Chocolate-Avocado Mousse Martinis with Fresh Raspberries

This does not nearly do justice to how dark and velvety the mousse looked in person.

The fabulous LRK also turned me onto this recipe, which comes from Sheryl Crow's cookbook, If It Makes You Healthy: More Than 100 Recipes Inspired By the Seasons.

If you didn't know that this dessert was vegan, you would swear it was loaded with butter and cream. The texture is more closer to ganache than mousse -- I was amazed at how dense, creamy, and decadent the avocados made it. Because I am a complete fool for dark chocolate, I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, which resulted in a mousse that was dark as sin with a rush of deep, intense chocolate flavor. The tartness of the raspberries cuts the richness and keeps you from going into a complete chocolate coma.

The martini glasses serve no purpose other than to look pretty; you could use small dishes or ramekins to serve. I bet that adding a splash of Grand Marnier, Chambord, Domaine de Canton, or the like would take it to yet another level.

The mousse was darker than my table.

Ingredients

• 2 large ripe avocados
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Sheryl likes Green & Black's organic fair trade cocoa powder, but I'm a fan of the Special Dark)
  
• 1/2 cup agave nectar, plus more to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract (which I thought I had, but I didn't, so I omitted)
  
• 1/2 pint fresh raspberries, for garnish

Instructions

1. Halve and pit the avocados and scoop out the flesh. Transfer the avocado flesh to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Using a spoon, break up the avocado a little in the food processor.

2. Add the cocoa powder, agave nectar, vanilla extract, and almond extract to the processor and process for 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then process again until the mousse is very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes longer.

3. Taste the mousse and if not sweet enough, add more nectar, 1 teaspoon at a time. Pulse to mix.

4. Spoon the mousse into martini glasses or similar serving vessels. Cover the glasses with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.

5. Serve the mousse chilled and garnished with raspberries.

Yields 3 to 4 servings. I doubled it since I expected 5 people, and the servings were quite generous.