Mint Chocolate Mousse

Mousse brings back memories of special events at home, holidays spent in the kitchen with my Mom showing me how to whisk eggs into oblivion.  With lots of ingredients (heavy cream and a million eggs) I assumed mousse was a difficult and time consuming dessert to make.  A few years ago I started experimenting with coconut milk, and this new mousse was born.  It's the same creamy consistency, but so easy and only requires 3 ingredients!  It's super customizable - the chocolate provides a great base to add mint, raspberries, peanut butter, anything your sweet tooth desires!  This dessert can be made in about 10 minutes (although it needs to be chilled for an hour) so whip this up an impress your friends, roommates, girl/boyfriend, or yourself!  

This is a super easy recipe, you just need to plan a little ahead -- You'll need to refrigerate the can of coconut milk overnight.

Mint Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients-

1 15 oz can of full fat coconut milk or coconut cream

1 heaping cup of chopped semi sweet chocolate 

1/4 tsp peppermint extract 

Directions-

1. Coconut milk needs to be refrigerated overnight.  Scoop the solid white part of the coconut milk into a bowl.  It will naturally seperate in the can, I save the liquid for smoothies.  Using a handheld mixer, whip until creamy & smooth

2.  Place bowl filled with chocolate over sauce pan filled with water, over medium heat until melted.  You can also do this in the microwave in 30 second increments

3. Pour melted chocolate into coconut cream.  Whip until combined.  Add peppermint extract, whip until fully combined.

4.  Dish out into 4 ramekins, cover & place in fridge for an hour to set.  Decorate before serving.  M&M's lose their color in the fridge when placed on mousse, so if you're refrigerating and saving it for later, leave candies off until right before serving :)

Enjoy!

      A mismatched double boiler.... Mmmmmm melted chocolate 

Melted whipped coconut chocolate, que the drooling

I just had to add a touch of pink & red for Valentine's Day!

Thanks for reading!

Xo Sara

Celebration Cookies

Snowmageddon 2015 is coming for Boston & all practically all of MA, CT & NY for the next few days.  FEET OF SNOW.  So while you're at the grocery store grabbing the essentials - bread, eggs, milk, wine (duh) I suggest you grab the ingredients to make these cookies.  Fresh baked cookies & binge watching Netflix in bed, is there a better way to celebrate a snow storm?!  I love snow... Granted I live in the city, don't have a car and don't need to shovel, but I just think it's so pretty and fun!  It also makes the winter bearable instead of 5 months devoid of all tree life.  I can't wait to prance around in the snow & walk around my neighborhood.  Stay safe!!

Onto cookies! 

The first Christmas I had an apartment in Boston my Mom typed up a few of my favorite recipes, laminated, and wrapped them up for me to recreate home in my new kitchen.  It's one of my favorite gifts I've ever received, and making these family recipes transports me home again.  Among the list of family recipes are Scandinavian Spritz Cookies.  I will always associate these with Christmas because that's the only time we make them, but it's essentially a sugar cookie and can totally (and should) be made all year round!  Last year we made them for the 4th of July and they're now "Celebration Cookies" perfect for all seasons!  This past holiday we made a few batches of reindeer, snowflake and star cookies, all with bright sugar.  You have to plan a little ahead with these cookies as they have to chill out in the fridge for 30 minutes while the almond flavor really melts together.  My brother and I used to (*cough* still do) sneak bites of the dough in the fridge, yum!

Caramelized Banana Chia Seed Oatmeal

I love oats.  Check out this post for a granola bar recipe I made a year ago.  A year later, the love for oats has only grown stronger.  For breakfast I rotate between oatmeal or a smoothie with eggs (I need something to chew on)  There's so many variations to oatmeal & SO many toppings.  Oh the toppings.  You really can customize it however you'd like.  At the moment my favorite combo is frozen blueberries & salted honey topped with gingerbread granola.  Yup that's right - oat on oats.  Oatmeal is such a warming comforting meal and keeps me full until lunch.

Have you tried chia seeds?  I always put some in my oatmeal & smoothies.  Throw them in cereal, yogurt, salad dressing, you can even make chia pudding!  These tiny seeds - they look like black poppy seeds - are full of omega 3 fatty acid which is super important for brain health and fiber to keep you full for longer & keep me energized for hours.  Read more about these superfood seeds here