Secret Special Dessert

In our family, there is no greater surprise than the Secret Special Dessert. What is this mysterious sweet treat, you ask? Well, Secret Special Dessert can really be any dessert item, as long as it is presented after dinner unbeknownst to anyone else in the family. For a long time, Secret Special Dessert was always pudding made by my dad. After dinner he would say, "Secret Special Dessert time!" and out would come pudding in festive glass bowls. It became a running joke around our house because everyone knew that while the surprise dessert was always special, it was no longer a secret. Over time, we've mixed it up a bit - surprise ice cream sandwiches on a hot night, surprise cookies after dinner, a new dessert treat someone saw at the grocery store and had to bring back to share. It seems silly, but the excitement surrounding Secret Special Dessert never dies!

After the Shoyu Chicken Birthday Dinner we made Secret Special Birthday Dessert for my dad. He loves chocolate mousse, so we decided to attempt homemade chocolate mousse! We found this recipe online. It was simple to follow the step by step rules, but a little tedious at times.

Ingredients, including coffee and rum. YUM!

Melted chocolate mix.

Whipping the cream.

Tedious job #1: Heating cream and gelatin mix over the stove.

Adding the gelatin mix to the chocolate.

After stirring in the gelatin mix, we added the freshly whipped cream to the chocolate.

Tedious job #2: Mixing in the whipped cream with the chocolate without beating it too much and turning it flat. Our dad deserves only the fluffiest mousse!

Cute plating idea from my MIHM Girls Team partner! Hershey's chocolate shaved on top :)

Happy birthday dad! Secret Special Dessert mission complete!

Aside from how much fun this was to make, it was also SUPER delicious. The coffee and rum flavors were subtle but made a big difference, adding an interesting layer of "MMMM" to this mousse. The consistency was perfectly fluffy, and the whole family really enjoyed this. It was very filling, so next time we could probably serve it in smaller portions, but hey, we were celebrating!