Recipe: Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day… Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse…. a very easy dessert… this recipe from Kraft can be made as they wrote it… the very “ungourmet” way… yeah … I know that’s not really a word… but you get the idea…

It may be “ungourmet” but what it also is… is quick and easy… 5 ingredients (including the cherry on top)… prep time is about 10 minutes… and that’s if you take your time….

You can also make it from scratch… to be sure the “from scratch” way is richer and creamier and better… and really doesn’t take that long and isn’t that hard to make ….but truth be told … the quick way is excellent.

I was once accused by a blogger… I call her the blog snob… that my recipes were nothing more than boxed ingredients…. I took offense to it…. most of my recipes are from scratch… occasionally I do use shortcuts…or point out shortcuts you can take if you prefer… but not at the expense of taste…. I mean, hey, I don’t always have hours to spend in the kitchen and I fully realize …neither do you.

Well…. this time… I’m guilty as charged. … and for once I didn’t alter the recipe one bit. Oh sure I could have made the pudding from scratch…. and made the whipped cream from scratch… but I wanted to see if using the instant pudding and Cool Whip would make for a … for lack of a better word… crappy dessert…. well… it didn’t…. it was actually really good.

One of the things I decided for the New Year… was that I would include what I call “express” recipes… or “semi-homemade” recipes… I don’t think this even qualifies for semi-homemade… except for going out and purchasing the final dessert (if you could)… this is as close to a “no-work” recipe as you can get.

Instant puddings have come a long way since I was a kid… I used to hate them… truly hate them… even as a kid… I wouldn’t eat them because I didn’t think they were worth the calories… well times have changed… instant puddings have become …well… worth the calories… mind you I still prefer cooked puddings… and “from scratch puddings” are still tops in my book… you can make this recipe the quick way and actually serve it to guests…

TIPS

If you do want to make this from scratch…

Use my Chocolate Pudding recipe and replace ¼ cup of the milk in the recipe with Bailey’s Irish Cream (add it at the end of cooking the pudding so you don’t cook away the liqueur)

Pour the pudding into a heat-proof bowl and cover the top of the pudding with plastic wrap so a "skin" doesn't form... allow to cool

Then use my Chantilly Cream recipe instead of the Cool Whip.... double the recipe and instead of beating to soft peaks...beat the cream to stiff peaks...***make sure you allow the pudding to cool before folding in the Chantilly Cream

Kraft garnishes it with a raspberry… I prefer a maraschino cherry.

I grated a little chocolate over the finished dessert to add a pretty presentation. I mini sized chocolate bar is plenty big enough to garnish and treat the “cook” to an “atta girl”.

So without further ado…. here is a really terrific dessert…








Recipe: Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse

All you need:



1 ¼ cups cold milk
¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur
1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 cups thawed Cool Whipped Topping, divided
Maraschino cherries for garnish

All you need to do:



In a large bowl, beat the milk and pudding mix with a wire whisk until pudding is completely dissolved and pudding begins to thicken … about 2 minutes…(it will continue to thicken as it stands).






Fold in Cool Whip.




Spoon into dessert dishes.

Top with a dollop of Cool Whip and a cherry.

Makes 6 ( ½ cup) servings.