chocolate angel food cake

Since I'm on a roll, and I'm doing chocolate stuff, here is another favorite my mom made when I was growing up. This is soooo yummy!

Ingredients
2 12 oz pkg chocolate chips
4 eggs, separated
1 pint whipped cream (or 2 containers Cool Whip)
2 tbsp sugar (do not use if you're using Cool Whip)
1 Angel food cake
1 c nuts, chopped

Melt chocolate chips. Add egg yolks and beat. Set aside and let cool. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in egg whites, then the Cool Whip. Break the cake in pieces and put in a 9x13 pan. Cover cake with chocolate mix. Sprinkle with nuts (I hate nuts in my food, so I disregard). Chill several hours. Can be made one day ahead!

chocolate mousse pie

Yummmm.... I love this frozen pie. My mom used to make this pie for Thanksgiving dinner, after the French Silk pie was retired from Thanksgiving at our house.

Ingredients:

1 pkg Baker's German Sweet Chocolate Bar
1/3 c milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 3 oz softened cream cheese
1 container Cool Whip
1 8-inch graham cracker crust

Heat chocolate and 2 tbsp of the milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring until chocolate is melted. Beat sugar into cream cheese; adding remaining milk & chocolate mix and beat until smooth. Fold chocolate mixture into whipped topping, blending until smooth. Spoon into crust. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Store in freezer.

rod's super fudge

Since it's the holidays, and that means my favorite foods come out at this time of the year! Every year since I can remember, as soon as Thanksgiving came, my dad whipped out his famous fudge. (hence the name "Rod's Super Fudge"). This is a family favorite, which has become MY family favorite, and it's the most requested recipe to have or thing I'm requested to make! The tip to this recipe is to keep the fudge COLD after you make it! Don't let it get to room temperature otherwise it's not as awesome.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
4 c sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 pkg chocolate chips (try milk choc or semi-sweet, they both give different flavors!)
2 giant sized Hershey bars
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 c nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter, sugar & milk in huge saucepan; after it starts boiling, cook for 5 minutes at a rolling boil. Remove from heat and beat in remaining ingredients. Will make one 9x13 pan and 1 9x9 pan of fudge, or will fit one cookie sheet (jelly roll pan). Let cool in fridge & cut. Make sure you keep it cold (best when it's cold!) and keep in airtight container.

Amy's Notes: Last year I noticed Hershey's stopped making their usual giant sized Hershey bars candy bar. Bummer. I used the slightly smaller bars, but I could tell it didn't taste as 100% as it could. This year I'm going to use another bar, but maybe half of a bar?

Another tip to have, is to have every ingredient unwrapped and ready to go. This is a FAST thing to make, and you're not going to have time to unwrap each thing and put it in. So prepare beforehand!

pumpkin pancakes

I found this amazing recipe on allrecipes.com last Saturday morning. I had about a cup full of canned pumpkin leftover from my pumpkin cookies and I didn't want it to go to waste. I found this, and it was AMAZING! My girls loved this.... Mike didn't touch it though (said something about not liking pumpkin, but he loves his pumpkin pie.... go figure!). Even more, Katie requested this for her birthday breakfast in January! Can you say... Ka-CHING?! Winner!!

Ingredients:

2 c flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 c milk

1 c pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp vinegar

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil & vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and salt and stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough until combine.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle. Use approximately 1/4 c for each pancake. Brown on both sides & serve hot. Warm your syrup!!

Amy's Notes: I didn't have allspice. So, I used a whole bunch of pumpkin pie spice (like 2 tsp?) and it was still good.

{Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies}

My mom made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies every Thanksgiving (well, maybe a few years she made them). She used mini chocolate chips in it, and they were "oh... SO moist!" I fell in love with them. But, I kept hearing several friends tell me "try THIS recipe, it's the BEST", and so this year, I am trying a new recipe. It's my friend Rachel's recipe. I had to change it around a bit due to some of the ingredients I was short on, but it still is a very moist, yummy cookie!!

Ingredients
1 c butter

1 c shortening

2 c sugar
2 c pumpkin
2 eggs
2 c chocolate chips
4 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Cream shortening, sugar, pumpkin and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips, Bake until light brown (about 10 minutes). Bake at 350 for 10 min.

Amy's notes: I used mini chocolate chips, a full 12 oz bag. That way, you definitely get SOME chocolate on each cookie. Also, this cookie does not spread while baking. So, when usually you can get 12 cookies on a cookie sheet, you can get about 18-20 cookies or even more b/c you can space them together very closely. This entire recipe makes about 5-7 dozen (I stopped counting b/c I was eating them as I was baking.....)

caribbean lime coolers

This recipe was featured in Betty Crocker's Cookies & Bars magazine this month, and it is out of this world! So delicious! If you love anything citrusy, then THIS is your cookie to try!

Caribbean Lime Coolers
(makes 2 1/2 dozen)

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 c coconut
1 tbsp grated lime peel (about 1 lime)
3 tablespoons lime juice (or about 2 limes)
6 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
1/4 c powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, coconut, lime juice, lime peel, butter & egg until soft dough forms.
2. On ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment paper), drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart (or do like Maddie did to get 4 dozen: make them really really tiny)
3. Bake 9-13 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. With small strainer, sift powdered sugar over cooled cookies. Store covered @ room temperature.

homemade chocolate cupcakes

I recently found an awesome cupcake recipe on Bakerella .... a really cool blog dedicated to all things yummy & bake-able. (just click on the word Bakerella if you wish to see the website) She made cupcakes by scratch. Whoa.... by scratch? Never done it before! I'm usually using my trusty box of cake mix. However, this recipe was from Martha Stewart, and how could it be bad if it's from Martha Stewart??!! Well, the recipe was SO simple, so easy..... and involved few ingredients and ONE bowl! Away I baked...... and they were SO delicious! WAY better than cake mix cupcakes, I must say!

My fudge frosting is from my Betty Crocker recipe book. I use it on ALL of my chocolate cakes. So incredibly yummy!

Ingredients

Makes 18 to 24

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Amy's Notes: This was very runny batter ~ and I was very hesitant that I did it right (since cake mix batter isn't very runny)... but it's supposed to be runny, so you did it right! If you don't have buttermilk, just take 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar & add enough whole milk to make a cup, let sit for 5 minutes!

No-Cook Fudge Frosting

(from Betty Crocker's recipe book)

Cast of Characters:

4 3/4 c sifted powdered sugar

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c margarine or butter, softened

1/3 c boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

Mix powdered sugar & cocoa. Add margarine, boiling water, and vanilla. Best w/ an electric mixer on low speed till combined. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Cool for 20-30 minutes or till or spreading consistency. Frosts tops & sides of two 8 or 9 inch cake layers.