Strawberry Mousse

Strawberry Mousse (for recipe, see below)

Every year, we get together with the same group of friends for our annual potluck party. It is also a nice to see everyone and the kids always have a great time. This was also a first for Aidan. He was walking around the house, peeking into every corner and flashing his sly smile.

As for the dish, we contributed our regular fare -- dessert. With a twist, I also decided to make an appetizer. In previous years, I have made different types of desserts to bring...a cake made of many cupcakes to form a christmas tree, mango pudding in individual cups topped with cream, cheesecake, bread pudding, assorted cookie tray.... but for this year, my main requirement was --something cold (so we don't have to heat it to enjoy) and ease of transport. The end result: strawberry mousse.

I found the easy recipe and made a couple of changes because of the ingredients on hand...and it was still a success!

Strawberry Mousse (serves 12)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of boiling water
1 cup of cold water
1 pkg of strawberry jello -- you can change the flavour for your own mousse
1 pkg of cream cheese
2 tbsp of sugar
2 cups of whipped cream (the recipe had a ready made whipped topping, which is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cups of icing sugar
2 cups of peaches (you can put any fruit in season, I had some homemade jarred peaches)

Method:

1. Mix boiling water with jello and stir until dissolved. Then add a cup of cold water. Set aside.
2. Mix sugar and cream cheese until well blended.
3. Add jello to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
4. In a cold mixing bowl, add 2 cups of whipping cream, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 cup of icing sugar. On low speed, beat mixture for 5 minutes and then increase speed. Beat until peaks form. Approx. 20 minutes.
5. Measure 2 cups of whipped cream and fold into strawberry cream cheese mixture. Save the rest as a topping to add when serving.
6. Line a standard bread loaf pan with plastic wrap. Then line in the pan with sliced peaches.
7.Pour mousse mixture into pan and cover the peaches.
8. Put in fridge to set overnight.
9. You can stop here...but I like a crust on the bottom...so, I lined up chewy chocolate chip cookies (store bought) on the top.

To serve...put a plate larger than the loaf pan on top and then flip the loaf pan to "drop" the mousse onto the plate. Remove the plastic wrap. Cut into slices and dollop with some whipped cream -- if you had any left.