The Chocolate Lady Dishes

True confessions here. I don’t remember making or eating this dessert.

That should give you some idea of how crazy life has been around here lately!

Seriously – Angel girl and I were looking through the pictures on the computer and found this one.

I had no idea what is was or why we made it.

Then a few days later I found the remainder of this frozen dessert in the freezer.

So I put my finger in it to see if I could tell what it was. Yum. I put another finger in to further test my taste buds. Then the girls saw me and put their fingers in to check it. After we had eaten at least 2 of the 4 pieces, Angel Girl remembered making this treat on her night to cook – months ago.

We had been trying to use up some of the many things left-over from the Golden Anniversary (which was in April).

Yes. It’s been in my freezer since then.

But it’s gone now. Devoured in the basement in front of the freezer using our fingers.

Since we created this dish ourselves, I’m not sure what we should call it – Left-over Surprise, Freezer Special? Hmm… maybe not.

Since we were using the left-over fixings for ice cream sundaes – let’s go with Ice Cream Sundae Bars.

Ice Cream Sundae Bars

1 sleeve of Oreo cookies (about 14)
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 quart ice cream, any flavor (we used the left-over vanilla)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup chocolate sauce (we used Nana’s amazing recipe)
Cool Whip (as much as you want)
chocolate sprinkles (just because we could!)

Mix the oreos and melted butter and press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Freeze for an hour.

Spread the ice cream over the oreo’s and cover with the peanuts and the chocolate sauce. Freeze for another hour.

Frost with Cool Whip and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Freeze.

This will obviously keep for months in your freezer if you should happen to forget that you made it!

Enjoy!

We went from cold and rainy to hot and sticky – literally overnight.

Instantly – baked goods just didn’t sound good and we were all hungry for something smooth, creamy, and cool.

It was time for some mousse.

I found an interesting recipe in an old Ghirardelli cookbook – it was quick to make and didn’t heat up the kitchen.

I did make a few frugal substitutions – but the end result was still yummy!

Black Forest Chocolate Mousse

2 bars (4 ounces each) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate (I used 1 cup of Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips – shh – don’t tell!)
2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup whipping cream
3/4  cup sugar
pinch salt
3 Tablespoons Kirsch (cherry liqueur – I used maraschino cherry juice)
1/2 cup sour cream
6 whole maraschino cherries

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the water over 1 inch of simmering water, stirring until smooth.

Whip the cream with the sugar and the salt. (I skipped this step and used a carton of Cool Whip!)

Gradually add the melted chocolate and Kirsch, beating at low speed until smooth.

Fold in the sour cream.

Spoon into serving dishes and chill.

I served to an enthusiastic audience with a dollop of Cool Whip and a maraschino cherry.

The recipe says it makes 6 (1/2 cup) servings – but I barely got 5. I think I may have sampled too much!

Enjoy!

PS Just a note on the photo – I would like to introduce my new photographer on staff here at The Chocolate Lady – my 11 year old daughter who’s blog name is Angel Girl. She had just a few days to practice before her brother left for a week at camp with the only camera she has ever used.

She was a trooper though and took several shots of of our finished mousse – with an unfamiliar camera – before we ate it.  When she went to upload them however – they didn’t turn out.

We couldn’t take another picture because we had devoured the dessert. Then I remembered the little bit of extra mousse I had hidden in the fridge so I could have a little taste later (I know none of you would ever do such a thing!). It wasn’t pretty though – just plopped in an old plastic container (part of the disguise – please don’t tell my kids!)

So I scooped out a spoonful, topped it with just a touch of Cool Whip – and voila! Angel Girl got her shot.

It still wasn’t  quite what we were looking for – but at least you get the idea!

And yes – now Angel Girl knows my secret.

And yes – I will let have some – okay all – of my secret stash.

And yes – I knew I shouldn’t eat it anyway!

I’ve linked this post up at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday on Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam.

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!