This year I decided to deviate from my normal 4th of July dessert (mini no bake cheesecakes) and try something new. I’d read this recipe for a Simple Chocolate Mousse @ Something Swanky that can be prepared in 5 minutes and I thought the 4th of July would be the perfect time to try it out. I had a box of instant chocolate pudding in the cupboard so all I needed was a tub of cool whip and 5 minutes to spare.

Thursday afternoon I prepared the mousse, following Ashton’s advice on her blog. It was super easy to put together and, like Ashton, I was dreaming of all the combination possibilities immediately. I will definitely be using this versatile recipe again!

As the evening wore on, I started thinking about that delicious chocolate mousse and how to make it even more decadent. I flipped through my cupboards and found a box of No Pudge Fudge brownie mix which only needs yogurt to mix and bake. I scanned the box and noticed they also had microwave instructions – like those cake in a mug recipes! This was perfect because I didn’t have enough yogurt to prepare the whole box.

Following their instructions, roughly, I put in about one tablespoon of yogurt for every two tablespoons of brownie mix – but you’ll want to add more or less yogurt to get the consistency just right (I was using Greek blueberry yogurt because it’s what I had on hand – from my experience, any yogurt goes delicious with these brownies). All told the recipe looked something like this:

For each mug you are baking add:

• 6 tablespoons of No Pudge Fudge brownie mix
• 4 tablespoons of greek yogurt

Cooking Directions:

1. Bake in microwave on high for  one minute, as recommended by the box. Check for doneness.
2. Continued to bake in microwave for 20 additional seconds each until the brownie is done and a toothpick can come out cleanly. Mine took a little over 2 minutes to bake.

Another five minutes later and I was adding my prepared mousse on top of my brownies and then topped the whole thing with a little whipped cream and fresh berries for good measure.

The result? Was sinfully delicious and actually not a ton of calories all told. And it only took me about ten minutes total to put the whole thing together! I think this recipe could easily be converted  and played around with – I bet you could try the mousse with a homemade pudding, too, and any cake or brownie recipe would be a prefect pairing (Ashton @ Simply Swanky had a lot of ideas, too).

What’s your favorite So Easy It Should Be Impossible Recipe?