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!

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.

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

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 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!

Once again it is almost time for the County Fair! My kids are busy finishing up 4H projects – which includes practicing their baked goods.

Angel Girl has been learning how to make a chocolate swirl cookie that uses 2 egg yolks for every batch she makes – and she’s been practicing them a lot!

I decided it was time to use some of those egg whites, but the question was – how? There wasn’t enough for an angel food cake, too many to add to scrambled eggs.

Our solution? Meringues Cups.

I found an old recipe I had cut from a magazine years ago and altered it  slightly to create these yummy treats.

They are low fat but full of flavor and will definitely find their way to our table again!

Chocolate Almond Meringue Cups

8 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cup sugar
12 tablespoons baking cocoa
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil. Set aside.

In large metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt at high speed until soft peaks form.

At high speed, gradually add in the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition.

At low speed, beat in cocoa, almond extract and vanilla until blended.

Drop mixture by large metal spoonfuls on the foil covered cookie sheets. With a spoon, make a hole in the middle (like a cup or a dish).

You can make this whatever size you wish. We went with nice big ones and got 12 meringue cups out of the dough. You could certainly make them smaller.

Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours for the small size, 2 1/2 hours for the larger size.

Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets before carefully removing with a spatula. Cool on wire racks.

We served ours with fresh berries in the middle and they were yummy! A bit of whipped cream or cream cheese or even raspberry sherbet would have been delicious as well.

Enjoy!

This year’s secret ingredient was apples.

I first I was bummed – no chocolate.

But them my creativity kicked in and we came up with two great chocolate and apple dishes.

One was a basic brownie recipe that I substituted applesauce for half of the oil.  (Thanks for the hint, Connie!)  It turned out great and nobody believed it had apples in it!  (Subterfuge is an art in cooking!)

The second dish was Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue – with apples to dip in of course!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue

Melt together:

1 package peanut butter chips
1 package chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
1/4 cup evaporated milk or half and half
1 tablespoon butter

Place in a fondue pot (or use a 1 quart crock pot) and serve with an assortment of dippers – such as sliced fruit (apples are very good!), marshmallows, pretzels, or pound cake.

This was a very popular entry – I saw people pouring the fondue over other entries and even eating it by the spoonfuls!

Chocolate and apples go so well together – happy sigh – but then chocolate looks good on everything!

Our children never liked the traditional bread pudding with cinnamon and raisins. now in our “empty nest” season of life we have “up scaled” the recipe to include nuts, dried fruit, coconut, etc.  I can just hear their “ugh”!

When we first found this recipe for Chocolate Bread Pudding, my initial reaction was “ugh” — chocolate & bread do not go together!

But, then again, when have we not been able to eat something with chocolate in it?

So, being the adventurous one, Papa Jim made it, but just a half  recipe, in case we didn’t like it!

But that wasn’t a problem – it was delicious! It tastes like chocolate pudding with texture! It was wonderful plain, but ice cream dressed it up!

Life lesson: Don’t be afraid to try something new, especially if it contains chocolate!

Chocolate Bread Pudding
From Nana Shirley’s Kitchen

12 cups of ½ in. bread cubes
4 cups heavy cream (condensed milk works!)
2 cups milk
½ cup cocoa powder
1 Tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 cup sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 egg yolks

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300°. Toast bread on rimmed baking sheet, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 30 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

Increase oven temperature to 325°.  Grease 13 x 9 inch baking pan.   Heat 1 ½ cups cream, milk, cocoa, coffee, and ½ cup sugar in saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming and the sugar dissolves.  Pour warm cream mixture over toasted bread and let stand, tossing occasionally, until liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring additional 1 cup cream to simmer in saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Transfer 1 cup chocolate mixture to medium bowl and let cool 5 minutes. (Cover pan and reserve remaining chocolate mixture for serving.) Add egg yolks, remaining cream, and remaining sugar to bowl with chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.

Transfer soaked bread mixture to prepared pan and pour chocolate custard mixture over bread. Bake until pudding is just set and surface is slightly crisp, about 45 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes.

Warm reserved chocolate mixture over low heat, then pour over bread pudding.   Serve. (Leftover bread pudding should be refrigerated or frozen; reheat individual portions in microwave.)

Make ahead: In step 4, once soaked bread mixture has been transferred to prepared pan, the pan can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. When ready to bake, remove plastic and proceed with recipe as directed, increasing baking time to 55 minutes. Let reserved chocolate serving sauce cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Heat sauce in microwave when needed.

Option: You can half the recipe and bake in an 8 X 8 inch pan.

Until next time,
Nana Shirley

Ahh, more wise words from Mom, who is one of the most adventurous women I know!