer melted chocolate to a small bowl for enrobing.
- Enrobe the Bars
- Remove bars from freezer and, using a chocolate dipping fork or regular dinner fork, dip a bar into melted chocolate for a few seconds with base facing down (chocolate mousse layer should be facing up).
- Remove bar from chocolate and allow excess chocolate to drip off.
- Transfer enrobed chocolate bar to lined surface and repeat process until each bar is enrobed.
- Place bars back in fridge for 10 minutes to set before serving.
Nutrition Info
1 bar: 361 Calories, 9 g Protein, 28 g Carbohydrates, 14 g Total sugars (7 g Added sugars), 8 g Fiber, 28 g Total fat (10 g sat), 14 mg Sodium, [nutrition:4] Vitamin E, [nutrition:2] Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Magnesium, Phosphorus, [nutrition:1] Iron, Zinc