Maybe it’s my Dutch blood, or some unspoken essential to a girls weekend, but when we all decided to make recipes from scratch items already stocked in Lindsay’s pantry, I knew my dessert had to include chocolate. Here is what I came up with: chocolate cream cheese mousse served on flaky pastries topped with sliced fresh strawberries. Light enough to be good on a summer night with cocktails with the girls, and yet the chocolate and cream cheese added a richness to satisfy any sweet tooth.

I cut 1/2 C butter into 1 1/4 C flour, added about 1/4 C water, 1/4 C sugar, and a sprinkle of salt,

kneaded and flattened the dough,

 used a champagne glass to cut the pastry dough into little circles,

and baked at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

I mixed 7 Tbl sugar, 5 Tbl cocoa, 6 oz. cream cheese, and a splash of milk, and whipped it all up.

Topped them with strawberries and voila, improv dessert!