Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits

I’ve got a week to go on my detox and dessert on the brain.

I haven’t eaten ANY sugar except a teaspoon of honey here or there for two weeks. It’s been a fantastic exercise in self-control (who am I kidding—total TORTURE!), but as much as I’m ready to get back to the land of muffins, cake and pancakes, I’m also loathe to think of all the good work I’d be undoing if I went back to shoving the same, sugar-laced baked goods back in my face.

So I made these parfaits. I wanted a totally delish, rich (not to mention romantic!) dessert to indulge in on Valentine’s Day, since that happens to fall about four days after the official end of my detox. And I wanted them to be healthy.

So I borrowed inspiration from a vegan chocolate peanut butter parfait from Whole Foods that my friend S and I loved. When we took a weekend trip to Austin, we spent about 87% of our time in their flagship whole foods and spent the night reclining after the wine bar, chomping on moist chunks of cake swaddled in silky, nutty layers of peanut butter mousse that, turned out, was made from…tofu. If the nutrition panel hadn’t listed it, we would never have guessed. Ever since, I’ve been obsessed with recreating that mousse.

But then…I wanted to add a brownie base. And chocolate mousse made out of another secret ingredient, no cream or sugar involved.

Which is all fine and good except that, hello, I’m still in the middle of my detox! So the development process was kind of ridiculous, what with having to run over to my roommate with spoons of mousse asking, “how does this taste? Is it sweet enough? More peanut butter? Less vanilla?”

She gamely taste-tested for me (poor child) until I got the nod of approval (at which point, okay, I licked the spoon just to make sure she wasn’t being polite!). And if you’re skeptical, the real test was my boyfriend—who dug in with enthusiasm and didn’t stop until the glass was empty. He didn’t even flinch when I told him what was in it. “I couldn’t even tell!” Guys, this is BIG.

I honestly think this is one of the best “healthy” treats I’ve ever made. I’m definitely making it again for Valentine’s day—totally mood-supporting with that little accent of raspberry topping and what’s more romantic than mousse? Um, nothing. Plus, it’s totally satisfying, but not gut-busting, like the molten chocolate cake I’d otherwise be having. After my detox ends, of course.

Notes

Because these are almost raw (minus the tofu and the raspberry compote), you can throw everything together in a food processor in about 20 minutes. No baking required! A last-minute lifesaver! Just make sure to have the special ingredients on hand: avocado, tofu, dates, walnuts. HOWEVER. I’ve found the tofu pudding tastes better the longer it is refrigerated, so making this ahead of time is recommended.

I originally made this into two parfaits, but they were ginormous. I would still recommend following the full recipe; you can split one with your honey (or a friend) on V-day, then have another one the next day—one effort for the price of two. Or have a party with three friends and split it up into four reasonably-sized parfaits. Or just halve the recipe.

It looks like a lot of ingredients, but the chocolate and peanut butter layer repeat many of the same ingredients.

Substitutions: Raw cacao powder has many more nutritional benefits since it’s not cooked, but you can sub regular, non Dutch-process cocoa powder for it.

Tofu: I used firm tofu since that’s what I had on hand, but soft tofu might come together much more easily and you may not need to add the additional milk.

You can use any liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, agave). I try to stay away from agave due to its questionable nutrition, but I generally use maple syrup and honey interchangeably unless I want a distinct flavor profile. In this recipe, the chocolate and peanut butter should overpower the sweetener, so it doesn’t really matter.

Optional: I only topped these with the raspberry “compote,” but it occurred to me while writing this post that spreading the raspberry mixture between each layer would also be great.

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