The Chocolate Lady Dishes

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!

Every year at our family get-together in the spring we hold a family Iron Chef competition. The secret ingredient is published a few weeks before the event and we all bring our finished dishes and act as judges.

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!

My mom shares this comfort food with a little life lesson…

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!