Easy Blender Chocolate Mousse (Vegan)

I had made chocolate mousse with tofu before. And it was very nice But when I saw a tofu based mousse recipe from Francois Payard, I had the feeling it would be a bit better than what I had tried before. It was excellent: although denser than some mousses, it was surprisingly light given that there was no whipped cream or egg whites folded into it.

I changed the recipe out of sheer laziness. The original recipe calls for heating soy milk in a pot, pouring it over chopped chocolate in a bowl, whisking to make a ganache and then folding in silken tofu that was pureed in a food processor. I found a way to make this a one appliance, one step recipe. I dump freshly brewed coffee, chocolate chunks and silken tofu in the blender and whirl away. The resulting mousse looks hopelessly liquid, but it sets up in the fridge. Somehow or other, the blender whips some bubbles into the mixture, giving it that fluffiness characteristic of mousses.

The original recipe calls for a pound of 61% chocolate, a pint of vanilla soy milk, 12.3 ounces of silken tofu and a fresh vanilla bean. There was no indication of serving yield.

I tried two different formulas:

(1) 6 ounces hot coffee, 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 2 ounces chocolate chips, 4 ounces silken tofu, 2 tsp. vanilla; and

(2) 5 ounces hot coffee, 1 ounces coconut oil, 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 1 Tbl. cocoa powder, 4 ounces silken tofu, a pinch of salt, and 2 tsp. vanilla.

Each version was good and yielded 4 servings (or 5 smallish servings).

Blender Chocolate Mousse
The better the chocolate you use, the better the mousse.
10 ounces freshly brewed coffee, hot and strong (use 12 ounces if following the below suggested option of adding 4 extra ounces of chocolate)
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (you can just break up a chocolate bar into chunks by hand instead of using a knife)
8 ounces silken tofu
2 ounces coconut oil, optional (can use an additional 4 ounces chocolate instead of the coconut oil and cocoa)
2 Tbl. cocoa, optional (can use an additional 4 ounces chocolate instead of the coconut oil and cocoa)
1/8 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. plus 1 tsp. vanilla

Put everything in blender and blend until smooth. The mixture will be liquid-ey with some bubbles in it. Pour into eight to ten serving cups, cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm.

Variation: for hazelnut mousse with a very light, soft texture, use 12-14 ounces Schmerling Rosemarie chocolate (or another hazelnut truffle chocolate bar), plus 4 ounces peanut butter, 10-11 ounces hot coffee and 16 ounces silken tofu.

(Digression: Why, you may wonder, would the mixture whip up and hold air bubbles? There is an interesting mousse recipe by Herve This (see also here and here) that is just water and chocolate, melted together, cooled and whipped. Apparently, when chocolate is melted together with hot water in a certain ratio, it has the fat content of heavy cream and whips up something like heavy cream.)

Tags: chocolate, chocolate chantilly, Francois Payard, Herve This, Mousse, vegan