Nutella Chocolate Cobbler

Photo courtesy of: www.savorysweetlife.com

This recipe is perfect for Valentine's Day!  That is, if you love chocolate and are as OBSESSED with Nutella as I am.  I made this for dessert last week, and we really enjoyed it.  It's SO easy to make and if you carry Nutella in your pantry, then you probably also have everything else needed in your pantry to make this today.  Give it a try!  I honestly couldn't tell by taste that it was Nutella, but it DID taste and have the texture of a hot, chocolate lava cake.  UGH! So good, so rich!



Nutella Chocolate Cobbler

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cocoa powder, divided
1 cup sugar, divided
½ cup milk
1/2 cup Nutella
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1-½ cup hot tap water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, and 1/2 cup of white sugar.  Stir in milk, Nutella, butter, and vanilla.  Mixture will be thick like the texture of peanut butter.  Spread mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish.  In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup white sugar, brown sugar, and remaining cocoa (3 tablespoons).  Sprinkle mixture evenly over the batter.  Pour the hot water over  everything and do not stir.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the center is slightly firm but not fluid like liquid.

Spoon mixture into small bowls and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

***For a step-by-step photo guide for this recipe, check out Savory Sweet Life's version.

Symphony Bar Pie

Photo Credit: shewearsmanyhats.com

This dessert is so yummy and so easy.

Let me break it down for you:  Three ingredients.

A graham cracker pie crust.

An 8 oz. tub of cool whip.

One King-sized Symphony Bar.

Mix them all together, stick it in the freezer, and you have a rich, tasty, and crowd-pleasing dessert!

Symphony Bar Pie

Ingredients:

1 King-sized Symphony Bar

1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip, softened

1 graham cracker or chocolate pie crust

Directions:

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat Symphony Bar for approximately 45 seconds or until just melted.  Make sure that your Cool Whip is slightly softened--not still frozen--or the melted candy bar will not adequately mix when you combine them.  Stir Cool Whip and melted chocolate bar until thoroughly mixed, then pour into graham cracker pie crust.  Freeze for at least an hour.  Serve!

Suggestions:

***If Cool Whip is still frozen in middle, microwave for a few seconds to help it thaw a bit, but don't overheat it or it will turn to liquid.

***This pie can be frozen for up to a week prior to serving.  However, if it remains frozen for longer than a few hours, it may need to sit out for a bit so it's easier to serve.

***I like to buy the Symphony Bars when they go on sale and keep them on hand to throw together this dessert for last minute opportunities.

***Feel free to experiment with different types of candy bars.  I like the Symphony Bar with toffee and almonds, but I'm sure any candy would be delicious.

***My pie doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture above.  I think the person who made that cake may have used more than one candy bar to get it extra-chocolate-y.  Feel free to try that, but I think one bar is rich enough for my tastes!

Monkey Munch

I have come to know this great snack recipe as Monkey Munch, but you may have heard of it before as Puppy Chow or some other fun name. This is an easy, easy, easy, and extremely yummy snack for the kids or Care Group. Enjoy!

Monkey Munch
9 cups of Chex cereal (I recommend Rice or Corn Chex)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar

1. In a large bowl, pour in the 9 cups of Chex cereal.
2. In a medium-sized microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Heat in microwave for one minute. Add teaspoon of vanilla. Stir. Heat for 20 seconds more, or until the mixture is smooth.
3. Pour mixture over Chex cereal and stir gently until cereal is covered in chocolate mixture.
4. Put the Chex cereal in a 2 gallon freezer bag. Add confectioner's sugar, seal bag, and shake until cereal is coated in sugar.
5. Pour snack mix on cookie sheet lined with wax paper until cooled. Store in an air-tight container for best results.

*** Suggestion: I made a double-batch of this for Care Group recently. For variety, I purchased a box of Corn Chex and a box of Rice Chex. Each box of Chex Cereal contains 13 cups of cereal, and the recipe calls for 9 cups. So one box will give you more than enough for one batch. Enjoy!

Snicker Brownies

Ingredients:

1 box of German Chocolate cake mix
1 1/2 sticks of margarine, melted
1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
1 bag of Snickers fun size candy bars

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine cake mix, melted margarine, and condensed milk. Spread half of the cake mixture in the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Slice candy bars into small slices and layer the slices onto the baked crust. Crumble the remaining batter on top of the candy slices. It will have a crumbly texture, so don't worry about making it smooth. Put pan back into oven and bake for 20 minutes more at 350 degrees.

These brownies are delicious! The best part, honestly, may be in making them. Since they don't have raw eggs in the batter, I was free to sample as much of the batter as I felt was required. This is a super simple recipe with amazing results!

A few tips:
*** I bought a large bag of fun size Snicker bars because I knew going in I was making two batches of the brownies. I ended up slicing up about 10 fun size Snickers for each batch, so that may help you gauge. The great news: I think I can get about 3 batches of Snickers brownies out of the big bag if I use that number.

*** This recipe would probably be equally as scrumptious with Milky Way! Honestly, there are endless possibilities.

*** I also think after much serious thought and meditation and sampling, that these brownies would actually make great cookies! I think I may try this. Make the batter, slice up some Snickers, drop by the spoonful. Yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ball

This recipe is a wonderful and simple idea that is great for Care Group, showers, or just because you are in the mood to stuff your face! It is super yummy, and I'm sure the kiddos will love it too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ball

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Chocolate or honey graham crackers for dipping

Directions:
In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioner's sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Gently stir in mini chocolate chips.
Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball. Wrap with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Roll the cheese ball in finely chopped nuts before serving. Serve with your favorite flavor of graham crackers for dipping. (I use the graham cracker sticks).

Festive Fudge

Jonathan and I watched Julie & Julia the other night! It was such a good movie, and it immediately made me want to jump in the kitchen to whip something yummy up to eat! Surprisingly, Jonathan got the itch too, so he started rummaging through my cookbooks to find something delicious that he wanted to make!

He settled on this cookbook:


He decided on two recipes: Festive Fudge and Hershey's Best Loved Chocolate Cheesecake:



We made the fudge on Monday night and it was so easy and so delicious! Tonight we are going to make the chocolate cheesecake! I'll let you know how it turns out!

Here is the recipe for the Festive Fudge (sorry for the lack of a picture):

FESTIVE FUDGE

3 cups (1 1/2 packages, 12 ounces each) Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
Dash of salt
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Reese's peanut butter chips
1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions:
1. Line 8- or 9-inch square pan with wax paper
2. Melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in nuts, if desired, and vanilla. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
3. In another heavy saucepan, melt 1 cup Reese's Peanut Butter Chips with 1/2 cup whipping cream. Stir until thick and smooth. Spread over fudge.
4. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Turn fudge onto cutting board, peel off paper, and cut into squares. Store covered in refrigerator.

Delicious! And such a great idea to give out as Christmas goodies! Jonathan is not allowed to make things like this in our kitchen only to leave them in the fridge to call my name all day long, so he is bringing a majority of the fudge to his office. (And I think he'll be doing the same with the chocolate cheesecake because it's just not fair to leave it in there yelling at me to eat it all day long!)

Please make some and eat some. It will make your mouth happy!