💗 Happy Valentine’s Day, loves! 💗 Are you doing anything special? It’s not too late to whip up a quick dessert that will impress your amour, your kids or your favorite group of Galentines!
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CONFESSION: Today’s recipe post isn’t really much of a recipe but more a tutorial of various hacks that I use to make my mediocre cooking seem like it’s much more fancy and festive!
If you’re a regular reader, you know I like for life to be SIMPLE. And for me, that means working smarter not harder when it comes to the kitchen. I hope you can incorporate some of these tips the next time you are entertaining so that you can spend less time stressing and more time just hanging out with your friends or family!
Easy Last-Minute Dessert: Mousse
All the tips I’m sharing today lend themselves well to mousse. Softened ice cream would also work well. Packaged mousse is one of my favorite desserts to have on hand! It satisfies that desire for something chocolate-y and creamy BUT can be made lighter depending upon the milk you use. Oh, and it super quick to make up as well! For:
- Traditional Mousse – use 100% whole milk
- Lighter Mousse – use skim milk or your favorite nut/soy/oat milk variety
- Extra Rich Mousse – substitute a bit of cream for part of the whole milk in the traditional recipe
Quick Hacks for a Fancier Dessert
- Use an unexpected serving piece. I’ve used martini glasses for serving mousse, ice cream, and even mashed potatoes! For a large group, try a trifle bowl. Or why not use a carved out piece of fruit as a serving piece? Look around your home and see what you might be able to use creatively!
- Decorate! The two easiest methods for fancy-ing up a dessert that I know of are to coat the rim of the serving dish or to drizzle on the serving plate.
- For decorated glass rims, dip the rim into simple syrup (or just water) and then dip into your coating. Some of my favorites include colored sugars, chocolate jimmies, grated chocolate, and cinnamon sugar blends.
- To write on a plate or to create a drizzle pattern, melt jam or chocolate and pour it into a squeeze bottle. Or, for small amounts, pull it up into an eyedropper. Then write or drizzle away. Instant fancy!
- Shape it. Layer each color of mousse in a baking dish, freezing in-between layers, then use a biscuit cutter to cut into round mousse cakes. This also works with ice cream. Or use a decorative mold to form softened ice cream into a pretty shape. For brownies, use cookie cutters to form them into bite-sized, decorative shapes. You can also shape something within it’s serving dish. For the black/white mousse below, layering the two flavors at an angle gives some unexpected visual interest!
- Pile on some extras! Make your dessert more decadent by piling on some berries, candy, small cookies or edible flowers. There’s no such thing as “too much” dessert!
I used soy milk for my mousse, therefore the layers didn’t quite hold their shape the way they would using the traditional recipe. But you get the idea! 😉
Dessert Hack Cheat Sheet
| Dessert Item | “Fancy” Ideas |
|---|---|
| Mousse or Ice Cream | Use an unexpected serving piece like a martini glass or mini trifle bowl. Decorate the rim of your serving dish! Or, shape it into a decorative shape using a mold. Add on some extras! |
| Brownies | Cut into bite-sized portions with cookie cutters. Add drizzle to the serving plate. |
| Cookies/Candy | Serve an assortment in something unexpected like an ice cream cone or mini takeout box. |
| Cakes/Pies | Add drizzle to the serving plate. Pile on some extras. |
| Fruit | Use an unexpected serving piece. Pile on some extras, edible flowers are especially pretty with fruit! |
Need more dessert inspiration? Check out this gorgeous chocolate-raspberry tart or these booze and ice cream pairings!
Hope you enjoyed these quick & easy dessert hacks! Thanks so much for stopping by. I always appreciate your support, sharing, likes and follows. Until next time,
