This post is sponsored by Gay Lea.
Say what….? It’s DECEMBER? How on earth did that happen? Here I am merrily working away at recipe development for my book and all of a sudden I raise my head and it’s the end of the year. Time flies! In any case, I’m scrambling to get things done before we head to France for the holidays and – gasp – I’m behind on my holiday baking.
If you follow me on Instagram you might wonder about that – you’ll likely have seen lots of baking going on. Sure, yes, but not HOLIDAY themed baking. I love the smell of all the Christmas-y spices and sprinkles and the like but I just haven’t had much of a chance to bake my usual quantity of holiday treats. These days I’m looking for easy treats that I can either whip up at the last minute or prepare in advance and for today’s post I’ve combined a little bit of both.
These chocolate cups are easy to make in advance and assemble just when you are ready to serve. The components travel easily (especially if you don’t want to do any prep except assemble when you arrive) so they are perfect for holiday pot lucks too! I’ve used Gay Lea Coconut Whipped Cream to make them dairy-free (I have a lot of friends and colleagues who can’t eat dairy these days so it’s nice to make an inclusive dessert) and they are great gluten-free option too.
Basically you make the chocolate cups and keep them in the fridge (or freezer) until you’re ready to serve them.
Pipe a tiny amount of the cream into the chocolate cups…
Top with sprinkles…
And serve!
- For the chocolate cups
- 150g semi-sweet chocolate chips
- To assemble:
- Gay Lea Coconut Whipped Cream
- Festive sprinkles
- Melt the chocolate chips.
- Use a small pastry brush to coat the inside of 12 mini muffin paper liners. Try not to spread the chocolate to the top of the liner - it will make it harder to remove. Note that you will use all the chocolate so if you finish coating and you have leftover, go back and re-coat some of the places where the chocolate is thin.
- Place the paper liners in a mini muffin pan to help keep their shape.
- Place the muffin tin in the freezer for around 30 minutes.
- Remove the tin from the freezer and, working quickly, carefully peel away the paper liners.
- At this stage you can keep the chocolate cups in the fridge until you use them. Place them in a single layer in an airtight container and divide the layers with parchment or wax paper.
- To assemble:
- Set the chocolate cups carefully on the serving tray.
- Fill each cup with the whipped cream.
- Top with sprinkles.
Note that these are best eaten immediately after serving so don’t make them too far in advance!
What do you like to make ahead of time to serve your guests over the holidays?
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· one (1) KITCHENAID® Architect Stand Mixer
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· one (1) KITCHENAID® Three-Piece Mixing Bowl Set
· and one (1) KITCHENAID® Scraper Spatula”
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Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Gay Lea, and receive compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. As always, opinions expressed here are my own and I only write about/ recommend products I use and love. If you know me in real life or follow me on social media, you’ll know that writing a French food cookbook requires ridiculous amounts of butter so this campaign is a perfect fit 😉
What a lovely festive desert. Great job Mardi!
Thanks! And it’s SO easy too!