Extreme Chocolate Trifle

April 15, 2013 By

Extreme Chocolate Trifle

I’m on a major trifle kick right now.

I made one for Easter and ever since then, I’ve been obsessed.  So obsessed that if I ever open a bakery, I only want to sell trifles. The variations are endless, and the best part? It’s almost impossible to mess up.

Basically, a trifle is throwing a bunch of delicious desserts into one dessert and creating the best dessert ever.  Sounds scientific right?

Well, it’s not, which is great.  Plus, it’s a fantastic way to use “ruined” desserts. Did you burn your brownies? So what, throw them in a trifle.  Did you drop a cake? Who cares, make a trifle.  Did you have leftover frosting, brownies, cake, bread, etc. etc.? Perfect, put together a trifle.

Anyway, this chocolate trifle has been my favorite so far.  It’s such a crowd-pleaser and it’s so pretty, too.  Everyone devoured it when I made it.

Also, watch out! I made coconut pound cake this week, and we have leftovers, so be expecting a coconut pound cake recipe and a coconut pound cake trifle recipe in the near future.

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ingredients in a chocolate trifle

how to make a trifle

This recipe is from AllRecipes.com.

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Extreme Chocolate Trifle
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12
 

This chocolate trifle is fantastic for feeding a crowd. The beauty of this recipe is that you can either make everything from scratch or if you’re in a time crunch, you can use all box mixes.
Ingredients
  • 1 batch of brownies
  • 1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (12 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions
  1. Cut up brownies into 1 inch squares (or just crumble them into small pieces).
  2. Make pudding, according to box directions. Or make your own from scratch!
  3. In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture, half of the sweetened condensed milk, half of the chocolate chips, and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

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Have you made a trifle before?  What’s your favorite variation?

 

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Trifle Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,



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The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies (My favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies)

March 21, 2013 By

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Can I just tell you that I’m really enjoying National Chocolate Week?

I’ve been making all sorts of recipes for you guys, including these cookies, which are amazing.

I didn’t want to say that these are the best chocolate chip cookies because everyone has their own “best chocolate chip cookie” criteria.

But, if you love dense, chewy, crinkly chocolate chip cookies, then these are definitely the best.

I’d heard of the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe all over the Internet and finally decided to make them myself.

They are so good…chewy and dense, but the outter edges are crunchy, and they are full of chocolate chips.

I brought them with me to give to some family and they devoured them!

If you’ve got 24 hours for chill time (leave it to me to only chill them for 12… they still turned out well, but I plan on chilling them the full 24 hours or even more next time), then please, please, please make these.

The original recipe for these can be found here: New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies.

 

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The New York Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies from The New York Times

chewy dense chocolate chip cookies

What’s your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe?

 

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Filed Under: Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chips, Cookies, How to Chocolate, thick and chewy cookies Tagged With: , , , , , , ,



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Congo Bars (Kudos Bars)

January 15, 2013 By

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I’m so thankful for Chelsea writing this blog post for me.  I’m always stalking her delicious recipes on her blog… she makes the most decadent desserts!  Plus, I have the honor of actually knowing Chelsea in real life, so that’s pretty cool.  She’s so sweet!  And so are her desserts, so be sure to check out her blog.

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Hi! I’m Chelsea from Whatcha Makin’ Now? and I’m super excited to be guest posting for Katie. I mainly post dessert recipes that are quick, easy, and could be made in an evening after work or fast on a weekend. I do try to mix in real meals from time to time too; we can’t always just eat dessert. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I’m sharing my hubs favorite – Congo Bars, but he always called them Kudos Bars. I love this recipe because it makes TWO 9 x 13 pans of cookie bars so it’s great for pot-lucks or a party. But if you’re making it for the family, simply cut the ingredients in half.

These congo bars are soft and chewy with the perfect amount of chocolate. They taste great on their own, but we’ve been known to serve them warm with a scoop of ice cream. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to Katie and I hope you guys will check out my blog for more goodies. Or, follow me on twitter or facebook.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Congo Bars (Kudos Bars)
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

 

Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  • 3 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 4 eggs
  • 1½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2⅔ cup flour
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions
  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly butter TWO, 9 x 13 pans and set aside.
  2. Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time and mix until combined.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together baking powder, salt, and flour. Gradually add flour to the butter mixture.
  4. Spread dough into two 9 x 13 pans. Sprinkle ½ cup chocolate chips over each pan and lightly press the chocolate chips into the dough.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. (Depending on your oven, you might want to cook each pan separately.)
  6. Once cooled cut into bars and serve. Store in an airtight container.

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Source: My mother-in-law, Gail Fanders

Filed Under: Bars Tagged With: , , , , ,



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Pumpkin Filled Peanut Butter Cups

November 13, 2012 By

pumpkin filled peanut butter cups

Who doesn’t love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?  And, who doesn’t love pumpkin? What about pumpkin filled peanut butter cups!?

Even if you don’t love pumpkin, I’m going to force you to love it (for now) because it’s November.   To be honest, I thought that mixing peanut butter and pumpkin sounded kind of disgusting, but I decided to try it just in case it did work, and it did! Yay… I’m very thankful!

Speaking of that, I don’t know if you’ve been following the “What I’m thankful for” posts on every social media outlet, but I’ve noticed them and, although I have many things I’m thankful for, today I’m thankful for my animals.  That may seem like a minor thing to be thankful for, but I loooove my animals.

cute miniature sheltie portrait

Sunny, my miniature sheltie

siamese cat glares at sheltie dog

Francis, my Siamese kitty, glaring at Sunny

pretty siamese cat with piercing blue eyes

Francis… isn’t he pretty?

cats lounging together on porch in summer

Francis and Chloe, my Persian with two different colored eyes

black and white tabby cat winking at owner

Tabby, my old Tabby cat

I have so much to be thankful for that the short amount of days in November could never do them all justice, but I’ll continue to post things I am thankful for throughout the month.

pumpkin filled peanut butter cups stacked

center of a pumpkin peanut butter cup

a bunch of homemade peanut butter cups

stack of homemade pumpkin peanut butter cups

This delicious recipe is adapted from One Good Thing by Jillee.

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Pumpkin Filled Peanut Butter Cups
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 48
 

Ingredients
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup pumpkin
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • 3 cups chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • Cooking Spray
  • Mini Cupcake Papers

Instructions
  1. Melt peanut butter in microwave.
  2. Empty the peanut butter into a bowl and beat in the powdered sugar and pumpkin puree.
  3. Melt the chocolate chips and oil together and stir until smooth.
  4. Drop one tablespoon of chocolate into a mini cupcake liner and spread around the bottom and edges.
  5. Place in freezer for 5 minutes, or until frozen.
  6. Take out and place one tablespoon of pumpkin peanut butter mixture in each liner.
  7. Freeze for 5 more minutes.
  8. Take out and spoon the rest of the melted chocolate evenly over each peanut butter cup.
  9. Place in freezer until hardened.

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Recipe Type: Peanut Butter Cups
Cuisine: Dessert/Snack
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
A little spin on the original peanut butter cups. Can’t go wrong with pumpkin peanut butter cups!
Ingredients
Instructions

homemade pumpkin peanut butter cups with a fall background

Filed Under: Chocolate, Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Homemade Reese's, How to Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Fudge, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Dip, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Spread Tagged With: , , , ,



9 Comments

Chocolate 7 Layer Bars

July 31, 2012 By

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I’ve  featured these 7 Layer Bars on my blog before, but just in case you didn’t see them I’m posting them again.

These aren’t the ordinary 7 Layer Bars.  They’re close, but just different enough to make a huge difference.

If you’re trying to impress a large crowd, but don’t have much time on your hands, this is the dessert for you.  I can’t believe how good these are considering how extremely easy they are to make.

What’s your “go-to” quick dessert recipe?

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Chocolate 7 Layer Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup Chocolate Animal Crackers, crushed to a fine crumble (like graham  cracker crumbs)
  • 1 cup flaked coconut
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup nuts, chopped

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
  2. Mix animal cookie crumbs and melted butter until it becomes dough like.
  3. Press the “dough” into the bottom of a 9×13 in dish.
  4. Layer the coconut and chips in order given in ingredients list.
  5. Pour sweetened condensed milk over all.
  6. Top with nuts.
  7. Do not mix together.
  8. Bake for 25 minutes.

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Chocolate Bark, Coconut, Crackers, Nuts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,



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Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

June 22, 2012 By

baking 6-10 457

I spend a lot of time trying to come up with new and creative recipes.

But ya know what, sometimes I just want a simple chocolate chip cookie.

That’s what these are.  Simple chocolate chip cookies in a pan.

What’s your go to chocolate chip cookie recipe?

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Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Adapted from:King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) chocolate chips
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well.
  3. Add the egg and stir until well blended.
  4. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  5. Place dough in a well oiled 9×13 inch pan (smaller for thicker cookies) and spread out evenly.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned.
  7. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool.  Cut into squares and enjoy!

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Filed Under: Bars, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chips, Cookies Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,



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Fluffy Mint Chocolate Chip Irish Scones

March 16, 2012 By

scones
I’m honestly not very big on St. Patrick’s Day.

I’ll be 21 this year, though, so maybe I’ll enjoy the holiday a little more. ;) Did you know St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish? He was British.

Anyway, I do enjoy all of the recipes.  I mean you can’t really fail with chocolate + mint.  Plus the decorations are cute, so there ya have it.

I wanted something not only chocolate and mint, but also Irish.  I did a Google search and found these “Real Irish Scones” on The Kitchn and it was settled.

I loved these.  I can’t even tell you how good they are.  They batter by itself was unbelievably fluffy, but when they came out of the oven I was shocked at how much they had risen.  Ahh… and they are completely studded with chocolate chips and the hint of mint just sets it all off.  I highly recommend these!

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Fluffy Mint Chocolate Chip Irish Scones
Adapted from: The Kitchn

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2-3/4 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp mint extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Place a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a Silpat in the oven.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture just holds together.
  3. Working the mixture as little as possible, add 1/2 cup milk and sour cream and mix until it forms into a soft, slightly sticky ball. Add more milk if needed to reach desired consistency.
  4. Place the dough on a very lightly floured work surface. Using a floured rolling pin, gently roll the dough to a 1-inch thick slab. Dip a 1-2-inch biscuit cutter in flour and cut out the individual scones, or slice the dough with a knife.
  5. Remove baking tray from the oven and arrange the scones on it. Bake 10-15 minutes until just barely brown.
  6. Serve with butter, preserves, and freshly whipped cream.  I served mine with chocolate butter.
  7. If you have leftovers, reheat at 350°F for 2-3 minutes or until warmed through, or freeze by wrapping completely cooled scones in plastic wrap, then placing in a zippered bag or freezer-safe storage container. To reheat, thaw at room temperature in the plastic wrap, then unwrap and re-heat as above at 350° F.

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What are you all doing for St. Patrick’s Day?? I’ll be running a 5k!

P.s. The coconut oil giveaway    is still happening. Don’t forget. :)

Filed Under: Scones Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,