Last year the church youth group put on a banquet for the entire church – and had so much fun that they wanted to do it again.

This year we wanted to experiment a little with dessert – and came up with this strawberry chocolate delight.

You may recognize it as being very similar the Chocolate Ice Cream Cake I shared last summer. We just changed out the ice cream and modified the filling a bit.

(And yes – the modified filling was what we were experimenting with during the infamous Double Fail Brownie incident!)

It was a huge hit!

And it was so easy to assemble that high school boys did it! We made an assembly line in the church kitchen and things went pretty fast.

We did use three different brands of strawberry ice cream – since we were buying in bulk and none of our small town stores had enough of one kind.  It was interesting to note that each brand had a different pink coloring.  Blue Bunny was my personal favorite – both for coloring and flavoring!

Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

1 bag (1 – 1/2 cups) crushed Oreo cookies
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups strawberry ice cream (divided) – about one carton
3 ounces softened cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
4 ounces Cool Whip

Carefully line a bread pan with aluminum foil.

Mix together the crushed Oreo’s and melted butter.  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the foil lined bread pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Open the carton of ice cream on the side and cut it in half with a sharp knife.

Cut one half of the ice cream into thirds and lay them side by side on top of the Oreo crust. smooth the top, filling in the cracks. Freeze until solid – about 1 hour. (Put the other half of ice cream back in the freezer.)

Whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar until it is creamy. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spread on top of the ice cream layer and freeze one hour.

Take the remaining half carton of ice cream and cut it into thirds and lay them side by side on top of the cream cheese layer. (This may look like it won’t fit – squeeze what you can in, and eat the rest with a spoon!) Freeze one hour.

Spread the remaining Oreo Cookie crumbs on the top and freeze.

To serve, flip the pan on to a serving platter and remove the pan.  Carefully pull back the foil and slice with a serrated knife into 8-10 slices.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolate

Are you looking for a sweet idea to add to your Valentine’s celebration?

These little yummy little chocolate cups are an easy – but very fancy treat!

They are just sweet enough to compliment fruit, but could also hold some decadent chocolate mousse or rich creamy ice cream.

Dagmar whipped these up in just a few minutes – then put the dough in the fridge until she needed it.

The possibilities for fillings are endless – especially for Valentine’s Day! You could try whipped cream and strawberries, or a medley of berries with a drizzle of chocolate on top.

Chocolate Fruit Cups

2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons) cold butter, cut in pieces
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup flour
1 egg white

Combine the butter, brown sugar and cocoa over low heat. When the butter is melted, remove from the heat. Slowly sift the flour and cocoa over the butter mixture.

Stir. Add just enough egg white to bind the mixture.

Gather into a ball, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Grease 8 – 3 inch tartlet pans (we used muffin tins). Roll the dough out between two pieces of waxed paper. Cut out 8 rounds using a 4-inch round cookie cutter (we used one with a fluted edge to make them extra fancy!)

Put the dough in the tarlet pans and prick the bottoms.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake until firm, 20-25 minutes.

Cool, then remove from the pans.

Fill with whipped cream, or ice cream, or fruit!

We used a cream cheese and Cool Whip combination and topped with fruit.

Enjoy!

You know who your friends are when they bring you chocolate.

You know who your really good friends are when they bring you chocolate cheesecake!

I have a friend who did just that.

Back in December – during the craziest busy week in my month – she brought me this luscious chocolate cheesecake dessert.

She didn’t even make me share.

I asked for the recipe – but with the snowstorms and busyness of life – I am just now getting the recipe up for you all to enjoy as well.

This would be a perfect treat to share with your special Valentine’s!

This comes from a well-used church cookbook. Which are , by the way, one of my favorite kinds of cookbooks because they are written by women in the trenches (like me) who serve real food to real hungry families.

Chocolate Cheesecake Dessert

1 package chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1 tablespoon oil
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounces Cool Whip

Set aside 1 cup of dry cake mix.

In a large bowl combine the remaining cake mix, 1 egg, and oil. The mixture will be crumbly. Press into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl blend the cream cheese and sugar. Add 3 eggs and reserved cake mix. Beat 1 minute at medium speed. At low speed add milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour over crust.

Bake at 300 degrees for 55-60 minutes.

Cool. Spread with Cool Whip and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

I love that song from the “The Fiddler on the Roof! I can just hear Teyve belting it out – especially this time of year when we are surrounded by traditions.

It was playing in my head on Saturday as we moved the boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic and started to decorate.

The first of many Christmas traditions were about to begin – decorating the Christmas tree – followed, of course,  by Chocolate Fondue.

But this year, I have departed somewhat from the usual “after- the -party” traditions. Normally, I would put the left-over fondue in a small container and hide it in the back of the refrigerator. Then I would slowly enjoy it one bite at a time in the days to follow.

But this year – you might want to sit down for this – this year I shared.

I know it’s shocking, but really I did!

Actually, Angel girl and I took the  left-over fondue and whipped it up with 3 ounces of cream cheese and one tub of Cool Whip.

Then Angel Girl put them in pretty dishes and we called them Chocolate Mousse.

We served them as dessert that night after our evening meal of Broccoli-Cheese soup – which was a good thing because we all knew that a spoonful of chocolate helps the green vegetables go down!

So has a new tradition been born? Time will tell!

It was one year ago last weekend that we finally moved into our newly remodeled farmhouse – after over 8 years of working on it.

This was definitely something that needed to be celebrated!

And there’s nothing that says celebration quite like something creamy, rich and chocolate!

I had been saving this recipe for a special occasion – and they were well worth the wait!

After the initial “oohh and ahh’s” a few of my children commented that they sure seemed like really small servings! But they were extremely rich and several had trouble finishing it!

Chocolate Pots de Creme

2 cups chocolate chips (milk, semi- sweet, or dark – I used semi-sweet)

1/2 cup light cream (I used half-in-half)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place the chocolate chips and light cream in the top of a double boiler over hot water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and mixed with the cream.

Remove from the heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour into very small dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate until set.

Serve cold with whipped cream.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Enjoy!