At any given time, I always have the ingredients handy to make several different baked goods.  It’s a nice way to put a peaceful note on a stressful day and, hey, sometimes you just want some warm cookies.  So I was very not worried when I went online to look for recipes on how to make a wonderful chocolate cake and chocolate icing.  What I came upon was a recipe that, at first glace, appeared to be the recipe for your average run-of-the-mill cake.  I had all of the ingredients on hand and decided to try it anyhow.  Besides, I trust Hershey.  It’s the only chocolate (Besides Ghirardelli and Neuhaus) that I really like.

The recipe was super easy.  The icing was super easy to make.  When we had finished our dinner and I served this, my husband looked at me after his first bite and said, “I hope you’re keeping this recipe.”

I took a bite and WOW.  It’s a REALLY good cake.  It’s almost like brownies but in cake form.  VERY chocolate-y and VERY moist.  Give it a try.

No, there are no pictures of this.  I had no intention of making a blog post about a simple Hershey’s chocolate cake, but after eating it, I knew I had to share it.  Seriously.  If you like chocolate, try that sucker.  You will thank me.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Crust

2 Cups pretzels, crushed

3 T sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

Combine.  Pat into 9×12 pan.  Bake 350 for 10 minutes.  Cool.

Creamy Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

9 oz cool whip.

Combine. Spread over cooled pretzel crust.

Gelatin Filling:

Two 3 oz packages strawberry gelatin

2 cups boiling water

Two 10 oz packages frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  Add berries.  Let mixture set 30 minutes..  Spread over second layer.  Refrigerate several hours or overnight.  Spread more cool whip on top before serving.

An interesting variation on this recipe that I have seen quite a lot is to use orange gelatin and canned mandarin oranges.  I’d like to try that variation someday, but I really love the strawberry version as well.  It’s creamy, sweet, tart, and salty with fantastic texture.

YUM!

“OOH!  I want to try this one!  OOOOOHHH!  Look at that!  I want that one!  Whoa!  That one looks cool!  I want it!”

I’d been craving a good chocolate ice cream that didn’t require a lot of work and I kept getting recipes that produced an ice cream so dark that it looked like fudge and not ice cream.  So, naturally, I whipped up some of my own.  I used the base of that super easy vanilla ice cream that I talked about here. In case you need a refresher:

* 2 cups heavy whipping cream
* 2 cups half-and-half cream
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Simply add 2 Tblsp. of a good quality cocoa powder to this mixture (Hershey or Ghirardelli are my personal favorites).  Same as before, chill this mixture in the refrigerator before putting it in your ice cream maker.

Once it is in the ice cream maker, turn the machine on and watch the mixture carefully.  When you notice that it is getting thick and starting to set, add 1/3 cup of chocolate syrup.  Just let the machine mix it up for you.

When the ice cream is ready to be put into containers and frozen in the freezer (an ice cream maker won’t freeze it all that way.  It will still be very soft.), add 1/2 cup of semi-sweeet chocolate chips and mix.  Let the ice cream freeze in your freezer for at least 3 hours before eating.  Being triple chocolate, it is very chocolatey but not terribly rich.

I understand that the chocolate chips in this might be a textural crap-shoot for some people.  It’s no problem.  If you think that they would bother you, then just leave them out!  You’re still going to have an awesome Double Chocolate Ice Cream.

I’d like to make a quick note about my Sundae cups.  You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that I almost always serve my ice cream in these tiny dishes.  This is because the recommended serving size of ice cream is only a 1/2 cup!  These Sundae cups are perfect for making sure that I don’t end up eating too much ice cream or serving too much to my family.  You can pick these up anywhere!  Look into them.

This is a quick and easy recipe and since it is not a custard-base, it’s not terribly rich.  Oh don’t get me wrong, it’s still rich.  There’s a lot of chocolate in this, but you don’t feel like your teeth are going to fall out after eating this dish.  Give it a try and enjoy!

I decided to try an ice cream that I’ve heard of many times and never tried.  Boy am I glad that I made this because it was amazing!  This is a recipe from Ina Garten and I will definitely be making this many more times.  Unlike the candy bar ice cream I showed you earlier this week, this ice cream has a custard base so there is a little more prep time but the ice cream is creamier, richer, and thicker.  Here’s the recipe:

Espresso Ice Cream

Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients

* 3 cups half-and-half

* 6 extra-large egg yolks

* 2/3 cup sugar

* Pinch salt

* 2 1/2 tablespoons ground espresso coffee beans, decaffeinated or regular

* 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur (recommended: Kahlua)

* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* 4 ounces (1/2 cup) chocolate-covered espresso beans, chopped

Directions

Heat the half-and-half until it forms bubbles around the edge of the pan and steam starts to rise. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks, sugar, and salt until mixed. Slowly add the hot half-and-half until combined. Wipe out the pan and pour the mixture back into the clean pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 10 minutes, until it’s thickened and the cream coats the back of the spoon.

Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. Add the ground espresso beans, coffee liqueur, and vanilla and refrigerate until completely chilled.  (Somer’s NOTE:  When you put the plastic wrap over the mixture, put the wrap right on top of the liquid so that a skin doesn’t form.)

Pour the espresso cream into an ice-cream freezer and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Mix in the chopped espresso beans, spoon into a container, and allow to freeze for a few hours. Soften slightly before serving.

This is an elegant ice cream.  I wouldn’t be afraid to serve this at a nice dinner, it’s that good.  You might not want to let your kids have any of this though, unless you enjoy have super hyper children bouncing off the walls.  Enjoy!

Ice cream makers have come a long way thanks to technology.  My ice cream maker does all the work for me.  I don’t need to use any salt or other crazy chemicals.  I just freeze the insulated bowl (which has some sort of gel or coolant inside) and it spins around scraping the bottoms and sides as it freezes the liquid.  I make Slushies in this thing as well.

Most of the ice cream recipes that I see lately are a custard base.  The base contains eggs and cream or milk and you have to cook it before freezing it.  However, I was able to find a really simple milk, sugar, and vanilla recipe that came out really awesome!   See the recipe here.  That’s right, I found this recipe at AllRecipes.  After all of my complaining about that place, I found this little gem.

* 2 cups heavy whipping cream
* 2 cups half-and-half cream
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the heavy cream and the half and half. Gradually whisk in the sugar until blended.
2. Whisk in the vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until very cold, at least 3 hours or as long as 3 days.
3. Whisk the mixture to blend and pour into the canister of an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Eat at once or transfer to a covered container and freeze up to 8 hours.

The candy bars come into place like this:  I have a LOT of leftover Easter candy in my house and have been looking for creative ways to get rid of it without actually wasting it.  So I had about 2 cups of those little bite sized Snickers bars and I froze them, chopped them roughly, and threw them into the ice cream once it was almost ready to go into the freezer (i.e. still soft, but frozen).

I just let the ice cream maker do the mixing for me.  Once everything is mixed I just threw it in the freezer for about 4 hours.  Let me tell you that this was delicious and wonderful.  It was a great base vanilla ice cream and the candy bar pieces were perfect.

This ice cream also benefits greatly from the addition of some chocolate syrup right before serving.  But what doesn’t benefit from chocolate syrup?  Nothing, that’s what.  Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie is one of those dishes that has thousands of different ways to make it.  I’ll be honest here, this is the first time that I have used this particular recipe.  It’s a quick and easy recipe and how can that not be endearing?  Here’s the recipe and I’ll give you a cool little tip for the crust that is more festive for Cinco de Mayo!

Cool Key Lime Pie

Cooking Village Recipe

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (6 oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed

1 tsp. Key Lime juice

2 drops green food coloring

8 oz. whipped topping

1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust

Combine sweetened condensed milk and limeade concentrate in a large bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer set at low speed until mixed.

Add Key lime juice and green food coloring to sweetened condensed milk mixture and beat well.  Fold in whipped topping.  Spoon mixture into graham crust.

Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.  Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.

YIELD:  6-8 servings

Now for the little tip:  instead of using a graham cracker crust, use pretzels!

The saltiness of the crust mimics a lime margarita and it tastes SO good.  Here’s how you make a pretzel pie crust:

1-1/2 cups pretzel crumbs

4 Tblsp. melted butter

2 Tblsp. sugar

Just combine all of the ingredients and shape them in a 9-inch pie pan.  I like my pretzel crumbs a little coarse with bu pretzel chunks, but you can make them fine.  It would certainly be more tidy if you use fine crumbs.

I will get photos of the finished pie for you tomorrow as it is sitting in my freezer right now setting up.  I have a very special menu for tomorrow and I hope that everybody celebrates!  Enjoy everybody and I’ll be sure to let you know if this pie recipe is a keeper!