Frozen hot chocolate!!

The photo and recipe is from http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com, go check them out!! When I went to NY I went to Serendipity, and they had frozen hot chocolate that was to DIE for! Seriously I was freaking out at how good it was, and now I'm excited to try this recipe! Thank you!



Frozen Hot Chocolate:
4-5 oz chocolate (we like Marabou from Ikea and/or a few different kinds of Ghiradelli)
2 tsp. store-bought hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 c. milk
3 c. ice
*Whipped cream (see below)
Chocolate shavings

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt chocolate in a small heavy saucepan or in the microwave. Stir occasionally until melted. Add the hot chocolate mix and sugar, stirring constantly until blended. Remove from heat, slowly add half a cup of the milk, and stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the chocolate mixture, and the ice (a little at a time). Blend on high speed until smooth (don't overdo it though.. you don't want it to be too runny). Pour into cup or mug and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

*Whipped Cream:
1 c. heavy cream, very cold
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp light corn syrup

Combine the cream and vanilla and mix well. With an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, start whipping the cream on medium speed. Add the corn syrup slowly while beating. Whip until the cream holds soft peaks.

Moleten chocolate Cake from Tasty Kitchen!

Oh this looks amazing!!! Click here for the recipe

Ice Cream!

You tell how many desserts I typically eat by how often I post. So just in case you weren't keeping track that's not very often. Mostly because this gal is in need of losing serious inches and is working towards eating healthier and more sensible. That being said I have found the most AH-MAZ-ING ice cream that money can buy, and the best part is that it is low-cal and low-fat (I know it's a crazy-but-true miracle!) The Brand is: Dreyer's (or Edy's west of the Rocky Mountains),Slow Churned Yogurt Blends. Their vanilla is yummy and I shouldn't downplay it, but seriously my faves (so far) are the Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Peach. WOWSERS! These are seriously the creamiest wonderfullest frozen treats that I've put in my mouth. You should put them in your mouth too!

Fabulous Chocolate Fondue

Flaming Turtle Fondue
Ingredients:
1 c Milk Chocolate Chips
1/2 c Caramel
1/3 c Chopped Pecans
1/2 tsp water

Method:
For double broiler cooking, place 1 cup chocolate chips in top bowl let it melt down and stir constantly for 30 to 45 seconds. Then add in caramel and blend or swirl. Finally add pecans on top for garnish or stir through. Bring your heat down to med-low after it has all been mixed well.

White Chocolate Raspberry Fondue

Ingredients:
1 c White Chocolate Chips
1/2 c Pureed Raspberries (fresh or thawed frozen)

Method:
For double broiler cooking, place 1 cup chocolate chips in top bowl let it melt down and stir constantly for 30 to 45 seconds. Then add in puree raspberries, blend.

Dippers for Chocolate Fondue
Shortbread Cookies
Pound Cake
Angel Food Cake
Pretzel rods
Banana Slices
Strawberries
Marshmallows
Vanilla Wafers
Cheesecake Bites
Brownie Bites
And the list goes on...

Recipes Courtesy of the Melting Pot and Studio 5

Also, click here for Cheese Fondue Recipes

Delicious Baked Fudge

Straight from that lovely lady: The Pioneer Woman.

ingredients
2 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 Tablespoons Flour
½ cups Butter, Melted
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 to 325 degrees.

Beat eggs until light in color. Beat in sugar until just combined. Add cocoa, flour, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Mix gently until well combined.

Pour batter into four large ramekins or one 8-inch square baking dish. Set ramekins or pan into a larger pan halfway full of water.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until upper crust is crispy and the rest of the batter is firm but not set. Toothpick should come out…not clean, but mixture should not be overly runny. If you pull it out of the oven and have second thoughts, stick it back in for ten more minutes.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream; whatever makes your skirt fly up.

Rainbow Jello

This amazing aesthetically pleasing Jello takes a while to make but is worth every layer. I made it for a themed event in which all colors of the rainbow needed to be used as well as white and gold...hence the gold bow tied to the bottom of the dish. It turned out great and everyone said it was the best Jello they had ever had. I thought to myself, "Is Jello really that hard to mess up?".

Rainbow Jello

Ingredients

7 flavors (3 oz. Each) Jello (Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Berry Blue and Black Cherry or Black Berry Fusion*)
16 ounce container Sour Cream or Sour Cream substitute
8 ounce container cool whip, optional

Directions:
Dissolve each package of Jello separately and hour apart.

Each package is dissolved in 1 cup boiling water

Divide jello in half

Add 1/3 cup sour cream to half of the jello and pour into glass bowl, trifle dish or 9x13 pan.

Refrigerate ½ hour

Add 2 Tablespoons cold water to the other half

Pour on top on first layer and refrigerate for another ½ hour.

Repeat process with each box of jello
Top with cool whip if desired

Tips for the Jello Foodie:
Because I am impaitent at times and don't want to dissolve jello by slowly stirring with a spoon I whisk Jello instead. This makes bubbles...and when the Jello cools so do the bubbles and they can be kind of unsightly since they tend to gather at the edges of the bowl. So what I do is "mop up" the bubbles with a paper towel before I put the jello in the fridge to set.

Also this jello will set on it's own if left on the counter, so if you want to add another layer don't wait longer than a 1/2 hour because the Jello left out on the counter will set. It's a good thing I bought extra Berry Blue...

**Flavors that are not good to use in this recipe: peach and grape (they over power the other flavors)

Whoopie pies!

Studio 5 Gourmet Contributor Amy Richardson has been tracking down the trend.

Part of the appeal is the ability to customize flavors with whoopie pies. Amy's top 5 flavor combinations are:

White Chocolate whoopie pies with Stawberry Creme

Banana whoopie pies with Chocolate Hazelnut Creme

Carrot Cake whoopie pies with Pineapple Creme

Boston Cream whoopie pies

Orange whoopie pies with Vanilla Creme

Although you can find mixes for whoopie pies, you can also make them from a basic cake mix:

Recipe for easy whoopie pie cake mix
1 box cake mix
1 tablespoon oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 375
Place two teaspoons in a small circle on to a baking sheet. Six cakes per baking sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes
Remove to cooling rack until ready to fill.

You can find supplies and mixes for whoopie pies online:

Sur La Table:
www.surlatable.com
Mix chocolate $10.00
Pan coming in March

Williams Sonoma
www.williams-sonoma.com
Mix Red Velvet $14.00
Pan $24.95
Both $34.95

Marshmallow Fluff
www.marshmallowfluff.com
3 16oz containers for $17.00

Cranberry Island Whoopie Pies
www.cranberryislandkitchen.com
$28.70 for six
$52.40 for twelve
$76.10 for eighteen