Healthy Pumpkin Mousse

It seems like everyone has already moved on from pumpkin flavoured everything to gingerbread everything, myself included – I love Starbucks gingerbread lattes even more than pumpkin spice lattes and now that they have a molasses drizzle on them I can’t resist getting one whenever I go near a Starbucks! 

And now that there’s starting to be a little snow in the air and on the ground, it’s hard to resist getting in the holiday spirit already. I thought it was a little early still but the Santa Claus parade in my hometown is tomorrow, so I guess not!

I was just reading on Averie Cooks yesterday (in her post for these amazing looking gingerbread molasses chocolate chip bars) how bloggers so predictably go from pumpkin to gingerbread to peppermint every year, which is so true.  But part of what makes people go crazy for these flavours is how briefly we get to use them each year, so we have to make the most of them while we can!

Hopefully not everyone is ready to completely abandon pumpkin yet though, as I still have one more pumpkin recipe to share!

Pumpkin tofu mousse is probably not anything new to a lot of you, but this was the first time I’d tried it and it was so much better than I’d expected that I’ve already made it a few times this year! It’s basically like pumpkin pie in mousse/pudding form with the added benefit of being pretty healthy!  It's actually not as fluffy as regular mousse, but it's lighter than pudding so I wasn't sure what to call it - feel free to call it whatever you like!

This mousse or pudding or whatever you want to call it is super easy to make – just blend together some pumpkin puree, silken tofu (you won’t taste it at all but it adds protein and makes everything light and fluffy!), a bit of pure maple syrup for sweetness, and some vanilla and pumpkin pie spices. I also added a little Greek yogurt to mine for a little extra flavour and thickness, but if you prefer to keep this vegan you could leave it out.

Hope you have room for a little more pumpkin in you, but if not, I will probably be moving on to holiday flavours pretty soon!

Pumpkin Tofu "Mousse"

Adapted from several sources, including The Smart Kitchen and Baked In

Makes around 4 small servings (but serving size for something like this can vary)

Ingredients:

8oz silken tofu (usually about half a package), drained of all excess water (do your best to get as much water out as you can)

1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) – or one 15oz can

1/4 cup plain or vanilla low fat Greek yogurt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Add tofu and pumpkin to the large bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.  Add all remaining ingredients (leave the 2 tablespoons of maple syrup out for now), and process until well combined.  Taste and add as much of the remaining 2 tablespoons of maple syrup as desired to reach desired level of sweetness.  If desired, you could replace some of the maple syrup with brown sugar.  Adjust any other spices as needed and according to preference.

Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours before serving.  Keep refrigerated.  Water from the tofu may separate after a couple of days, just drain it or stir it back in before serving.

Banana Date Popsicles

It has never really occurred to me before to make my own popsicles, probably because I'm not really much of a popsicle-eater in the first place.  I much prefer smooth, creamy ice cream or frozen yogurt over hard, messy popsicles.

This year though, there seems to be more and more recipes for homemade popsicles popping up on blogs, and I was surprised to see that you can create beautiful, tasty, and healthy popsicles at home with often only a few ingredients.  So when I saw a popsicle mold for only two dollars at the grocery store, I went for it!

Surprisingly, for my first adventure in popsicle making I didn't choose a bright and beautiful strawberry or mango popsicle recipe, but a recipe that used dates as the main ingredient.  I happen to like dates and was intrigued by the idea of using them in a healthy, creamy popsicle that was different from a lot of the fruit-based recipes out there.

I still ended up adding some fruit in the form of banana because I thought it would pair well with the dates, and I used vanilla Greek yogurt along with some added vanilla extract and cinnamon for flavour.  I used coconut milk beverage as the liquid because that's what I had in the fridge at the time, but I bet these would be even better with vanilla almond milk. 

I'm happy to report that my first-ever popsicle experiment was a huge success!

The main taste in them was definitely banana, but they were nicely spiced from the cinnamon, and the vanilla and dates added the perfect touch of sweetness.  I only made five popsicles and went through them pretty quickly!  I loved being able to grab a homemade popsicle from the freezer for a healthy but satisfying dessert, knowing exactly what ingredients were in it.

Now that I've christened my popsicle mold, I can't wait to break it in some more with lots of other flavours!  My goal this summer is going to be to try to always have some healthy popsicles ready to eat in the freezer, and to try to resist the temptation to buy every other type of mold out there!  I saw some rocket pop molds at the store the other day and had to try reeeally hard not to add them to my cart! 

You can probably expect to see many more popsicle recipes here this summer, but if you can't wait, I've started a Pinterest board of frozen treats with some of the recipes I've been eyeing!

Banana Date Popsicles with Cinnamon & Vanilla

Based on these date shake popsicles from Whole Living

Makes 5 popsicles

Ingredients:

 

10 pitted dates

1/2 cup low-fat vanilla Greek yogurt

1 large ripe banana, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup milk – I used coconut milk but almond milk or dairy milk would also work

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Soak dates in hot water for about 5 minutes to soften them, then remove from water and chop them into very small pieces.  Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into 5 popsicle molds and freeze.

Note: I had just barely enough mix to fill 5 standard popsicle molds so you may want to add a touch more yogurt and milk to the mixture to make sure there is enough, depending on the size of your popsicle molds.