I am starting to get a little excited.

Easter is nearly upon us! I love all holiday celebrations, but Easter is kind of special, as the festivities are centred around chocolate and delicious desserts, both favourites for me!

...and who can forget the little kiddies, my chocolate munching monsters announce every year that Easter is better than Christmas and birthdays because they get tonnes of junk food, and they can eat chocolate before breakfast!

Yep! It is the one day of the year when I throw my arms up in the air and say “knock yourselves out kids.” My hope is that it will be twelve months before they can face chocolate again. (Insert evil laugh)

Easter holidays are also a great opportunity to spend a little time in the kitchen with the kiddywinks. Philadelphia Cream Cheese have some great Easter recipe ideas which are perfect for the whole family, and a great way to get kids involved in cooking. After all it is school holidays and what better way to keep the kids amused.

So many more delicious dessert recipes can also be found on the PHILLY Website.

To get you started in the kitchen Philadelphia Cream Cheese has some fantastic cooking packs for me to giveaways. Each prize pack includes a Philly cookbook, gorgeous spatula and an oven-mitt, total value $29.95.  There will be three lucky readers, and all I need is to know is the name of your favourite PHILLY product.

Make sure you “like” Gourmet Getaways on Facebook and Twitter as the winners will be announced on Good Friday using these social media sites. Good Luck!

 Creamy Chocolate Mousse Eggs

Serves 6

Preparation time: 30 minutes                   Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

350g CADBURY Milk Chocolate Melts                       

6 balloons ( or Easter egg molds)

250ml PHILADELPHIA Cream For Desserts, a double cream alternative 

250g CADBURY White Chocolate Melts   

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Yellow liquid food colouring

Method

1. MELT half the milk chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Remove from the heat add the remaining chocolate and stir until smooth.
2. PARTLY inflate 6 balloons to the size of a small orange. Lower just the bottom section of a balloon into the melted milk chocolate to coat then place on a paper lined tray to set. Repeat with remaining balloons. Refrigerate overnight. When milk chocolate has set, pop, remove and discard balloons. Place a chocolate cup on each serving plate.
3. COMBINE the PHILLY with the white chocolate in a bowl and stir over simmering water until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. BEAT the egg whites until stiff peaks form, gradually beat in the sugar until dissolved to make a light meringue, and then gently fold through the chocolate mixture. Colour 1 cup of the mixture yellow.
5. DIVIDE the white mousse mixture between chocolate cups. Top each with a spoonful of yellow mousse mixture to resemble an egg yolk. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

 TIP: If using a balloon, refrigerating the chocolate coated balloons overnight will allow the chocolate to pull away more easily at room temperature.

Thank you to Philadelphia Cream Cheese for sponsoring this lovely giveaway, providing such a delicious recipe and gorgeous image to go along with it.

What can I make as an elegant dessert for eight people, with only five minutes to spare, and an empty fridge?

Hmm, luckily I had a tub of PHILLY Cream for dessert in the fridge from my day cooking with Suzanne Gibb and Margaret Fulton. One of the great things about the PHILLY cream for desserts is the long fridge life of the product. So many times I buy regular cream expecting to make something, only to throw it out a week later when it has past the due date.

Although my fridge is bare I always have the basics, eggs, sugar and chocolate. Thanks to my goodie bag from PHILLY I also had a carton of Cream for Desserts. This looked like the makings of a delicious dessert and I had just the recipe up my sleeve.

But before I go any further I would like to announce a giveaway!

The lovely people at Kraft Foods Australia, makers of PHILLY products have given me five PHILLY gift packs to giveaway. The prize packs will include a copy of the “Simply Heaven Vol.2 Cookbook” and a Coles gift card to the value of $7.00. The gift card will buy two Philly products so readers can choose to make this recipe I am about to share or another from their new PHILLY cookbook. The total value of the prize is $42.

To be in the draw all readers need to do is tell me in the comments section below, what PHILLY dessert they are currently craving. The best five answers will have their PHILLY craving satisfied.  This competition will also be announced on the Gourmet Getaways facebook page. Please leave the statement “I have entered the PHILLY Dessert competition” on the Facebook competition thread. Winners will be announced on the 29^th November via Facebook, so please make sure you are a friend of Gourmet Getaways so that you receive your notification.  Good luck to all!

Now back to my last minute dessert. These four ingredients equal a luscious White Chocolate Mousse. I shared this recipe to Belly Rumbles for the Philly Masterclass in Sydney last month, so you can also find this dish on her site.  I had intended to substitute the praline layer for something a little different like blueberries reduced in maple syrup, but unfortunately the pantry is also bare and all I had was nuts and sugar.

I hope you enjoy having this quick recipe up your sleeve for a last minute dessert.

Ingredients:

250gm white chocolate (melted)

250gm PHILLY “Cream for Desserts”

1 egg white

1 Tbs caster sugar

Praline layer:

½ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ cup of any unsalted nuts

Method:

Stir the Philly “cream” through the melted chocolate until combined.

Beat egg white in a mixer until the start of soft peaks; add sugar very slowly at the start making sugar the sugar is completely dissolved before adding more. Continue to beat the egg white on the highest mixer setting until all the sugar is incorporated.

Carefully fold ¼ of the meringue through the chocolate cream mixture. Continue mixing the remaining meringue a quarter at a time until all the mixture has been folded through.

Using a dessert spoon, place two large spoonfuls of the mixture into the bottom of eight serving dishes. Add a layer of filling to the mousse.

Place the final scoop of mousse on top of the filling and you are done. The dessert can actually be served immediately as it is a thick luscious custard or refrigerated and served as a set mousse. 

I have given the direction below for the praline filling although you could have anything you desire as the contrasting layer. I chose praline as there is nothing else in the house!

Praline Method:

Place nuts on a tray with baking paper under the oven grill to toast. Remove from the heat once they are golden and set aside.

Dissolve sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat.

Once dissolved increase the heat and allow to boil until the toffee changes to a golden colour. Remove from the heat and pour over the nuts.

Cool the praline at room temperature and break into pieces with a meat mallet or food processor.

So there we have it, a quick and easy dessert which is mouth wateringly delicious.

Now lovely Gourmet Getaways readers, what delicious dessert are you craving at the moment. Thanks to Kraft Australia, the makers of PHILLY "Cream for Desserts" five lucky readers will receive a PHILLY prize pack valued at $42. For a chance to win all you have to do is let me know what dessert you are craving in the comments section below. The competition ends at midnight on the 29th of November, 2011. Winners will be announced on the Gourmet Getaways Facebook page. The competition is open to anyone within Australia.