It seems funny to celebrate A Big Deal with some teeny treats, but that’s what we’re doing in honor of Recipe ReDux. This recipe challenge focused on equal parts flavor and health has been going strong for a full year this month, and I’m proud to have been here since the tasty beginning.

Our challenge this month is to make small bite desserts for our virtual anniversary party. I just got back from Texas – where it is a billion degrees every day – to be greeted by an east coast heat wave, so the heck I feel like doing anything involving the oven, stove, microwave, etc. And frankly, I’m not a very skilled baker, especially not in 1:25 scale. The solution? A simple, no-bake, don’t-tell-anyone-but-it’s-vegan parfait with rich chocolate, sweet banana and a tart little topper.

You just need a food processor, some shot glasses, and about ten minutes. I made this recipe two ways when testing it, toying with the sweetness of the chocolate mousse. I preferred it less sweet (that’s the version below), because the ripe banana adds a lot of sugar to balance it out. But my dad, husband and son all tried the version where I doubled the rice syrup and seemed to like it that way. Give it a try either way and see which dainty dessert you prefer.

Mini mousse parfaits

I made mine with single layers of each ingredient, but you could certainly go wild and make more-than-two-layer parfaits. You’ll just need taller shot glasses than I have!

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup brown rice syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
½ Tbs vanilla extract
2 very ripe bananas, sliced and frozen
Whole cherries

Slice the avocados and scoop the flesh out into a food processor. Add the cocoa powder, rice syrup and vanilla, and process until fully blended (check for hidden avocado chunks; you want those completely processed so the mousse is nice and smooth).

Set the mousse aside and clean out the food processor. Put the frozen sliced bananas in and process until they are the consistency of soft serve.

In shot glasses or similar small bowls, scoop a generous spoonful of the mousse, smoothing the top down as much as you can. Next add a generous scoop of the banana, and top it with a fresh cherry.

But don’t stop there – the links below will take you to more tiny treats from my fellow Recipe Reduxers. And if you’d like to take a stroll down memory lane, here are all my Recipe Redux posts from the last year.