Peanut Butter Mousse & Crystal Ginger Chips

A protein-rich peanut butter mousse light as a cloud, full of nutrition from the unusual ingredient, quinoa. Topped with homemade crystallized ginger chips made with fresh ginger. An easy healthy dessert high in protein and a strong energy-booster.

PIN IT FOR LATER

Peanut Butter Mousse & Crystal Ginger Chips

This easy peanut butter mousse, high in protein thanks to quinoa, and further boosted with fresh crystallized ginger chips on top.  This dessert is a wonderful combination of sweet and salty with layers of heavenly peanut butter whipped cream and dark chocolate and ginger.

It is healthier with the addition of protein rich quinoa. And interesting with layers of nuts, crystallized ginger, and more.

I love recipes that blur the line between a meal and a dessert. This delicious mix is loaded with nutrition. And it’s so easy to make! Perfect for a fresh breakfast or nutritious energizing snack. Are you ready to learn how to make it?

Before we dive into the recipe, I’d like to invite you to sign up for my free chocolate course. Five lessons hit your inbox with detail on how to create your own simple healthy chocolate desserts.

Okay, so let’s get started…

Ingredients Needed For Peanut Butter Mousse

The traditional ingredients used to make a vegan peanut butter mousse are coconut cream, the solid portion from a can of full fat coconut milk, maple syrup, and peanut butter. But I included an additional and highly-nutritious ingredient, quinoa. Cooked quinoa. Here is a break down of all the ingredients needed to make vegan peanut butter mousse:

1. Coconut Cream. This healthy fat is essential to bind the mousse and provide a creamy base.

2. Maple syrup provide a low-glycemic sweetener, thus avoiding refined sugar.

3. Peanut Butter is essential, but not the commercial kind that is basically 50% refined sugar. This recipe requires a healthy runny unsweetened version where the ingredients are just peanuts and oil. Some popular quality brands of whole food peanut butter include Barney Butter, Justins, ONCE, and Whole Food’s 365 brand.

4. Quinoa makes an important appearance in my unusual vegan peanut butter mousse. It adds a creamy texture as well as incredible nutrition, including protein and fiber and many essential minerals. Quinoa is also suitable for gluten-free recipes because it is a pseudo-grain.

I included quinoa in my peanut butter mousse because it adds a structure as well as robust nutrition.

How To Make Vegan Peanut Butter Mousse

It’s easy to make my mousse.

First, refrigerate the coconut milk can overnight so you can extract the coconut cream solid the next day.

Second, cook up the quinoa. You can make more than you need for this recipe and simply add it to salads throughout the week. Get to know quinoa, I think you’ll love it.

Cooking quinoa for this peanut butter mousse is easy. Just rinse raw quinoa to remove any bitter coating. Boil it at a ratio of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Bring both quinoa and water to a boil, lower heat and simmer about 5 minutes or until water is gone. There is debate as to whether the pot should be covered or not. I’ve made it both ways. You can tell when quinoa is done because each kernel produces a tiny, curly tail. Refrigerate extras for 3-4 days. Let the portion you want to use in this mousse cool a bit before making the mousse.

Ready to make the mousse? Open the can of coconut milk, scoop out all of the solid coconut cream and add to the blender. Set aside the milk left in the can. You will refrigerate it later to add to future smoothies, but for now you might need some to add to the mousse.

Finally, add the peanut butter, maple syrup to the coconut cream, and blend. Taste-test, to be sure it is sweet enough, if not add more maple syrup. And be sure the texture is creamy like a pudding. If not, add a bit of coconut milk and blend again.

Pour your mousse into jars and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Tips To Make Vegan Peanut Butter Mousse

1. Be sure to use a runny natural peanut butter with no added sugar
2. Any color quinoa is fine
3. Be sure to refrigerate the coconut milk the prior night and keep the coconut milk onhand while you blend the mousse in case you need to add some to the mixture.
4. I topped mine with chocolate sauce, straight peanut butter, whipped cream, nuts and a drizzle as well as homemade crystallized ginger. But you can also just eat the mousse on it’s own.

Troubleshooting Making Vegan Peanut Butter Mousse

What can go wrong? The mixture can be too dry from the peanut butter you use. Add more milk during the blend process to achieve a creamy texture.
Also the quinoa can taste grainy in the mousse. The solution is to blend and blend again at a high speed.

Tips to Make This Peanut Butter Mousse Jar

This chocolate peanut butter mousse is easy to make, easy to eat, and even makes an elegant breakfast, snack or dessert.

It’s rich in taste and flavor. I do recommend you taste-test the sweetness of the mousse, adding more maple syrup if need be.

I make a whipped cream folded with nut butter which is light and delicious. I used peanut butter, but other nut butters work as well. The whipped cream is made with full fat coconut milk, so it has a slight coconut-y flavor. I also topped mine with homemade crystallized ginger chips made with fresh ginger.

How to Make Crystallized Ginger

Ginger is a wonderful detoxer, so it’s good for you! Now, crystallized ginger chips are a bit sugary, so they aren’t quite as healthy as straight ginger, but they are fun. You can add them here, or leave it off. I have however shared the homemade crystallized ginger chip recipe in case you want to use it for your holiday recipes.

They are easy to make. Just cut and peel fresh ginger, cut into strips and boil until soft. Dip into organic cane sugar and dry. Easy peasy! I use my strips right away because I’m not sure how to store.

I hope you enjoy these recipes!.

Interested in sharing on pinterest? Use this image…

I invite you to keep up with me on: Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Food Gawker | Twitter

Don’t miss a thing, subscribe here to get recipes delivered to your inbox!

Peanut Butter Mousse & Crystallized Ginger Chips

A protein-rich peanut butter mousse light as a cloud, full of nutrition from the unusual ingredient, quinoa. Topped with homemade crystallized ginger chips made with fresh ginger. An easy healthy dessert high in protein and a strong energy-booster.

5 from 3 votes

Print Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free

Keyword: hormone-balance, peanut butter mousse, protein

Does it keep?: 1-week refrigerated

Prep Time: 1 day 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 day 25 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 234kcal

Author: Dee Dine

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Mousse

• 2/3 cup coconut cream (Use all the solid portion of a (14oz) can of full fat coconut milk - it's somewhere between 2/3 cup and a full cup)
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup unsweetened peanut butter
• 1/4 cup cooked quinoa (optional but try to use this addition as it is such a nutrition booster)

Crystallized Ginger

• 2-3 knobs of ginger peeled and sliced
• 3/4 cups of water
• 1/4 cup organic cane sugar

Useful Equipment

• 1 Blendtec Twister Jar
• 1 Weck Parfait Jars

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep

• Chill the can of full fat coconut milk overnight.
• If you plan on adding quinoa, rinse raw quinoa, and boil it at a ratio of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Add both to a pot, bring it to boil, then lower it to a simmer until all water is absorbed and you see little curly string coming out of each kernel. Probably about 5 minutes. Use in this recipe and refrigerate extras for 3-4 days.

Make Peanut Butter Mousse

• Remove the solid portion of the chilled coconut milk can, reserving the liquid portion for smoothies. Add that solid cream to a blender, along with the peanut butter and maple syrup and quinoa and whip into a creamy texture. Add some reserved coconut liquid from can or water if the texture is too dry. It will depend on how runny your peanut butter is.
• Pour the blended mixture into 4 jars
• Store jars in refrigerator until you are ready to eat.

How to make Crystallized Ginger:

• Cut chunks of fresh ginger into 1-2 inch long logs.

  Peel the ginger using the edge of a spoon. Slice the logs long-wise with a mandolin (be careful!) or a paring knife.
• Simmer the strips in simmering water for 30 minutes. Don't let the water run down.

  Drain the water, and pour on the sugar and toss the strips until they are well-coated.

  Lay the strips on a parchment overnight to dry at room temperature.
• Store in a dry, airtight container - I'm not sure how long they would last since they have sugar on them. But if you refrigerate them, they become soggy. So we only make enough to eat that day. Let me know if you know a way to store homemade crystallized ginger chips.

  Some say they dry them in an oven that has been preheated to 350F, turned off, and with door open. I haven't tried that; not sure if the sugar will "cook".

How to Serve Jars

• Sprinkle mousse with chocolate sauce, popped quinoa, cacao nibs, nuts, crystallized ginger and any other toppings you like.. Serve jars immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 419mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 2mg

Dee Dine

Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients . On this blog you’ll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in sciences and  journalism. More about Dee Dine here.