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Easy Peppermint Mousse

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This Easy Peppermint Mousse is the perfect festive dessert. A simple to make, egg-free, gluten free recipe, packed with white chocolate and mint flavour. Dress it up with candy-cane-rimmed glasses or serve it family-style in one big bowl, either way, it’s sure to disappear!

Easy peppermint mousse served in a cocktail glass, with crushed candy canes around the rim of the glass.

A white chocolate and peppermint mousse recipe has been on my to-test list for a while. If you’ve hung around Sweetness and Bite for any length of time, you’ll know that I love easy mousse recipes.

This is the seventh variation I’ve made on my original recipe for 3 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse, and it might even be my favourite. Mint and white chocolate mousse is the least that 2020 owes us. Make it. Eat it. Enjoy it. We deserve this.

White chocolate peppermint mousse in a stemmed cocktail glass with crushed candy canes around the rim.

As with all my other mousse recipes, this one is light, fluffy and super easy to make. You’ll only need three ingredients (or 4-5 if you want to serve it with candy-cane-rimmed glasses as I did). I also have a bonus dark chocolate ganache-topped family-style serving suggestion below!

Let’s do a quick recap of what there is to love about this recipe, then I’ll give you a brief rundown of how to make it.

This mousse is:

  • Easy to make, with just a few ingredients
  • Light and fluffy
  • Fancy looking, but with little effort
  • Perfect for those with a sweet tooth, without being too sweet
  • Minty AF (or less minty, if you’re not mint-crazy)
  • Simple to scale the recipe up if you’re making mousse for a crowd
  • Able to be made in advance
  • Able to be frozen

Chocolate Mint Mousse Ingredients:

Whipping Cream: The type of cream you need to use in this recipe known by different names in different countries. In NZ it’s usually called standard cream or whipping cream, in other countries, it may also be known as heavy whipping cream, single cream or full cream. Long story short: you need a pourable, un-whipped cream that is around 35% fat. It should say on the bottle/carton that it is suitable for whipping. Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream will work, but you will need to be very careful not to over-whip the mousse, as they contain more fat and are more prone to splitting when whipped too much.

White Chocolate: You’ll get the best flavour in this mousse if you use good-quality white chocolate. I like to use my favourite NZ chocolate, Whittaker’s. It’s a super smooth white chocolate, so it makes the mousse nice and smooth too.

Peppermint Extract: Peppermint extracts and oils vary in strength, so I recommend starting with a small amount, giving the mousse mixture a taste and then adding more if needed. Pure peppermint extract will give you the strongest peppermint flavour, but almost any peppermint flavouring, oil or extract will do the trick. I used Lorann peppermint oil and used 1/4 of a teaspoon in my mousse.

Three cocktail glasses with mousse.

How to Make Peppermint Mousse

I always feel daft giving instructions for this kind of mousse because it’s so easy, but there are a few helpful pointers that make the process go more smoothly. Once you have the basic recipe down, you won’t even need the instructions on hand to be able to whip this up. It’s that simple.

Start by heating half the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling and then pour it over the chopped white chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes to melt the chocolate, then whisk it all up until it’s smooth.

Then we whisk in the remaining half of the cream (adding the cold cream helps cool the mixture down faster) and the peppermint extract or oil. Give it a taste for mintiness, and add more extract if needed.

A collage of six images showing the steps in the recipe. Melting the chocolate with the cream, whisking the mixture together, adding more cream, whipping the mousse and spooning into serving glasses.

Then the mixture needs to be well chilled before whipping. If the mixture isn’t super cold when you whip it, you risk splitting the mousse. So let it sit in the fridge overnight, or to speed up the process you can pop the bowl in the freezer. Make sure you stir it regularly to make sure the mixture doesn’t actually freeze!

Once it’s chilled out, you can whip it. I like to use a handheld electric mixer, but you could use a stand mixer, or even just a trusty balloon whisk and some elbow grease.

Whip the mixture to soft peaks using a medium speed, being careful not to over-whip it, as the mousse will become grainy. Then pipe or spoon it into serving glasses.

You can serve the peppermint mousse immediately for a softer, smoother mousse, or chill it for an hour or two, where it will set to become a fluffy mousse.

I chose these cute cocktail glasses, but you could use any kind of glass, stemmed or not. I jazzed the glasses up with a crushed candy cane rim. This is really easy to do but makes the mousse look so fancy and festive.

Candy Cane Rimmed Glasses

For this you’ll need some white chocolate – I prefer compound chocolate or candy melts (aka chocolate melts) for this part, as they set firmly and don’t need to be tempered like “proper” chocolate – and some candy canes, peppermint candy or sprinkles.

I initially had trouble finding red and white canes this year (is that a 2020 thing?), so I ordered these Wilton Christmas Peppermint Crunch Sprinkles and used them instead.

Melt the chocolate, and put the crushed candy canes or sprinkles into a shallow bowl. Dip the glasses into the chocolate and then into the candy canes/sprinkles. Gently shake off the excess and leave them to set.

Collage of four photos showing cocktail glasses being dipped in melted white chocolate and crushed candy canes.

Candy canes or sprinkles will naturally start to get a bit sticky in the fridge and will eventually begin to dissolve, so I recommend if you choose to serve your mousse this way that you whip and pipe the mousse close to serving. That way they don’t need to spend too much time in the fridge before you eat them.

Other Serving Suggestions

The mousse is also great served in little chocolate cups, which you can buy ready-made, or make by brushing or spreading melted chocolate into silicone moulds and leaving to set before gently popping them out.

Another way to serve the peppermint mousse is to put it in one big bowl and serve it family-style.

Mint mousse in a flower shaped cut glass bowl, topped with dark chocolate ganache and crushed candy canes.

My Dad happened to be going to a Christmas party the day I shot the video and photos for this mousse, and I had a batch of mixture left over. I whipped it up with a little green food colouring, popped it into a bowl, and poured a layer of dark chocolate ganache over the top.

I didn’t get a chance to taste it, because the bowl came back empty and clean, as it was very popular and disappeared quickly!

If you want to serve it this way, just gently melt 100g of dark chocolate with 150ml of cream, let it cool slightly and pour it over the mousse. If you want to serve the mousse in individual glasses and top it with the ganache, you may need to double or triple the amount to make sure you have enough for each glass.

Sprinkle the top with chocolate sprinkles, crushed peppermint candies or chocolate shavings, if you like.

Is It Really Mousse Without Eggs?

I get asked this often when I share my easy mousse recipes on social media, so I like to address it in each post. Yes, traditional French-style mousses usually contain whipped egg whites and/or egg yolks, but no, it doesn’t have to contain eggs to be called mousse. Mousse is generally defined as being a light, fluffy dessert that contains whipped eggs, whipped cream, or both.

Because this peppermint mousse doesn’t contain eggs, it’s great for people with egg allergies or those who choose not to eat eggs. I don’t know how many times I’ve had people say how excited they were to eat mousse again after they stopped being able to have eggs. So it’s a great recipe for those people.

Freezing Peppermint Mousse

One of the things I love most about these mousse recipes is that they freeze really well.

After whipping the mousse, pop it into a freezer-safe container or serving dish, cover it well (airtight is best) and place it on a level surface in your freezer.

You can serve it as a frozen peppermint mousse, the texture is almost like a semifreddo – just let it soften for 10-15 minutes before you serve it so you can get a spoon into it. Otherwise, you can let it defrost completely, so it’s back to its original soft mousse texture.

So now you’ve got all the details, what are you waiting for? It’s mint to be!
(Sorry, I had to squeeze a mint pun in here somewhere!)

Easy Peppermint Mousse

This Easy Peppermint Mousse is the perfect festive dessert. So simple to make, egg-free, gluten free but packed with white chocolate and mint flavour. Dress it up with candy-cane-rimmed glasses or serve it family-style in one big bowl, either way, it's sure to disappear!
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 53 minutes
Cuisine: American
Category: Desserts
Makes: 8 half-cup servings

Ingredients

For the Mousse

  • 500 mls whipping cream (see notes)
  • 300 g good quality white chocolate
  • 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract*

For the Peppermint Rimmed Glasses

Instructions

For the Mousse:

  • Chop the white chocolate and place it in a large heaproof bowl.
  • Heat half of the cream in a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges.
  • When the cream has just come to the boil, pour it over the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes for the chocolate to start to melt, then whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
    Stir in the remaining half of the cream. (Adding this cold cream helps cool the mixture down faster).
  • Whisk in the peppermint extract, and taste the mixture. Add more extract if necessary.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the mixture until it is very cold. This can be done in either the fridge or freezer.
    Fridge – refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
    Freezer – place in the freezer for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes to make sure it doesn't freeze around the edges.
    Chilling overnight in the fridge is preferred, for the best results, but I know sometimes we just want mousse in a hurry, so the freezer option is there if you need it.
  • If you're adding the peppermint rims to the glasses, now's a good time to prepare them – see the instructions for that below.
  • Once the mousse mixture is fully chilled, whip it with an electric hand mixer just until stiff peaks form. Be very careful not to over-whip or the mousse will become grainy.
  • Spoon or pipe into serving glasses. If it seems like it's still a little too soft to pipe, you can refrigerate the bowl of mousse again for 10 minutes or so until it firms up some more.
  • Serve the mousse immediately, or chill for 30 minutes for a firmer mousse.
    The mousse will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. Cover each individual serving glass or bowl with plastic wrap, or place all of them into a large airtight container.
    If you're using the peppermint-rimmed glasses, make sure you serve the mousse within 2-3 hours, as the candy canes will start to dissolve after a while in the fridge.
    The unwhipped mousse mixture will keep, covered, in the fridge for 1-2 days.

For the Peppermint Rimmed Glasses

  • Gently melt the compound chocolate in a heatproof bowl or jug in the microwave on medium-low power. Heat in short bursts and stir often until melted.
  • If the chocolate seems very thick, you can stir in half a teaspoon or so of shortening or unflavoured oil to thin it out a bit.
  • Crush the candy canes in a small plastic bag and place in a shallow bowl. If using the peppermint crunch sprinkles just put 1/4 – 1/3 cup of the sprinkles in the bowl.
  • Carefully dip the rims of the glasses into the chocolate. Aim to dip about 1/2cm or 1/4".
  • Dip the chocolate covered rim into the crushed candy canes or sprinkles.
  • Carefully shake off any excess, then turn upright and leave to set.

Notes

*Peppermint Extract: Extracts can vary greatly in intensity. I recommend starting with a small amount, giving it a taste and adding more if necessary. I used 1/4 teaspoon of Lorann peppermint oil.
Cream – The cream needed for this recipe is known by different names in different countries. Here in NZ, it’s usually called standard cream or whipping cream, in other countries, it could also be known as full cream, heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Double cream is generally too thick for this recipe it contains a lot more fat (although the fat content can vary by country.) Long story short: for best results, choose a pourable cream that is around 35% fat. Make sure that it says on the bottle/carton that it is suitable for whipping.
Chocolate: Use good quality white chocolate for the mousse, as it has the best flavour and texture. But for the glass rims, compound chocolate (chocolate melts) work best as they set quickly and don’t need to be tempered.
Serving: I also like to serve the mousse in one big bowl with a layer of dark chocolate ganache on top. To do this, just gently melt around 100g of dark chocolate with 150 ml of cream, let it cool slightly and pour it over the whipped mousse. If you want to serve the mousse in individual glasses and top it with the ganache, you may need to double or triple the amount to make sure you have enough for each glass.
Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 546kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 70mg | Sugar: 39g

Nutritional Disclaimer: Any nutritional information provided is a computer generated estimate and is intended as a guide only.

Enjoyed this recipe?Tag @sweetness.and.bite on Instagram, and hashtag #sweetnessandbite so we can see it! ❤

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, safe and healthy holiday season, wherever you are ❤️
xx Natalie

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