Little Angels

It isn't Christmas unless we have batches of Angelitas during the holidays. Supposedly they are so rich one can only eat a little at a time. I guess that's true if by a little at a time one means a little one minute, then a little more the next minute, and then more and more, until there's not much left to share....
Yes, you must make more than one batch so that you can share at least a few with others!

Angelitas
(Thank Melanie Z. for this decadent dessert!)

Layer 1
½ cup butter ¼ cup sugar
1 egg 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (12 crackers)
5 Tbsp cocoa 1 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp vanilla ½ cup chopped nuts

Blend butter, egg, cocoa, vanilla and sugar in saucepan; cook until thick, stirring constantly so egg doesn’t curdle. While hot, blend in graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and nuts (have these ready to mix into hot mixture quickly). Press firmly into an 8x12-inch pan.

Layer 2
¼ cup butter 2 Tbsp dry instant vanilla pudding mix*
3 Tbsp milk 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Mix together all ingredients until smooth. Spread over Layer 1. Refrigerate until firm.

Layer 3
1 cup chocolate chips 2 Tbsp cream
1 Tbsp butter
Melt together chocolate chips, butter, and cream. Spread over top of first 2 layers; refrigerate until firm. Cut into small bite-size pieces.

Don't waste the remaining pudding mix: from a 3.4-ounce box, mix what's left as directed with 1 ½ cups milk to make pudding.

The Magic Chocolate Calculator

Have you checked out the chocolate calculator? It will only work in the year 2009, so get busy and give it a try - it only takes a minute. Work it out as you go and be sure you don't read the bottom until you have gone through each step.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE
(You don't have to tell me your age - but the Hershey Man will know!)

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 - I'll wait while you get the calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..
If you haven't, add 1758.

6.. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

Now excuse me while I go scavenge for some chocolate....

Sho 'Nuf Better Than Texas Sheet Cake!

This is the cake made by Suzanna and shared at the office for my birthday - I told you I have ulterior motives for making sure people know how much I like chocolate! After I took the first bite I asked everybody to give back their slices because I didn't want to share. Any of it. It is also the cake I mentioned that ultimately led me to begin a blog dedicated to chocolate. I hope you get the idea that this is a really, really good cake.

Suzanna found the recipe in a cookbook from Fredericksburg, Texas, and she didn't even charge to share it with me! It calls for brewed coffee, but for non-coffee drinkers you can use Sanka or Choffee

Collins Chocolate Cake
from the Peach Tree Tea Room in Fredericksburg , Texas

4 ounces unsweetened baking
chocolate
1 cup butter
1 cup brewed coffee
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour

1. Combine chocolate, butter, coffee and sugar in bowl. Melt together and mix.
2. In 2-cup container, place buttermilk, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla and soda. Mix well and stir quickly into chocolate mixture.
3. Stir in flour, blending well. Pour into 9x13-inch pan (or if you want to be fancy, 2 8-inch round pans), greased and floured. Bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree pre-heated oven or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Frosting:
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup brewed coffee

1. Cream butter; add cocoa, blending well with food processor.
2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
3. Add coffee, a little at a time, until of spreading consistency. Add
more coffee, a few drops at a time if frosting is too thick.

The author of this recipe used to send this cake to her boys for their birthdays when they were in college.

How Did I Miss This?!?

Did you know today is National Chocolate Day? I just found out but it's too late to celebrate properly. The only chocolate I've had today was a handful of peanut M&M's, and I know I could have done better than that!
I spent the evening at our ward Halloween party where there wasn't a brownie or chocolate cupcake in sight, and I saw no evidence of any chocolate candy. I was patting myself on the back for getting all the way through the evening eating only a couple of (teeny, tiny) sugar cookies.
But no worries, I'll make up for my ignorance tomorrow in a big way, and will never allow it to happen again.

Should I splurge on Belgian chocolates...




...edible chocolate shoes...

...or a perfect chocolate cheesecake?!?

Oh, the possibilities!

Amazing Grace

The first time I visited little Grandma Davis with our newborn son she taught me her methods for producing the best milk possible for his nourishment:

Step 1 ~ Sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet place. Grandma took me into her tiny sitting room, which could be divided from her living room with a curtain (and which she used for her bedroom at night) and had me sit in her big, soft rocking chair.

Step 2 ~ Listen to quiet, soothing, beautiful music. Grandma put on her favorite album of religious music. I think it was the first time I really listened to “Amazing Grace”. Another favorite of hers that was on the album was “How Great Thou Art", which at that time was not in the LDS hymnbook. (I remember she said she didn’t understand why it wasn’t, and it made me really happy when it did show up in the latest edition.)

Step 3 ~ Drink something, preferably milk. Grandma told me that to make milk I needed to drink lots of it, and she served me a delicious homemade chocolate shake in a tall glass. She encouraged me to relax and take my time, and then she left me alone to nurse my baby boy.


Soren was several months old by this time, and I hadn't had any problems with nursing, so at first I thought it was just sweet that she would take such an interest in us. And then I started to really like the idea of just enjoying nursing him in such a relaxed and soothing atmosphere. I decided I could really get used to this, especially having someone make me a chocolate shake everytime I fed him (which at that time was still about every 2 hours!). I guess I became very comfortable because when I reached to put the drink back on the stereo it slipped from my hand and tipped over, spilling most of the contents down onto the LP. I will never know if I ruined the album, let alone the stereo - Grandma was the kind of person who would never let you know and wouldn't want you to worry about it. Of course, she wouldn't even let me clean it up - she just made me another shake and told me to keep feeding the baby!

I always have and always will think of my little Grandma Davis as a woman full of amazing grace.

Kisses Sweeter Than Honey

So, maybe I need to take a break from eating chocolate ~ hurray for Stinky D's Chocolate Lip Whip ~ which smells divine! You can find more amazing things that Denise (aka Stinky D, YW camp nickname!) whips up in her kitchen at http://stinkyds.com/. She will even make YOUR favorite flavor of lip whip and lotion - and let you name it - as she did for Tanja & Brad's wedding favors in a tangerine flavor!

Today's Brownie Points go to:
• Ayrel & Ben for making sure I had my very own bag of dark chocolate M&Ms!
• Dee & Rhen for providing minature Hershey's chocolate bars on the drive home from the temple AND making a Mickey D's stop for hot fudge sundaes!
• Mom for the unopened bag of Harry & David truffles that she had tucked away for us to find!

My New Partner in Crime

One of the things I love about Kris is that he is always willing to try new things - especially when it comes to food. Today we had Pizza Hut's Hershey's Chocolate Dunkers for the first time - YUM!

We will keep you posted on future successes in our continuous quest for excellent chocolate experiences.

To Market, To Market

....to buy these wonderful, rich cookies! I bought them to share, but it ended up that my husband only ate two and my daughter one. Whatever could have happened to the rest of them? I hope you have a World Market close enough to check them out for yourself.

Brownie Points

As a rule I believe that something made from scratch will always be better than something made with a mix, but I have not had much success when it comes to brownies. Even when I've tried recipes like "Mother's Perfect-Absolutely-Every-Single-Time Brownies" and "To-Die-For-There-Is-Something-Wrong-With-Your-Head-If-You-Can't-Get-These-Right Brownies", the results have been disappointing. But after eating a friend's brownies and realizing that they were exactly what I love about brownies - gooey but not too gooey and just the right crispiness on top - and they were perfect every time, I asked if she would share her recipe. She put me off the first time but when I asked again she told me her secret, and now it's my secret, and I'm sharing: Hurray for Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix! If you want to dress them up a little bit just sprinkle powdered sugar on top; if you really want to get fancy spread some chocolate chips on them when they come out of the oven and then spread like frosting after they've had a few minutes to melt. (Thanks Debbie D. ~ hope you won't hold this against me!)

I've decided to award Brownie Points when someone or something unexpected happens that involves chocolate!

Today's Brownie Points go to:

• Danica for the absolutely yummy chocolate cake she made for her sister's surprise birthday brunch ~
• Ron for bringing mi esposo TWO packages of alfajors from Argentina, and mi esposo for sharing ~
• Irma for giving me a huge candy bar just because I did a simple, menial task for her ~
• Nutella, which I try not to have in my house because I will eat the entire jar with a spoon in less than a week, but which I had to buy because it was cheaper to buy 2, and I had to give one to a friend who had never heard of it before ~
• My $5 roses that looked so beautiful today, and everyone knows that chocolate and roses are perfect together even if you buy yourself the chocolate and the roses!

Sampling of today's chocolate collection

Argentine Alfajor (extra Brownie Points for the beautiful packaging!)

A thing of beauty is a joy forever!

Those Lazy, Crazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Fry up the chicken, cut up the carrot sticks and wash the grapes, make up a batch or two of toffee bars, clean the boat and pack the beach towels ~ it's off to Pineview for a day (or two or three!) of waterskiing. Just don't forget the toffee bars, whatever you do! We had a pretty good routine and no one minded pitching in, especially if we could be ready to pull out before dawn and get the really good water before other boats started making waves. Mom would always get the first run - and then she would spend the rest of the day helping the newbies learn how to sit on the skis and balance, pulling them with a short rope close to the shore. Dad just about always drove the boat, and had such patience and was always so encouraging. I believe they had a 100% success rate with all the kids who wanted to learn how to ski over the years. Oh, those lovely days at Pineview! Who cared if there was sand in the chicken? If we weren't skiing or on the boat we were swimming in the cove or reading/sleeping on a blanket or eating. If the Thornblads were with us we would sail on their little red two-man sail boat in the late afternoons when the wind came up. Once in a while we would venture to other lakes: Bear Lake, where my dad taught me how to shore jump when I was 14; Coeur d'Alene, where we caravanned with Grandma Davis, aunts, uncles & cousins to visit Uncle Art and Aunt Ruth, pulling trailers and boats; Lake Mead, which I vaguely remember; and Lake Powell, which is way over-due for another visit!
The requisite treat for any trip to a lake always was and always will be toffee bars, but we will eat them on other occasions as well! I kinda think Keven fell in love with me right after I made them for him the first time.

Toffee Bars

Cream together:
1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add:

3 cups flour

Mix well; stir in:

6 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts

(more if you are making them for Keven)

Pat into an ungreased 9x13-inch pan.

Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

Cut into bars while warm.

With This Ring....

Did I hesitate when

Ayrel & Ben suggested having a chocolate fountain

at their wedding reception (almost) 4 years ago?

Silly question.

We ended up with three!
(which they hauled from SLC to El Paso):

Belgian milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate!

Needless to say they were a hit, and we repeated the equation at Tanja and Brad's wedding reception last month, with a slight variation: milk chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel sauce (thank you, Sandy, sweet sister 'o mine, for volunteering to provide and man the chocolate fountain table!).

Don't you think our very talented photographer chose a unique way to show off the cinnamon bears that were available for dipping? You can check out more of her beautiful photography by clicking here: http://ashleymaephoto.com/blog/

Forget Love ~ I'd Rather Fall Into Chocolate

I have never tried to disguise my chocolate habit, if only because it makes it quite easy for people to choose my birthday gift. But when a friend recently commented on Facebook that chocolate was the only thing I ever wrote about I did a bit of self-analysis and realized that chocolate is a passion. And then I began reminiscing about my best chocolate experiences and only had to look back a few hours for one of the best - a magnificient chocolate cake that defied any I had ever eaten. How could I keep so many delicious experiences to myself? What better way to share them than with a non-intrusive blog - you may read it if you like, you may ignore it if you don't like it, and I will continue to enjoy my chocolate and to look for new ways to revel in it, which will be happily shared!