Okay the tree and the trimmings are up, the pantry is stocked and the drinks fridge is full.  Yes the silly season is officially underway with a packed social entertaining calendar.  I love this time of year and I want to enjoy it with my guests and not be stressing out in the kitchen so it helps to have the freezer stocked with one or two things too to take the pressure off.

You already know that as far as desserts are concerned I like nice and easy but impressive so semifreddo works perfectly for me.  Below is a recipe for Coffee Semifreddo that I found in Good Food and, as I explain later, this recipe can be switched around with different flavours so you can have two or three tucked away in the freezer ready to go.  No stress!

Coffee Semifreddo

1 tbspn Good Quality Instant Coffee

1 tbspn Tia Maria, Kahlua or Brandy

4 Large Eggs, separated

100gm Caster Sugar

300ml Double Cream

100gm of 70% Dark Chocolate – 75gm finely chopped for the Semifreddo and 25gm grated or curled for decoration

Line a 1ltr loaf tin with cling film.  Put the Coffee, Tia Maria, sugar and four egg yolks in one bowl, the egg whites in a second bowl and the cream in a third bowl.

With an electric whisk, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat the Coffee and egg yolk mixture until thick and leaving a trail and then beat the cream until it holds its shape.  If you do it in this order you won’t have to wash your beaters between each process!

Then fold the cream through the Coffee and egg yolk mixture and then fold the egg whites through.  When combined, add the chopped chocolate and mix through.  Pour into the loaf tin and loosely fold the cling film over the top and put in the freezer to set.

To serve, turn out and remove the cling film and decorate with the grated or curled chocolate.

To get ahead for Christmas you could also make an Orange Semifreddo by changing out the Coffee and Tia Maria for the zest of half an orange and Grand Marnier or a Lemon & Raspberry Semifreddo by using the zest of half a lemon and Limoncello and decorate and serve with raspberries and/or raspberry coulis.