Mexican Chocolate Avocado Mousse with Cinnamon and Toasted Pepitas
Silky vegan cacao-avocado mousse spiced with cinnamon and cayenne, topped with crunchy toasted pepitas.
Best for Healthy monounsaturated fats and fibre with low added sugar for a craving-satisfying treat
This is Mexican hot-chocolate turned into a cold, spoonable mousse — deep cacao, warm cinnamon, and a whisper of cayenne that lingers rather than burns. Ripe avocado does the work of cream, folding into something so glossy and rich you'd never guess there's no dairy or refined sugar in the bowl. Dates and a little maple carry the sweetness, so you get all the indulgence with healthy fats and fibre instead of a sugar spike. Blend it, chill it, and it tastes like it took far more effort than it did.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avocados , large, flesh scooped out (about 300 g flesh total)
- 4 medjool dates , pitted; soaked in hot water 10 minutes if firm, then drained
- 40 g Unsweetened cocoa or raw cacao powder , sifted
- 45 ml maple syrup
- 80 ml unsweetened almond milk , plus a splash more if needed to loosen
- 1.5 g ground cinnamon , about 3/4 teaspoon
- 0.3 g cayenne pepper , a pinch, to taste
- 5 ml Vanilla extract
- 1 g fine sea salt , a generous pinch
- 30 g Raw pepitas , for topping
- 15 g dark chocolate , shaved, for topping (optional – can be omitted)
Instructions
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1
Toast the pepitas in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing often, until they puff and turn golden and start to pop, 3–5 minutes. Tip onto a plate to cool — they'll crisp as they sit. Watch closely; pumpkin seeds go from toasted to burnt fast.
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2
Combine the avocado flesh, drained dates, sifted cocoa, maple syrup, almond milk, cinnamon, cayenne, vanilla, and sea salt in a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend, scraping down the sides two or three times, until completely smooth and glossy with no flecks of date or avocado, 2–3 minutes. Add a splash more almond milk only if the mixture is too thick to move; you want a thick, spoonable mousse. Taste and adjust — a little more maple for sweetness, another pinch of cayenne for heat.
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3
Divide the mousse among four small ramekins or glasses and smooth the tops. Chill at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days, covered) — this firms the texture and lets the cinnamon and cayenne bloom. Just before serving, top with the toasted pepitas, a dusting of cinnamon, and the shaved dark chocolate if using.