Almond Butter and Puffed Quinoa Chocolate Mousse Bars

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If you're looking for the perfect treat to satisfy your sweet tooth that is indulgent but made with healthier ingredients, these 2-3 bite candy bars are it! They are a textural delight and are made with almond butter, puffed quinoa and chocolate.

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Why I Love These Almond Butter and Puffed Quinoa Chocolate Mousse Bars

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I like to call these "the compromise candy bar" because it was actually a compromise between myself and Alejandra. As an avid sweets fan, I am always down for something sweet and ever since stepping “off the line” and leaving my job as a restaurant chef, I have become a much bigger fan of baking and pastry work. With this recipe, I wanted to recreate one of my favorite creations at my last restaurant, The Cracker Jack Candy Bar, but Alejandra doesn’t like peanut butter and wanted something healthier, even if it would be a dessert. Being the loving partner that I am, instead of whipping up a dessert for only myself to enjoy, I decided to make a compromise.

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For the base of the chocolate bar, I replaced my typical peanut brittle that I usually use with a mixture of single-origin dark chocolate, almond butter, coconut oil, and puffed quinoa. This layer, once hardened, provided a nice crunch with a subtly-sweet and nutty flavor. To replace the typical peanut butter mousse that I usually pipe on as the second layer, I made a velvety mousse using the same dark chocolate. The result was surprisingly delicious.

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The flavors worked perfectly and had just the right amount of sweetness to fulfill a dessert craving but also had enough sustenance to tell your brain you weren’t digesting empty calories. While the flavor was much better than I expected, the true stars were the textures. The light and airy mousse (even when frozen) were the perfect complements to the chocolate base, and the little specks of puffed quinoa added a pleasant surprise to the consumer, similar to the effect the puffed rice has in a Crunch Bar.

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Ingredients for Almond Butter and Puffed Quinoa Chocolate Mousse Bars

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• Almond Butter: I’ve found that the absolute best almond butter for this recipe is a coconut almond butter but you can use your favorite almond butter instead.
• Oil: I like to use coconut oil here because it reinforces the coconut flavor from the almond butter, and it's a healthier ingredient. Make sure the coconut oil is liquid at room temperature, or you may have to heat it slightly to use it. If you prefer to use another oil, olive, canola, peanut, or most other neutral-flavored oils are an acceptable replacement.
• ‍Chocolate: I like to use 60% dark chocolate chips or disks, but if you prefer to use lighter chocolate that will also work. The same can be said for using darker chocolate as well.
• ‍Puffed Quinoa: You can puff your own quinoa but you can usually purchase it from your local grocery store or specialty-foods store. If you want to use something as a replacement for puffed quinoa, cereals such as Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes work well.
• ‍Meringue: While you don’t have to use the meringue to help lighten the mousse, I certainly recommend it because it helps maintain that “Semi-Frozen” texture when frozen and also creates a pleasant and airy texture like nothing else. If you are skipping the meringue, bump the amount of heavy cream from a ½ cup up to 1 ¼ cup.
• ‍Heavy Cream: This is not the place to try and cut calories by using half and half or milk. Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream is necessary because you need the full-fat content to whip the cream to soft peaks.

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Steps for Making the Bars

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While this recipe could appear quite complicated from the outside looking in, once you break it up, it really isn't that complicated at all. Essentially, the recipe involves two parts:

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1. Creating the bottom layer: In creating the bottom layer, essentially all you are doing is melting chocolate, thinning out your almond butter, combining the melted chocolate and almond butter, and mixing in the puffed quinoa for some crunch.
2. Creating the top layer: When you break down what the top layer of the candy bar is, you realize that it is simply a chocolate mousse. To make the mousse, merely make an Italian Meringue, which is a mixture of egg whites and sugar where you cook the sugar before adding to the egg whites so that the egg whites cook and become more stable, then melt the remaining chocolate, whip some cream, and gently combine all the ingredients.

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Tips for Making the Best Almond Butter and Puffed Quinoa Chocolate Mousse Bars

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1. Allow egg whites to sit: Before whipping your egg whites, allow them to sit out at room temperature for about 20 minutes so that they warm slightly. This will make them easier to whip. Do the exact opposite for the heavy cream and make sure that it is as cold as possible before whipping.
2. Be gentle with the meringue: When making the meringue, try not to agitate the pot when making the syrup if the syrup travels up the side of the pot when cooking, then sugar particles could get stuck on the sides of the pot and burn or cause the rest of the sugar crystals to crystallize.

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This is definitely a dessert that you'll want to try.

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Cheers and eat well!