It all started out with my curiosity about homemade marshmallows. With so many great memories of rice krispie treats and s’mores as a kid, how could I not be intrigued?
I tinkered around with recipes for a while, trying to decide what would best showcase these homemade marshmallows. While I knew I wanted to do something s’more inspired, there were so many options. I finally settled on this mousse for a few reasons.
Nutritionally speaking, these homemade marshmallows are far better than what you’ll find in a grocery store. Most marshmallows are made with high fructose corn syrup, lots of sugar, cornstarch, and other artificial flavors and preservatives. These marshmallows essentially have 2 ingredients: honey and gelatin.
With that said, the main ingredient of these homemade marshmallows is still honey, meaning they’re high in sugar. Similarly, graham crackers are fairly high in sugar. As such, I didn’t want the marshmallow or graham cracker to be the main components of this dessert. This mousse helps counteract some of the sugar by using banana as a sweetener and having lots of healthy fat and protein.
Homemade Marshmallow Fluff
Adapted from The Urban Poster
1/2 cup water, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
pinch sea salt
Dissolve gelatin in 1/4 cup water and set aside.
Put other 1/4 cup water, vanilla extract, honey, and sea salt in a small saucepot over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil and continue to boil until the mixture reaches 230-240 degrees (check with a candy thermometer), about 5ish minutes. Remove mixture from heat and set aside.
Put dissolved gelatin mixture in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly pour in honey mixture into the bowl, while beating the mixture on high with an electric mixer. Continue to beat on high until the mixture begins to form a thick cream, about 7-10 minutes.
Set aside. If you don’t serve right away, the mixture will begin to solidify into marshmallows (which is fine, just no longer fluff!).
Banana Chocolate Mousse
3 very ripe avocados
1 16 oz. container silken tofu
3 droppers stevia (or 3 tablespoons honey)
4 tablespoons banana puree or 1 small, very ripe banana*
1/2 cup cocoa powder
sea salt
Place avocado, tofu, stevia, banana puree, cocoa powder, and sea salt in a food processor. Process until smooth, about 30-40 seconds.
A Note about Bananas
Banana puree is one of my new favorite things. It adds sweetness to any dessert, and is fuss and mess-free. Find it in the baby-section of the grocery store.
Alternatively, you can just use a banana for this recipe. Just make sure it’s very ripe, otherwise it will add more of a starchy, rather than sweet, flavor to the mousse. Additionally, you may have to tinker around with the exact amount of banana you use in this recipe. While I suggest one small, ripe banana, we all know that the size and sweetness of a banana varies greatly. Given this, I suggest tasting as you go along and adding more banana as you see fit.
Graham Topping
4 graham crackers, crumbled- I used Back to Nature’s Golden Honey Oat Grahams. While not the lowest in sugar, I could recognize every ingredient.
Spoon chocolate mousse into small bowls or glasses. Top with marshmallow fluff and crumbled graham crackers.
The mousse will last in the fridge for up to 4 days. The marshmallow fluff has a bit of a shorter lifespan, just because it will harden into a real marshmallow in the fridge.
