camp meals

Aquafaba Chocolate Mousse

Dark chocolate whipped into chickpea brine. No eggs, no dairy, no cooler.

calories
380
weight
3.5 oz
cal / oz
109
protein
4 g
serves
4, scales
prep
20 min
cook
5 min
total time
25 min
water
300 ml boiled
cost
$$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Dessert
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Campfire coals
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Gluten free
  • Dairy free
  • Real dishes
  • Grab and go
  • Shelf stable
  • Actual cooking

Ingredients

Dark chocolate 7 oz chopped small so it melts without scorching
Aquafaba 1/2 cup the brine from one can of chickpeas; keep the chickpeas for dinner
Olive oil 2 tbsp good stuff, it is a flavor here
Maple syrup 2 tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Pistachios 1/2 cup chopped at home
Pickled or dried cherries 1/2 cup

Method

  1. Boil about 300 ml of water in the pot. Set a metal cup or smaller pot of chopped chocolate over it, off the flame, and stir until it melts. Direct heat will seize it.
  2. Pour the chickpea brine into a wide bowl or a clean pot and whisk hard. It takes eight to twelve minutes by hand to go from thin liquid to stiff white foam. A small battery whisk cuts that to three.
  3. Fold the melted chocolate into the foam in three additions. Slow strokes, cut down and turn over. Beating it flattens the air you just spent ten minutes making.
  4. Fold in the oil, syrup, and salt the same way.
  5. Divide into four cups and set them in a cold creek or a shaded pot of stream water for an hour. It needs to be cold to firm up.
  6. Top with the pistachios and cherries before eating.

This started as a refrigerator dessert and mostly survives the move outdoors because nothing in it is perishable. Chickpea brine whips like egg white, which means the mousse needs no eggs, no cream, and no cooler to stay safe. The only real constraint is chilling: aquafaba foam holds air but stays loose until it gets cold, so you need a creek, a snowbank, or a genuinely cold night.

The olive oil and syrup go in last for a reason. Fat deflates whipped protein foam, so folding them into an already-chocolate-heavy mixture costs less air than adding them early. Salt matters more than it looks — half a teaspoon against seven ounces of chocolate is what keeps it from reading flat.

Packing

Chocolate, nuts, and cherries each in their own bag. Oil and syrup in small leakproof bottles. The chickpeas are a full can of weight, so this is a car or boat dessert, not a pack dessert.

Variations

  • Skip the whisking and eat it as warm chocolate sauce over the nuts and cherries.
  • Instant espresso powder folded in with the salt darkens the whole thing.

https://meny.no/oppskrifter/dessert/sjokolademousse-med-mork-sjokolade