Magical Vegan Gingerbread Mousse
A delicious, “healthyish” coconut mousse with the warm flavours of gingerbread. Vegan, gluten-free and absolutely addictive, this easy gingerbread mousse is sure to become a favourite!
Christmas time is usually the time where the entire family gets together to enjoy an opulent Christmas dinner. For the last 4 years, I happened to spend my Christmas with my partner’s family in Northern Ireland while my own family stayed in Germany. This year is going to be an exciting one, my parents are coming to Ireland and are going to meet my partner’s family for the first time. Admittedly my first Christmas in Northern Ireland came in form of a massive cultural shock, as an only child I was used to having a quiet and peaceful Christmas where the family would enjoy Christmas dinner and sit around the Christmas tree until the first person was going to turn on the TV.
My first Irish Christmas morning
In hindsight, I wasn’t prepared for what was expecting me up “North”, it turned out to be like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was the first time that I was going to meet his family and I was bursting with excitement. Finally, I was going to meet the people I had heard so much about. Christmas day started off at his mother’s house where the entire family was set to meet and within an hour the tiny kitchen and living room filled with 9 great-grandchildren, 8 grandchildren and about 15 adults.
The kids proudly presented their new Christmas clothes before generously covering them in their favourite chocolate treats.
While everybody was busy introducing themselves I was trying to make sense of the Northern Irish accent and phrases.
Almost everyone who entered the room started the conversation with an elongated “Weeell” which left me utterly confused. What was I supposed to reply? Was this a statement or a question? And what was the correct answer to it? After consulting my boyfriend, I was told that the expected reply would be “well”, too.
I’m still not sure what to make of it but I figured that “well” was probably the second most popular thing after the consumption of a morning beer. Irish Christmases are quite boozy compared to our little German family Christmases. The morning beer was followed by an afternoon hot brandy, one or two glasses of wine for dinner and came to a full circle by an uncountable amount of pints at the “After-Party”. I certainly prefer a Protein Hot Chocolate for myself, I am not a big drinker by any means.
Christmas dinner
While the men went to the pub and the kids played with their Christmas presents, the women got busy in the kitchen preparing enough food to feed the entire town. Any traditional Irish Christmas food you can possibly imagine such as ham, lamb, turkey, sausages, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, peas, potatoes, potato mash and fries were lining the table. After this feast, we all struggled to fit some Christmas pudding, Healthy Vegan Mince Pies, cakes or Pavlova into our tummies. It took us about 2 hours to recover from the indulgence before the actual Christmas party was ready to start. This year I’m hoping to introduce them to this delicious Gingerbread mousse which might sound naughty but is in fact very nutritious.
Christmas party
And what a party it was, neighbours and friends ( some in “Santi-onesies” ) joined the party bringing along their guitars. People were dancing and singing until the early morning hours and despite all the Christmas decoration, it just didn’t feel like Christmas to me, but surely it was a heck of a party. This year my parents are going to join this madness and with my father not speaking any English and my mother speaking traditional school English I’m sure this Christmas will come with its own challenges. I utterly hope that they will be enjoying this mad get together as much as I do. It will be fabulous to see all the children running around enjoying their presents and to celebrate with the entire family united.
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Your turn
I would love to find out more about your Christmas traditions, do you celebrate big time like my boyfriends family or more sedentary like my family? What do you serve for Christmas dinner? I’m looking forward to reading your stories in the comments.
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Magical Gingerbread Mousse
Ingredients
- 1 can coconut cream or 2 14 oz cans full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- whipped cream to keep it dairy free use soy, rice or coconut cream
- 1 cookie gluten-free, optional
Instructions
- Place the coconut cream or milk overnight into the refrigerator. *
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine coconut cream, maple syrup, blackstrap molasses and vanilla extract and mix with an electric mixer.
- Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves to the mixture and whisk until it turns into a mousse (3-4 minutes). It is okay if it's slightly thin, it will firm up in the refrigerator.
- Spoon the gingerbread mousse into two glasses and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Top with a whipped dairy-free cream like rice or soy cream and sprinkle a crumbled sugar-free cookie on top. Enjoy straight away.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This looks divine Eva! Hoping to make on Christmas Day or Stephen’s Day. Happy Christmas!
Hi Laura,
thanks a lot, I hope that you are going to enjoy it.
Make sure to refrigerate the coconut cream or milk the night before 😉
Happy Christmas to you and your family.
One year late but who cares ? : ) This recipe looks pretty spectacular so I might give it a go this year.
I’m dying to know how your parents first Irish Christmas went? How did your dad cope with no English….well N Irish is a bit of a stretch…my grandpa came from Enneskillen : )
Yesterday I had my family round – we all contributed to a huge cold feast (S Australia) and although there was plenty to drink we didn’t seem to go overboard. Fortunately it wasn’t too hot….thank goodness…I still don’t like Christmas in the sun : (
Christmas day will be quiet…my husband and myself and our adult daughter who is chronically ill with ME. My son and family will skype from Japan but it will be a happy time.
Hope you have a lovely Christmas Eva and a Happy New Year : )
Hi Angela,
the story might not be but the recipe is still up-to-date, hope you will enjoy it. My parents loved it, my father was treated like a king and wasn’t allowed to move, everything was brought to him and I had to stop my mother
from tidying up after the children as soon as they would drop something but overall it was brilliant. Even though I think they might have been a bit overwhelmed by the entire buzz at times we had a fabulous Christmas. We have no idea where and how we are going to spend Christmas this year because I will undergo surgery next week and we aren’t sure if I will be allowed to fly before Christmas. Hope you have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year, too. : )
Does this recipe make 4 servings (as indicated in the initial instructions) or does it make 2 servings as is indicated in the final instructions to spoon the mousse into 2 glasses…I’m rather confused ?
Sincerely,
Roxanne
PS The recipe sounds delightful…
Hi Roxanne, sorry for causing confusion, I had the recipe initially intended to be for 2 portions, but changed it later to 4 smaller portions, because of how rich it is. The amount you see in the 2 glasses is how much it will actually make.