Nutella Mousse for my niece's graduation party. I'll give you two easy recipes that you can use for any celebration!

 I recently had the opportunity to cook with, well actually watch one of my amazing sister-in-laws cook, for her daughter's graduation party.  She created several single-serving desserts that included chocolate flavored mousse,  cheesecake from scratch, sweet and tart reduced berry and fruit syrups, and lots of whipped cream.  The end result was a boatful of beautiful,  individual desserts like the Nutella Mousse pictured to the right.  The presentation in individual small jelly jars was both easy, and provided guests with an opportunity to taste more than one dessert without feeling too guilty!

I have noticed that often, there are easier alternative recipes for food that I have enjoyed at restaurants or parties, and I set out to find some kid-friendly versions of the desserts my sister-in-law made.  Below you will find recipes for Nutella Mousse, Yogurt Mousse that can be flavored any way you like,  blackberry,or any fruit syrup, and individual strawberry shortcakes.

Get the kids to help you create single-sized servings in any cups, mini-bowls, or tiny pie tins you have and have a celebration with some sweet treats! 

Recipe #1

Two Ingredient Nutella Mousse

prettysimplesweet.com

Ingredients:

One cup Nutella

2 cups heavy whipping cream (extra for topping or layering)

Toppings - fruit, candy, etc.

Crumbled cookies for base and layering - we used Oreos

Picture from food.com by Sharon Chen

Here is another version of the mousse with a dash of coffee!  This recipe from food.com has you combine the cream and other ingredients and whip it up at the same time.

Recipe #2

Nutella Mousse with Coffee

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream (plus extra whipped cream for layering and topping if desired)

1/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1/2 cup Nutella

Oreo crumbles for base and layering (Oreos in the food processor)

Toppings - cookie crumbles, candy bar crumbles, chocolate covered coffee beans, fruit, etc.

Directions:

Combine heavy cream and coffee granules in a small mixing bowl.  Stir until dissolved, about 5 minutes.  Add Nutella.  Beat with stand mixer on medium for 1 minute.  Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, and continue beating for about 1 minutes until very soft peaks form.  Use Oreo crumbles for base of individual serving dishes or jars and layer mousse with whipped cream, crumbles, and fruit if you wish.  Cover and chill at least 4 hours.  Top with whipped cream and other toppings just before serving.

I topped the greek yogurt mousse with Oreo crumbles, whipped cream, and blackberries. I also swirled blackberry fruit syrup into each serving (see below).

Not into chocolate or want a variety of desserts for Father's Day?  Try this delicious greek yogurt and whipped cream mousse.  Use it just like the above Nutella mousse in individual jelly jars or ramekins or tiny pie tins or custard cups.  I like this mousse because it does NOT contain geletin and it has that great "yogurty" sourness that pairs well with fruit or fruit syrup (recipe to follow).  You can also flavor this mousse with flavored greek yogurt, bottled flavorings like lemon or almond, or use lemon, orange or lime zest.

The original recipe is called Lemon-Yogurt Mousse on foodnetwork.com.  It will, however, taste like whatever you decide to put in it.  I have modified the recipe for just plain vanilla yogurt mousse and I added whipped cream and put in less yogurt because I wanted the cream mixed into the mousse.  To make individual desserts use cookie crumbles like Oreo, graham cracker, Vanilla Wafer, shortbread, or granola as a base and to layer with the mousse.

The following recipe reflects my changes to the original from Food Network.

Recipe #3

Greek Yogurt Mousse

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup plain or vanilla greek yogurt (or flavored if you like)

1/2 cup whipped cream (plus extra to layer and for top)

Flavorings as desired:  vanilla bean, lemon flavoring, almond flavoring, orange flavoring, lemon zest, lime zest, or orange zest.

Fruit syrup (recipe below)

Cookie crumble

Blackberries make a beautiful and tasty syrup to swirl in the yogurt mousse.

You can use geletin to thicken fruit or berry syrup, but I found that my syrup was thick enough to swirl in the mousse without any geletin.  I used 2 cups of blackberries, 1/4 cup of sugar and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice in a small saucepan.  I smashed the berries with a pastry cutter in the saucepan and brought the mixture to a boil for a couple of minutes * while whisking it to keep it from burning.  After taking it off the burner and letting it cool, I spooned it into the mousse and used a knife to swirl it.

*Depending on the fruit you use, it might need to be minced before cooking and the cook time may need to be longer.

And voila! Strawberry shortcakes for everyone!

Another fabulous picture from my niece's graduation party.  Now these little devils can be easy, or stupid easy.  I vote for just easy, because I like a little strawberry syrup drizzled down amidst the cake and cream.  So, here goes...

Recipe #4

Easy Strawberry Shortcake Parfaits with Strawberry Syrup

Ingredients:

Shortcakes or poundcakes cut into 1 inch squares - about one cup per serving

( Costco makes a great poundcake, Sarah Lee poundcakes in the freezer section are great, and the shortcakes at Trader Joes that look like scones are amazing!!)

Whipping cream, 2 cups whipped with 1/4 cup powdered sugar

4 cups strawberries (2 cups made into syrup using above recipe and 2 cups sliced to layer with cake)

Strawberry syrup (see above recipe)

Directions:

Layer the cake and strawberry slices into individual jars.  Pour 1/4 cup of syrup over each jar.  Top with whipped cream and more strawberry slices.  Serve within an hour or cake will get soggy.