Chocolate Peppermint Dessert Cups

If you ever need a quick shot of holiday cheer, you just stop by Katie Faulkner and Helen Austin’s house. Katie and Helen, daughter and mother, hosted this year’s Women of St. Paul’s Christmas Cheer Party. Every year, Katie and Helen remove all the books, knickknacks and other shelf-occupying objects and replace them with Christmas decorations. Katie and Helen have a big house. They have a lot of shelves. And let’s not even talk about the 12-foot Christmas tree in the foyer.

So the women were of good cheer. Exceptionally good cheer. There were major party foods to go with the Chardonnay and Champagne. Beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce, shrimp gumbo, hot artichoke and onion dips, cheese balls on steroids, cheese benne wafers…well, I could go on and on. Thank goodness Pam Horne brought a Cobb salad. If you eat half a cheese ball and chase it with a bit of Cobb salad doesn’t that negate the calories of the cheese? I think it does.

Of all the festive food consumed, I have to say Elizabeth Power’s Chocolate Peppermint Dessert Cups was my favorite because I’d never seen them before. And, in fact, when I got home I Googled some key words and this recipe is no where on the internet that I can find. Of course, I’d had a couple of glasses of post-party wine so maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. But I digress.

You will love these. Simple, elegant and so tasty. The perfect one-bite dessert. So with complete credit given to Elizabeth, I give you Chocolate Peppermint Dessert Cups!

Chocolate Peppermint Dessert Cups

1 package instant chocolate pudding and pie filling

1 1/2 cups cold milk

1 cup thawed Cool Whip

Crushed peppermint candy

Chocolate cups

Prepare pudding as directed on the package, using 1 1/2 cups milk. Fold in whipped topping. Use a pastry bag with the large “star” point to pipe the mousse into dark chocolate cups. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Garnish with crushed peppermint.

Makes about 48 chocolate dessert cups.

Note: Gordon Food Services sells the chocolate cups. You can also Google “Roland Cordial Chocolate Cups with Foil” on the internet. Gordon’s also sells the crushed peppermint but, of course you can also crush your own.