When I planned my first Christmas after having a baby, I was very cautious with my menu (determined to keep it simple and fuss-free) and I wanted a dessert with the least
amount of effort but that looked dazzling and was light and luscious.

I started off with more varied ingredients, like mascarpone, tweaking my recipe until I had two
basic ingredients, cream cheese and cream. The cream cheese is your choice, I tried them all – from Woolworth’s fat free cream cheese to Simonsberg low fat.

There are so many short cuts to take in this dessert. If you are on holiday with no mixer on hand, use refrigerated long life cream which whisks in seconds. For the biscuits use the round shapes from the Woolworth’s Soet Koekie pack and the star- shaped ones can be used to decorate.
Top with Woolworth’s berry coulis instead of making your own.

BERRY POTS

• 500ml cream
• 1 tub cream cheese
• Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
• ½ cup icing sugar
• Vanilla essence/paste or extract to taste
• Crushed biscuits of your choice

1. Combine cheese, cream, lemon, sugar and vanilla in a food processor or mixer and blend until thick and creamy
2. Place the cheese mixture into a disposable piping bag or Ziplock bag, snip the end and pipe the mixture into a small glass, layering with the biscuits.
3. Dollop raspberry Coulis on top to serve

PASTRY STARS

• 1 roll frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge
• Sugar, edible glitter, plus 1 egg to glaze

1. Cut out festive shapes from the pastry, glaze with the beaten egg and bake at 180 ˚C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown
2. Sprinkle glitter and sugar onto the baked stars, insert a skewer and place in the glasses

BERRY COULIS

Bring 1 packet of frozen raspberries (or berries of your choice) , 1 tablespoon mazeina and 1 cup of water & sugar to the boil. Cool

COOK’S NOTES:
• You can make the dessert up to 2 days in advance but only pour over the coulis over when ready to serve