Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

I had great intentions of serving this mousse on Christmas -- I was going to make it into more of a cake using fancy pirouette cookies standing upright as the outer crust. But I was tired of baking (gasp!) by the time Friday rolled around and thus somehow we survived on only apple pie, the cupcake wreath, and sugar cookies. I still had all the ingredients though, so I rethought the recipe to fit the next big holiday: New Year's Eve!


This was my first time making mousse, it was really fun to use my mixer to make the whipped cream and then gently fold in the chocolate-hazelnut mixture using my knowledge from Ina and Martha.


I served the mousse in martini glasses (a new gift from Ryan to my parents!) to be festive. They are really the perfect size for a dessert like this and dress up this extremely simple recipe.


The mousse is topped with chocolate shavings and toasted hazelnuts, and those pirouette cookies got some use as well. Very cute and delicious!

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

1-1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup Nutella spread
2 tbsp hot water (not boiling)
2 tsp instant espresso
Dash of Kahlua
6 Chocolate-hazelnut pirouette cookies
Chocolate and chopped hazelnuts for topping

- Dissolve instant espresso in hot water in a medium sized bowl
- Add the Nutella and Kahlua, beating until smooth
- In a mixer, whip the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks
- Gently fold the nutella mixture into the whipped cream until the color is uniform
- Divide mousse into serving glasses (I think martini glasses work great!)
- Add toasted hazelnuts (to toast, just stick them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes), chocolate shavings, and pirouette cookies for decoration