This post is dedicated to those who want to make an elegant dessert without fuss. I’m thinking of the Chocolate Mocha Roulade commenters who loved the cake but said they couldn’t possibly make it. (They could make the roulade – really it’s not difficult – but that’s beside the point.) These chocolate-filled bites take just minutes to prepare, do not require baking, and provide all the elegance you’ll ever need for a party dessert.
These bite-sized delights have to be the simplest dessert ever: five ingredients (six if you add cute little decorations), five minutes, and no skill at all.
No, I did not make the little phyllo shells myself. I have nothing against semi-homemade and loved these delicate, already-baked shells found in the freezer section of the grocery. In my book, buying a pre-made base for dessert is a perfectly acceptable way to save your sanity. Especially at holiday time, sanity is high priority. Filling the store-bought shells with this homemade filling will garner you praise from your guests without sending you over the edge.
I used an orange-flavored liqueur to add a special touch. Feel free to substitute another type of liqueur (maybe almond-flavored Amaretto or coffee-flavored Kahlua) or use a non-alcoholic flavoring. The chocolate-filled bites look delectable “as is,” but I couldn’t resist adding sugar pearl decorations. Any delicate decoration with good color contrast to the chocolate works well.
This chocolate whipped cream was inspired by Alice Medrich’s wonderful post for The Splendid Table titled 10 Ways to Flavor Whipped Cream. I discovered dessert chef and chocolatier Medrich through her contributions to a one of my most treasured cookbooks, The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook. Since then I’ve enjoyed her recipes in that book and bought another book of hers Seriously Bittersweet. Although my chocolate whipped cream is more richly flavored than hers, I began with her technique and improvised from there.
If you don’t have pre-baked shells or want a gluten-free alternative, serve the flavored whipped cream in tiny cups. I have plastic shot glasses that work wonderfully for this purpose, with this whipped cream or lemon chiffon mousse.
Two Silly But Neat Tricks for Making this Recipe
- This recipe makes just 1/2 cup, enough for at least 12 tiny shells. Tired of cleaning up dirty dishes? If you use a liquid measuring cup for the heavy cream, you can whip it there with a hand mixer, without need to dirty another bowl.
- You can fill the shells with a spoon. However, to avoid messing up the shells, use an improvised pastry bag to pipe the filling. It’s easy to do and does not require any special equipment. Just spoon some of the chocolate whipped cream filling into a plastic sandwich bag, cut off one bottom corner and squeeze the filling into the shell.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
- 1 1/2 tablespoon confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier or other liqueur
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 12 pre-baked mini phyllo shells I found mine in the frozen foods section of the grocery store
Ingredients
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- Mix the cocoa and confectioners sugar in a small bowl. Add the Grand Marnier and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream to make a syrupy chocolate sauce.
- Add that sauce to the heavy cream.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks. Start at a low speed and move to medium speed for just a few minutes. Take care not to over-beat the cream.
- Spoon or pipe it into the mini phyllo shells.
See the tips in the blogpost for how you can whip the cream in the liquid measuring cup and how you can pipe the cream using a plastic sandwich bag.
Manila Spoon (Abby) says
Anything with chocolate is a winner in my book!!! These look so deliciously gourmet and perfect for a Christmas or NYE Party!
Laura says
Thanks Abby. I had a bit of the filling left over and found my daughter eating it from the container the other night – using a biscotti instead of a spoon:)