Christmas day is a lot of work. You cook for a large amount of people, and you’re expected to put together a three-course meal with all the fixings.
One of the ways to make the process a little less painful is to come up something simple that can be thrown together the night before, that won’t take forever.
We’ve put together a list of simple desserts that don’t require any cooking, thereby saving precious oven space, and don’t require you to pick up a hundred different ingredients. Happy baking!
1. Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients: 6 eggs, 300g good quality chocolate. That’s it.
Things required: Two mixing bowls, mixer, cup, spoon, glasses/cups/jars to serve in
Serves 4
Steps:
Crack the chocolate into squares. Melt it. The easiest way to do this is to get a small bowl, fill it with boiling water, and put the mixing bowl with the chocolate on top. Stir the chocolate until it’s all melted.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. You can do this by pouring the yolk from one half of the shell to the other until all the white is gone. There are a few other ways if you’d prefer.
Put the egg whites into a second mixing bowl and use your mixer on them until they are fluffy.
Mix the egg yolks in with the melted chocolate.
Fold the chocolate into the egg whites - careful not to stir too vigorously.
Once that’s mixed in, pour the mixture in the serving dishes
Put the dishes in the fridge to set overnight.
2. Eton Mess
Ingredients: Meringues, fruit, Flake bars, cream
Things required: Either big serving bowl, or individual bowls/glasses/cups, mixer
Steps:
Crush the meringues
Crush the flake bars
Whip the cream
Put the crushed meringue in serving bowl(s)
Put in a layer of fruit
Put in a layer of cream
Sprinkle with crushed chocolate
Don’t do this until the last moment as the cream will make the meringue soggy.
Ingredients: Strawberries, coconut flakes, white chocolate, mini marshmallows
Things required: Mixing bowl, small bowl, spoon, serving plate
Steps:
Crack the chocolate into squares. Melt it in the same way as described in the mousse recipe.
Pull the green stems from the strawberries.
Dip the larger end of the strawberry into the melted white chocolate covering about a fifth to a quarter of the strawberry.
Immediately hold the dipped strawberry over a bowl of shredded coconut, and using a spoon, drop the coconut flakes onto the melted chocolate on the strawberry. Place on a plate dipped side down.
Dip a mini marshmallow into the melted white chocolate and then place on top of the strawberry to complete the Santa hat.
Ingredients: 250g digestive biscuits, 75g soft unsalted butter, jar of Nutella, 500g cream cheese, 60g icing sugar
Things required: Food processor, round tin, mixing bowl
Steps
Break the digestive biscuits into the processor's bowl, add the butter and a 15ml tablespoon of Nutella, and blitz until you have a damp, sandy mixture.
Put into round tin and press the mixture into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill.
Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture until combined.
Take the tin out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base.
Place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge for best results.
