Weekend Indulgence - Chocolatey Goodness with a difference!!

I love chocolate desserts as my blog posts should show...most of my desserts have chocolate in some shape or form in them...but recently, with the move to eating healthy, I am trying to find healthful ingredients in all my chocolate desserts.

So I was intrigued when I came upon this recipe for Chocolate Mousse in a fitness magazine which had no cream or half and half or anything else that is fattening in it! The main ingredient was....tofu!!! For a long time, I did not make this one because I was not sure if the texture of the mousse would be well...anything like mousse, with just tofu in it. When I tried it finally, for the first time - I found that it was actually very good...it had a creaminess to it that was very surprising for tofu. But to make it even better(well...perfection is good, right?!) I added bananas the next time and Voila...I get one awesome recipe for chocolate mousse! I served it for a weekend dinner(last weekend) with some friends and everybody wondered how much cream I had used...boy, were they surprised when they found it was tofu...

So, here goes with the recipe...hope you like it as much as my family and friends did!

Recipe for Chocolate Mousse with a difference:

Serves: 8

Prep/cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
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Super-Firm Tofu - 1 pack cut into small pieces(may also go by the name extra-firm tofu)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 1/2 cup
Unsweetened dark cocoa powder - 1 1/2 tsp(I used Ghirardelli)
Banana - 1 sliced thinly
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp(optional for extra sweetness)
Low-fat milk - 2 tsp

Method:

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Blend the tofu until it turns silken-smooth...this is very important in order to achieve the soft consistency of mousse...not blending enough will give it a gritty consistency. This step takes a few minutes.

Then, add all the other ingredients and blend until well-incorporated and thoroughly smooth. At this point, the mousse will have a very thick consistency.

Pour the mousse into serving cups or ramekins and cover each serving up with plastic wrap so that the top layer of the mousse remains smooth.

Chill overnight in the refrigerator and serve cold, if possible for best taste.

Garnishes could be cherries, candied fruit, chopped nuts, grated dark chocolate/white chocolate, toffee bits...for the kids, you could even serve with a beautiful topping of whipped cream(that always gets an awesome reaction from them)