Candy Cane White Chocolate Mousse

More Christmas baking! This is a super, super easy recipe that requires no actual baking, just a little bit of heating, stirring, whipping and folding. I love candy canes. I have always been a peppermint fan, and they always look so pretty when they are crushed up and used in a dessert of some sort. This dessert is a fantastic one that is not too heavy (perfect as a refreshing dessert after a big Christmas lunch), and can be prepared well ahead of time.

I used a simple white chocolate mousse recipe flavoured with peppermint; just enough to give it a nice hint of minty-ness against the white chocolate flavour, but not enough to make it taste like toothpaste. To make it a little prettier, I added a bit of pink food colouring to half of the mixture and layered the two colours. It looks super cute, especially in narrow glasses or small jars. I always keep any glass jar or container that I can get my hands on because they make fantastic serving glasses.

Top them off with a bit more whipped cream, and a sprinkling of crushed candy canes and you have a very pretty dessert. I know not everyone is a peppermint fan, so you can always change it up and use non-mint flavoured candy canes and flavour the mousse however you want.

It's going to be a very busy Christmas season this year. Along with all the usual Christmas chaos, I'm looking forward to welcoming my niece into the world around the same time! I'm already determined to make a baker out of her :) Hopefully I'll have time to try out a few more Christmas-related recipes before then.

So I may have gotten a little carried away with the photos, can you blame me?

Candy Cane White Chocolate Mousse

(serves 6, adapted from this recipe)

250g (about 9oz) white chocolate

60ml (1/4 cup) milk

1 1/2 tsp peppermint essence

3 large eggs, separated

350ml (1.5 cups) pure/pouring cream (or heavy cream in the US, min 35% fat unthickened)

To decorate: red/pink food colouring, extra whipped cream, crushed peppermint candy canes

Place white chocolate, milk and peppermint essence in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat until the chocolate is just melted, stirring regularly. Cool for 5 minutes, then beat in egg yolks one at a time until well combined. Whip cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl, and then gently fold into warm mixture until just combined. In a separate clean large mixing bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold in the rest of the mixture into the egg whites until just combined.

If making the pink and white layers, place half the mixture in a separate mixing bowl and fold in food colouring until just combined. Spoon alternating amounts of pink and white mousse into six 1/2-cup capacity serving glasses. Chill for 3-4 hours or overnight in the fridge. To serve, top with extra whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes.