Enter your email & we’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from us every week! By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Hurry the Food Up. First, let’s break the question down. What exactly is meant by ‘healthy’? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines healthy as ‘indicating or promoting good health’. Ok, so far, so good. That’s a pretty straight-forward explanation. So what about ‘dessert’? Well, dessert is defined as ‘the sweet course eaten at the end of a meal’, and the example sentence given with it is ‘a dessert of chocolate mousse’. Perfect. We’re clearly on safe ground with that one. By my reckoning we’re now looking for a sweet course to be eaten at the end of a meal that indicates or promotes good health. Doesn’t sound too hard, does it?
So what’s good and what’s bad for me? And what’s in an avocado chocolate mousse anyway?
The main problem is, most sweet desserts are loaded with sugar. White, processed sugar is about the worst offender out there, so let’s give that one a miss. We still need a sweetener so let’s take one with a few plus points. Regular or medjool dates are sources of fiber, calcium, iron, zinc, potassium and magnesium – among others. If we’re having sugar, let’s at least make sure we have some with nutritional value. As a back up, we’ll keep an optional tablespoon of maple syrup should the cacao powder overpower. Talking of cacao powder – the raw stuff is awesome! This article provides a good explanation of what it is, and although it also contains minerals and vitamins, its key role is working as an antioxidant. This in-depth study also reports that amazingly, cacao even plays a role in reducing the risk of diabetes! This is starting to sound good. Let’s move on to the true powerhouse of the recipe, the avocado. Wow, just wow. If you thought the rest sounded promising, avocados are almost too good to be true. Huge amounts of monounsaturated (good fats) make sure your heart is looked after, lower your chance heart disease and stroke, and may help to prevent breast cancer too. They also contain carotenoids too. Carotenoids play many roles in the body, including keeping an eye on…your eyes. Carotenoids need fats to ensure your body uses them properly. See where I’m going with this? Yep, the fat in avocados means it self regulates – your body will take maximum goodness from them. Practical right? To head back to the original question. Is it possible to make a truly healthy dessert? That’s up for you to decide, but given the definition of ‘a sweet course eaten at the end of a meal indicating or promoting good health’, with this avocado chocolate mousse I’d say we’re on to a winner!
