Chocolate Chip Cake, Gluten Free

I have posted this cake before, here.  This time I made it for # 3's birthday.  AND I successfully made it gluten free!

It was made to look like a lego brick, but that frosting was hard to smooth and I think the gf made it a little crumblier on the circle parts so it was hard to do.  Also my chocolate started getting cold again before I totally incorporated it so it has little 'chips' in the frosting still.  Maybe if I tempered it more, by adding the cold to the warm chocolate bowl before adding it to the rest.?

Anyway, here is the gf version *(One small change I had to make after I fixed the recipe was that I was out of eggs but had some frozen whites so instead of all the eggs I used 4 eggs and two egg whites.)

CAKE
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup Sugar
6 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 cups GF Flour mix
1 12 oz. package Little Bits Semi-sweet Chocolate chips, divided

FROSTING
1 cup Little bits semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1" baking pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper. In bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well.  Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate bits. Spread in prepared pan. bake 350º for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting: Melt over hot (not boiling) water, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits, stir until smooth. Set aside. In bowl, combine butter and confectioners' sugar; beat until creamy. Add melted chocolate and vanilla; blend until smooth.

Loosen sides of cake. Invert and peel of paper. Trim edges if necessary. Cut cake crosswise into 4 sections. Spread frosting on one layer. Top with second cake layer. Repeat layers. Frost entire cake with remaining frosting.

Original version

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Once again I did not have a 15x10 pan so I used a regular larger cookie sheet. this resulted in 5 layers for me. I cut 4 across the pan then cut some off each end to make a 5th layer. Probably for this reason I needed more frosting than the recipe made.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

These are our current favorite CCC's.  I decided it was time to come up with our own recipe. Age 15 made these while I dictated directions. He did good. They were good. I want some now. In our 5000ft altitude it is hard to get a cookie to be nice and high and not just deflate and spread on the pan. For some reason these worked out perfect, kept their height and gooey-chewiness. I'm not a hard cookie fan, the gooier, the better. Have they always worked this well? No, but they have worked consistently the best in that area.


Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. salt
1 cup butter
2 Tbls. shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teas. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.  Whisk together flour, baking soda, powder and salt.  Set aside.
Mix together butter, peanut butter and shortening, sugar and brown sugar until just mixed well, no need to cream.
Add vanilla and eggs, mix.  Gradually add flour mixture until just combined, stir in chips and oatmeal.  I like to refrigerate the dough for at least an hour, I think it helps in keeping them puffed up.

Use a large scoop and drop onto cookie sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden and have cracked.  They won't look all the way done in the cracks.  Cool ON THE PAN so they will continue to cook a little.  This made a huge difference.   This is what they looked like just out of the oven.

Chocolate Ombre Cake and a cake mix extender recipe

For my daughter's birthday this year I made the popular ombre cake in pulled petal style.  Obviously I didn't get a picture of the best side, I was too busy trying to get it on the table for the birthday guests.     I used a chocolate butter cream and a vanilla (from here) and mixed to get the shades.  I learned that these two types of frosting do not play well together.  It ends up the more of chocolate that I added, the more gooey it got.  I had to refrigerate it to get the dots to stay long enough to pull them but the cake was still cold from the freezer over night so that helped them set up.  As you can see they did stay set up but the mixture of all the left over at the end, I ended up dumping rather than use again.  Did I mention that in addition to the birthday cake I made 11 (ELEVEN) dozen half-size (bigger than mini but smaller than regular) cupcakes for a Marching band bake sale.

I used a cake extender recipe just to try and make the box at least semi homemade.  When I can, I prefer a scratch cake but when I have to make a large or a lot of cake I use box mixes because they are cheap and a LOT quicker.     So in the end 3 cake box mixes made this 3 layer 8 in cake and the eleven dozen or 6 dozen whole size cupcakes.

This is also known as WASC or White Almond Sour Cream and usually starts with a white cake mix but you can use most any flavor of mix or added flavorings.  One nice thing about it is that it cuts out the Oil usually called for in a box mix but then you are adding extra sugar and the cream.  Oh well.  This recipe isn't necessarily my favorite extender recipe but it's the one I used this time.

WASC cake mix extender.

1 box cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar
generous dash of salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water
3 whole eggs
1 tablespoon flavoring  ( I use 2 teas. vanilla and 1 teas. almond)

Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients together.  Beat together well.     Bake in usual manner (I do 325º for about 30 min for 1 8 in. round pan.)

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

I love these bars.  Too much.  I need to be less selfish and greedy and give stuff like this away more so I don't have to eat left overs by myself.  Because I am such an awesome mother though I take all the fat and unhealthy stuff so my kids don't have to suffer.  It's true, look at my daughter and husband who have about 4% body fat combined.  I have taken all that pain and grief and suffering from them and lovingly added all their extra fat to myself.  That is what I tell myself anyway when I sneak the extra bar or two... while they are at work and school.



I made these for book club once.  I'm very talented at being able to make the words that come out of my mouth not match the thoughts in my head.  One women said "Who made these, they taste so deliciously naughty."  Instead of responding I made them, thank you.   I said "I'm good at naughty."   I actually meant I was good at making desserts that taste good and are not healthy in any way.   We all got a good laugh. 

I have been using a new ingredient in my baking.  Black Bee Vanilla  It is made locally and I like it.  I have the double Madagascar which I use in baking and a single Tahitian which I use in things that are not cooked or at least not as much.  This is not a paid endorsement, I just wanted to give them a shout-out.


Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chocolate chip cookie layer:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
1 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1 T cider vinegar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake layer:

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, salt and vinegar. Beat in the egg, then the baking soda and flour. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the dough into two equal portions and set aside.

2. In a medium mixing bowl cream the cream cheese with the sugar until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. In a 9x13 pan, spread 1/2 of the cookie dough mixture evenly across the bottom. (This is somewhat tricky to do. I find it easier to add dollops of cookie dough throughout the pan and then spread all the dollops together. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the top of the cookie dough. With the remaining cookie dough, flatten chunks of dough between your hands into discs, and then place on top of the cream cheese mixture. (The dough discs don't have to touch, just place them near each other so they cover the surface as well as possible.)

4. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is brown and cooked through. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator.


I found this recipe at Heat Oven to 350.  Thank you for sharing it with the world.

Cheesecake Brownies

These are an old favorite of ours.  I made them for Valentine treats.  I always wish there were more middle pieces but it's impossible.  I really don't understand those "all edges" brownie pans.  Maybe I'm completely different but I would much rather have a nice middle than a crusty outside edge.   With the cheesecake layer it tends to run to the middle as the edges bake up so you get more in the middle and less on the edge, at least with my recipe

The beauty of these is that most brownie recipes will work for the base.  I'm not sure which ones wouldn't but I'm not sure they all would either.  I have used a few different recipes including a box mix and had it work out great always.  This time I used an old standby with extra cocoa.  I almost prefer them the next day but they are good right out of the oven too.  Something about letting them just settle and meld I guess, although make sure you cover them so the edges don't dry hard.   They are nice if you like to slightly marble the layers together and look good that way too.   The one thing I should have done is double my cheesecake part because the brownie recipe I made is for a larger pan thus the cheesecake layer was smaller.

I am warning you, this recipe is not correctly paired up.  The cheesecake part is for a 9 in pan and the brownies fit in a 9x13.  I just settle for the thinner layer of cheesecake but you can use a smaller brownie recipe.  These brownies are on page 2 of my most used recipes.  That tells you their importance in my life.  They are in the middle of cakey and fudgy.  They are of course great all on their own.  They are followed only by my fudge brownies with ganache and BYU mint brownies in my brownie repretoire.  The cheesecake layer only makes them better. 

Brownie layer

3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients and beat until smooth.  Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and mix well.  combine flour and salt and mix into batter until incorporated, do not over mix.

Cheesecake layer

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbl. butter, softened
2 eggs
2 Tbl. milk
1 Tbl. flour
1/2 tsp. almond extract


Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter until creamy.  Add eggs, milk, flour and almond extract, beat well.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Spread brownie mixture in 9x13 in. pan.  Pour cheesecake mixture over the top.  Bake for about 40-45 min. 


Edit:  I linked up with Lisa at http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-5.html this week.

Chocolate Chip Cake

This is the first time I have tried this recipe. I made it for my husbands birthday. It looks impressive, if you can see past my bad photography, tastes very rich and is simpler than it looks.  I believe I had two or three requests to "Make this for my next birthday."

Notes: The batter is more like cookie dough when done and subsequently the cake is more cookie-like. This makes it easier to assemble. Make sure your chocolate is completely melted or you get little choc bits like I did. I did not have a 15x10 pan that I trusted to bake in anymore (I don't know why I keep it around still) so I used a regular larger cookie sheet. this resulted in 5 layers for me. I cut 4 across the pan then cut some off each end to make a 5th layer. Probably for this reason I needed more frosting than the recipe made. Slice it thin, it is very rich or sweet.  Even age14, aka. the bottomless pit, said "I'm full."   Do not leave out on counter where you will be tempted to have a piece every time you pass it.

CAKE
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup Sugar
4 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Flour, all-purpose
1 12 oz. package Little Bits Semi-sweet Chocolate chips, divided

FROSTING
1 cup Little bits semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1" baking pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper. In bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well.  Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate bits. Spread in prepared pan. bake 350º for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting: Melt over hot (not boiling) water, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits, stir until smooth. Set aside. In bowl, combine butter and confectioners' sugar; beat until creamy. Add melted chocolate and vanilla; blend until smooth.

Loosen sides of cake. Invert and peel of paper. Trim edges if necessary. Cut cake crosswise into 4 sections. Spread frosting on one layer. Top with second cake layer. Repeat layers. Frost entire cake with remaining frosting.

Not Zucchini Brownies

 

I showed you the cucumbers that took over in my garden before.  We couldn't keep up with them this year.  We just weren't in a cucumber mood and rarely would just eat them.  I love cucumber but I just wasn't into it this year.    I had so much and hated throwing it out every week.  Even  attempts at giving it away to neighbors failed.  I mean it's not like it was Zucchini or anything.    OR WAS IT?

Long ago my sister made me a cucumber cake for my birthday.  I'm sure if I lived with my sister I would be much better off health wise than I am by myself.   We played a game the other night, we both got the same question at separate times.  We simply had to answer which word(s) we felt right, for whatever reason.  The words?  Healthy or Junk Food.  Me? - Junk Food.  Her? - Healthy.  I can't help it, I want to eat healthy and try but I still like Junk Food.  And I feel quite junky lately or that I haven't been eating too well so I answered junk food.  Although in a sense I don't think anyone would look in my cupboard and find a lot of junk food, I don't have potato chips or packages of cookies etc.   But two helpings of fresh apple crisp seem junkier than not.

So on too the brownies.    I thought, of course! I could use the cucumber like zucchini and add it to the brownies.  It's got to be better than non vegetable added brownies right?  So I did.  I took a regular zucchini brownie recipe and substituted cucumber.  The cucumber was more watery so I didn't put quite as much in.   It tasted fine, almost too moist but the family didn't care.  It was chocolate cake after all.  And the kids all wanted seconds.  I have to feel almost Bill Cosby-ish about it.  'But it's got milk and eggs and. . . Cucumber!  Mom is great!  Gives them the chocolate cake!'   Wait, no it doesn't have milk or eggs,  and no, we did not eat it for breakfast.   

So here is the recipe I used but I'm leaving it as zucchini, just substitute if you feel like experimenting. Remember to de-seed the vegetable of choice before grating.  Now that I think about it I got this recipe from one of my other sisters.   

Zucchini Brownies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil
1 teas. salt
1 1/2 teas. baking soda
2 teas. vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix the 'wet' ingredients first, then add the 'dry' ingredients.   Bake 375º for 25-30 minutes.   

I know, not very specific directions.  Sorry, when I jot down recipes I only include ingredients and baking degree.  Sometimes I remember to put a baking time.   Also I used extra cocoa.  at least 1/2 cup total. 

Next, I might tackle another cake my sister made me for a different birthday. 

Triple Layer Devil Dog Cake

This is one of my favorite cakes to make.  This time it was for my son's Birthday party.

 

He doesn't look too excited about it does he?  Actually I just caught him at a bad moment I guess.  This was his first Teenager party.  It was quite fun to have all his friends over.  Very good bunch of kids.  

He told me me he wanted a cake with a bunch of layers.  He mentioned Ice cream cake, but I didn't have the time to fuss nor the freezer space to store such a tall order.    His cake taste is improving.  We don't do parties every year at our house, but usually every other year.   For his last birthday party he was very into Cryptids.  His favorite being the Yeti.    And he wanted a Yeti cake complete with snow mountains.  This may not be your idea of the Abominable Snowman but I looked it up, let me tell you, the actual Yeti is reddish brown in color, not white.

Let's refresh our memories. 

I'm glad he picked a more grown up cake this year.  

The cake itself is just chocolate.  You can use whatever you like,  My favorite recipe takes quite a lot of time but for this I didn't have that time and used a doctored cake mix.  Gasp!  yup.  It was actually an old White Cake mix that I added cocoa, pudding, and sour cream too.  That was the mix that needed to be used because it was out of date.     The filling is a layer of Chocolate ganache and a Layer of Stabilized Whipped cream. So simple and yet sooo good.  Careful when cutting because it needs to be refrigerated (for the cream) which makes the ganache hard and thus hard to cut.  

Peanut Butter Truffle Cupcakes and PB Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh Yeah! 

These cupcakes are so yummy.   It is one of those recipes where I hate to give up my secrets.  But I will share this time.  I made them for my daughters 'party.' That thing they do about every other week anyway with her two best friends but I decided to make it a little more special. It was the last late night of the summer.  I hope she appreciated it.  It was a mystery theme. First they had pizza, then they had to solve 4 parts of a mystery. They were given clues throughout the night and in between they played the Whodunit game and tried to watch Nancy Drew, but didn't get very far with the movie.

Half of the girls fun is making invitations and decorations all the days leading up to their evening event.  They taped finger prints all around the house and other cut outs and paper chains.  Sometimes they even plan enough to dress alike, but this time they didn't. 

First part of the mystery they had to figure out where a crime was committed.  It was in the kitchen.
Second part, they had to figure out what the crime was.  Cupcakes were stolen.  I made these in advance and hid them, she didn't know.
Third, they had to find out who did it.  Mom.  It's always mom's fault anyway right?
Last they had to find the evidence.  The cupcakes.

Really, I think I may have had as much fun coming up with all the  puzzles and clues as they did solving them.  the ranged from simple (or hard) puzzles to having to fingerprint everyone in the whole house.  Each clue took them almost 20-30 minutes to solve.  I thought it wouldn't take so long.   It ended up not being so late of a night, one girl had to go home early.

As for the cupcakes, Yummm.  The cupcake was a regular enough chocolate but the truffle inside made them so much more awesome. I think I may have eaten one or two of the truffles all by themselves before putting the rest into the cupcakes.   The frosting was so yummy and I could just sit and eat it alone also.  Bad me!    


TRUFFLES
6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder


Place white chocolate in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium just until chocolate is soft; stir until smooth. Whisk in ¼ cup peanut butter until smooth.
Refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes or until firm. Using 1 tablespoon each, roll chocolate mixture into 12 (1-inch) balls; place on waxed paper-lined plate. Roll each ball in cocoa powder to coat completely. Freeze on lined plate 1 to 3 hours or until frozen solid. (Truffles can be frozen overnight.)

CUPCAKES
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners; spray bottom of liners with nonstick cooking spray. Sift flour, sugar, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl; combine.
Place buttermilk, eggs and vanilla into a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until blended. Reduce speed to medium-low; slowly beat in flour mixture. Add melted butter. Increase speed to medium-high; beat 2 minutes.  Divide batter equally among muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full.  (I thought this might be too much but after they cooled they shrunk a bit.)

Gently drop frozen truffle into center of each batter-filled cup. Do not push truffle into batter, it will sink during baking.  (I put mine in still frozen, I wonder if they had been thawed a bit if they wouldn't melt into the cake a bit?)
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpicks inserted in centers come out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely.


PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cupcakes, dividing equally.

These cupcakes would do well with a chocolate or ganache frosting also.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Oh boy, did I have trouble with these.  The cookie part turned out ok but when I went to put the ice cream in it was melting faster than I could handle.  I also made these for the same church function and they didn't freeze so well at the church either.  They were very melty.  Once I got them home, however, they froze in my freezer just fine and I was able to eat a whole one without any drips at all.  In order to hold all the sandwiches I made (about 40) I had to put them in my deep freeze, which I guess isn't so frozen as my fridge/freezer.  So lesson # 1 make sure your ice cream is really frozen before you begin and freeze them quickly after assembly.

As for the chocolate cookie, after being frozen it is not soft like a store bought ice cream sandwich, but sort of hard as in it cracks when you bite it but its not hard like an oreo hard, just not bendy cake-like soft. Kind of chewy.  I liked it, it was sort of an addicting texture to me. 

I used 3 different flavors of ice cream in my cookies, Chocolate Chip, Peppermint and French vanilla.  I liked the Peppermint best.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup cocoa, sifted
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
extra flour and cocoa for dusting

In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for several minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the cocoa powder, mixing on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Then add the vanilla and the egg and blend on medium speed until thoroughly combined.  Add the flour on low speed, mixing until uniform and comes together like a dough. 
Remove the cookie dough from the mixer, wrap in plastic and chill until firm (this should take several hours). You can store the dough wrapped like this for 2-3 days if you wish to make it in advance.
When ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 350°F.  Remove your dough from the refrigerator, if it is hard as a rock allow to stand at room temperature for a little while before exercising your rolling muscles on it.  In a small bowl, mix together enough flour and cocoa to dust your cutting board and your dough to keep it from sticking (a mix of 50/50 flour/cocoa). Using cocoa powder to dust will keep the surface of your cookies dark and chocolaty looking.  Roll out your chilled dough to about 1/8" thickness and cut out your shapes. (I tried some cookies with holes and some without.  It didn't seem to matter much.  Holes had a little less but not much bubbling.)  Bake for 10 minutes, until the surface is no longer glossy. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. They will be soft fresh out of the oven but will crisp up as they cool.  Once cool, place the cookies in a ziplock baggie or other container and freeze until ready to use.

To fill with ice cream, open carton and slice desired size slices.  Cut to same size/and shape as cookies then sandwich together.  Freeze until serving time.
If you use home made icecream or can not slice it, quickly spread in a baking sheet and freeze again, then cut desired shapes.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Once again, my photography does not do this justice.

This is the last Zucchini Cake recipe you will ever need.  It's even better warm right out of the oven.  I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour.  They make some good recipes over there.  I used to always make Zucchini Brownies because the Cake recipe I had just wasn't what I wanted, very mild in the chocolate department compared to this. But now I may not make the brownies again.  This was made in honor of my 15th Anniversary.  Everyone was pleased, even my 6 year old who always thinks he wants cake and then never ends up eating it ended up eating almost a whole piece (big piece).

I left out a bit of oil and baking soda for my high altitude.  Also I used my frozen zucchini and lots of water is removed once it thaws so I think the cake was slightly more dry than  it might have been.  Although my test warm from the microwave was very moist.  (Do you think I was just going to let this sit out on my stove for me to gawk at all day and not be able to try a bite?  Nuh Uh!  Toss a cupcake size of batter in a bowl and microwave for about 40-60 seconds! )  Also instead of returning the chocolate chips to the oven I just cooked the cake the whole way then let them sit on top a few minutes to melt, then spread it around.   Note: the white lines on top are not pieces of zucchini, it's bits of "Happy Anniversary" that was on top in left over cream cheese frosting from cinnamon rolls that will be posted later.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Blackout Cake

Another Birthday, another cake.  I'm not a fan of regular 'ol cake and buttercream frosting.  To much cake decorating I guess.  Other concoctions of cake however. . .
For mine and my husbands birthdays I get to be a bit more creative in baking and for my husbands birthday I chose a Blackout Cake.  hard to go wrong with triple chocolate, right?

The version I chose to make was from Food Network's Ask Aida.  Simply because I had seen the show at some point and I knew I could find the recipe easily.  I know there are many versions out there and I may try a different one sometime. 

The pudding in this recipe is extremely chocolate-y.  And the cake is a nice dense dark chocolate flavor.   I used Oreo's for the cookie crumbles.  Each of these three is great on it's own, but put them together....

For my version I left out the espresso powder and did not make the whipped cream.  As you can tell by the photo, I had trouble with the pudding, it was a bit soft and slumped down the side.  This might be because I had to use 1% milk, or not.  But that's what I'm blaming it on.

All in all it was very good and very chocolate-y.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

I tried a new candy this year.   Earlier in the fall I was mixing up a concoction of Hot cocoa mix, extra cocoa powder and Chocolate Complete Shake and Protein Shake to put in a large #10 can for the kids to use.  I figure they may as well get a little nutrition out of it, right?   Anyway it was also using up my 4 yr old cocoa packets.   As I was emptying them, I happened to notice they had recipes on them.  One was for Peanutty Chocolate Truffles.    I set one of those empty packets aside for further study.  Christmas was coming soon and what better time to make candy?

Christmas Toads

My husband likes to make Christmas treats with pretzels.  And who am I to stop him?  This year was no different.  They always have a little something different each year.    The name came about because he started calling them turtles and my daughter said they didn't look like turtles, so, they became toads.  They are a bit toad-like at that.  

This year he decided to pair the nuts with the pretzels and just use dark chocolate to bind them.  I really like the less-sweetness of them.   He also made a batch with peanut butter and chocolate.  I liked the plain chocolate best but the pb ones were ok too.   In the past they have included marshmallow and pb and caramel.  Sometimes totally covered in chocolate.    I wonder what will evolve next year?

Easy Chocolate Cream Pie

This week has been a kind of rough week for our family. So in an attempt to help lighten the mood around here I decided to make pie. Two of my kids will eat cream-type pies. The youngest will pretty much not touch any pie. Any attempt to get him to taste any pie is pretty much failure. Actually last week I did force him to take a bite of the apple pie crust, which I may say was my best crust ever. He finally did so with much grimacing.