If you want an easy and cheap dessert everyone will love then this is it! Frozen Chocolate mousse cups. Keep them frozen until you want to serve them, they are designed to defrosted a little bit on the way to the party.

Ghosts of Christmas past

When I was growing up, Christmas was a time my Mother dreaded. There were four children to buy presents for and there was Christmas lunch or dinner to consider and my Mother hated cooking. We lived in a house next door to our Grandmother. Each Christmas Eve before we went to bed our Grandmother, “Nanna”, would pop over to tuck us in and make sure that we were fully excited about what Christmas morning would bring.

She made us promise that we would each bring our gifts from Santa over to her house the minute we woke up. So, at 5.30 am when we could contain our excitement no longer each of us would gather our large and overfilled Christmas stockings and take them next door to Nanna’s house where we would climb up onto Nana’s high wooden bed and start unpacking our spoils. We would each pull one special little trinket after the other from the stocking that Santa had left us, squealing with delight. Nanna would clap her hands in surprise and exclaim that Santa was so clever for knowing what each of us would like.

Years into my adult life I learned that the Christmas stockings were Nanna’s way of contributing to Christmas. Mum and Dad really didn’t have a lot of money and with other things to buy, this was entirely Nannas’ gig, and she really did enjoy it. I guess it also gave Mum and Dad a little breathing space before the rest of the day as well. After Nanna’s house, we would always return home to repeat the same show and tell at the end of poor tired Mum and Dad’s bed.

Christmas eating was most often the English version of Christmas food. Nanna was from Hull in the north of England and she was very particular about what we should eat. This made hours in the kitchen for Mum essential. There really wasn’t much experimenting nor was there much change until Nanna’s last Christmas, and then, Dad decided that he would be the Christmas cook. He mostly carried on the old Christmas tradition apart from a few new tweaks.

I much prefer to always do something new. I wonder if you are the same?.

For me celebrations are so much more fun with good food, obviously, it’s just that sometimes people who cook miss a lot of what’s going on in the dining section. I always try to think ahead so that I can spend as much time enjoying myself like everyone else.

Frozen chocolate mousse cups are great for a party

I needed a small dessert for a Christmas party this week. I needed something quick and something I could make ahead. So this is what I made. These frozen chocolate mousse cups are definitely the perfect little pot of chocolate. The crunchy gingerbread on top just reminds you that it is Christmas.

I used some little disposable cups that I got from a party shop. You can make them in a small ramekin, but these just are so cute, aren’t they? I also made these desserts with Cadbury chocolate because I had a bit of a challenge thrown at me. I was asked if I would like to make one of the desserts from The Cadbury Kitchen . There are so many recipes on the Cadbury Kitchen Site that it would have been inspirational even for my Mum. In the end though, I used a recipe of my own and made it with the dark ( 45%) chocolate. The dark chocolate has a very lightly bitter cocoa bite but it is light and milky enough for anyone to enjoy.

These could be just about the perfect little Cadbury Pot. You can make them for any party at all.