Chocolate | Eat at Home

Black Bottom Peanut Butter Chiffon Pie

March 27, 2012 by Tiffany

You know the phrase “easy as pie”?

I’m not going to lie to you. This pie was not really easy. It’s not exactly hard either, there are just so many steps to it. And so many dirty bowls and pans to wash too.

But it is so worth it all! The deep chocolate bottom layer and fluffy peanut butter layer are meant for each other. If you’re looking for a special occasion dessert (Easter, maybe?) this is it.

I combined two different recipes to create this pie. Both recipes were in an old church cookbook and both used a similar way of cooking the custard from scratch. However, one recipe called for using heavy whipping cream and the other called for Cool Whip.

It seemed a shame to use Cool Whip after making the rest from scratch, but I didn’t have any whipping cream and I didn’t want to go buy any. Also, the Cool Whip saved me from dirtying yet another bowl to beat the cream.

Trust me, by that point I was very happy that Cool Whip was handy to save a step!

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

Filed under: Dessert, Pie Tagged with chocolate, cream pie, homemade pie, peanut butter, Pie7 Comments

Chocolate Drop Cookies

March 10, 2011 by Tiffany

I’m going to guess that you have everything to make these cookies in your pantry right now. Recipes that satisfy your chocolate cravings quickly and cheaply cannot be underrated.

This recipe was shared by Loy in the comment section of last week’s Ingredient Spotlight: Cocoa. My kids were scavenging in the kitchen for a snack when I saw the recipe. It didn’t take long until we were pulling warm, chocolatey cookies from the oven. Loy’s recipe calls for nuts, but I tossed in some Heath chips instead.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

Filed under: cookies, Dessert Tagged with chocolate, cocoa, eggs, flour, Heath chips, nuts, sugar4 Comments

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

November 20, 2010 by Tiffany

This is a guest post from Sweet T of Sweet T Studio.

For this recipe, I started with Martha’s Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies, & made a few modifications to the original recipe to bring DOWN the guilt-factor, in regard to my thighs, AND my wallet, hehe! (I doubled my recipe, because I was taking it to a big party, but this would be an ideal recipe to make two, & freeze one for later! Time saver!) [Read more...]

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with chocolate, cinnamon, eggs, holiday, nutmeg, pumpkin, splenda4 Comments

Peppermint Bark

December 12, 2009 by Tiffany

peppermint bark done

Have you ever been wandering the mall at this time of year and popped into a Williams Sonoma store? They often give out samples of their Peppermint Bark. Delicious stuff, and at $22 a pound it should be. But you can make it at home for much less. I found a copy cat recipe at this site. [Read more...]

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with candy, chocolate, Christmas, peppermint, white chocolate19 Comments

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

April 15, 2009 by Tiffany

I’ve been looking for a great chocolate ice cream recipe for quite a while. I’ve tried several recipes and made up several, but I finally discovered a perfectly chocolatey, smooth ice cream. It’s easy and has only three ingredients.

[Read more...]

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with chocolate, ice cream10 Comments

Pudding Cake

April 3, 2009 by Tiffany

Chocolate cake that bakes with its own pudding – what more can you ask for? It had been ages since I had this cake. Mom used to make it when I was little. Sometimes I requested it for my birthday. Last weekend, we dug around in Mom’s recipe box until we found the instructions for this cake.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Devil’s Food cake mix + the ingredients needed to make the batter (I didn’t put those in the picture)
12 marshmallows, snipped in quarters or about a cup or so of mini marshmallows
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups water

In a 13×9 pan, mix the brown sugar and cocoa together. Stir in 2 cups of water. Scatter the marshmallows over the top.

Mix up the cake batter and spoon it over the top of the mixture in the pan.

Be careful transferring the pan to the oven. It is very sloshy with all that water in the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min.

Serve it warm with whipped cream or ice cream if you like. The pudding is on the bottom and I just drizzled it over the top of the pieces as I spooned them out of the pan. The cake didn’t even last 24 hours and I only ate one piece! I better make another one soon.

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with cake mix, chocolate, marshmallows25 Comments

Coconut Macadamia Ice Cream

March 27, 2009 by Tiffany

Grab a pink paper lei – this ice cream tastes like a Hawaiin vacation! Or as I imagine it anyway, since I’ve never been to Hawaii.

Homemade ice cream is easy to make, especially if you have a Cuisinart countertop ice cream maker. But even if you’re using a regular ice cream maker with the ice and salt, you’ll want to try this.

Gather up your ingredients:

1 can Cream of Coconut – found in the aisle with drink mixes (like pina colada and margarita)
2 cups half & half
a handful each – coconut, macadamia nut pieces, chocolate shavings. The mix-ins should be approximately 1 cup all together.

This amount will make 1 Cuisinart freezer full. If you’re using a regular freezer that makes a gallon, you’ll need to double the recipe. You may also be able to use more than 4 cups of half & half in a regular freezer, but that should still work. You just get more ice cream.

Keep in mind that the ingredients in the bowl are for two Cuisinart freezers, or the amount you would use for a regular freezer. Use half that if you’re only making one Cuisinart or similar freezer.

I found the macadamia pieces in the baking aisle. I was going to buy almonds and they do taste good in this ice cream, but I couldn’t pass up macadamias.

For the chocolate shavings, I used 1 square of semi-sweet chocolate. (Two if you’re doubling) I put it in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds, just to make it a bit softer, but not melted at all. Then I shaved it with a vegetable peeler. I’m sure there is a better way to get chocolate shavings, but I dont’ know what it is. I don’t use the whole square of chocolate. It becomes too hard to hold onto without shaving my fingers. I told you there must be a better way. If you know it, please tell me.

Stir the cream of coconut, half & half together. Pour into the freezer and follow your freezers directions. A few minutes before the ice cream is done, add the nuts, coconut and chocolate shavings.

You can eat this right away, or put it in a container and freeze it for later. Some home made ice creams can be very hard after they are stored in the freezer, but this one dips easily.

Normally, I have no self-control when it comes to ice cream but I made this especially for my Dad and I haven’t eaten any of it. Well, if you don’t count licking the spoons and scraping down the sides of the freezers. I even poured the scoops I photographed back into the container. It will be packed on dry ice and carted off to Dad this weekend. I hope he’ll share.

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with chocolate, coconut, ice cream29 Comments

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

March 6, 2009 by Tiffany

Have I mentioned how much I miss my good camera? I wish the photo of that piece of cake was more in focus. It makes me feel like I need to get a new pair of contacts. Oh well, it tasted yummy!

I adapted this from a recipe in the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. I love this book. Mine is well used.

Gather your ingredients:

For the cake you’ll need:
Devil’s food cake mix
2 Tbs. cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups milk (hang with me a minute and I’ll explain the vinegar in the photo)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

The recipe actually calls for buttermilk. I never buy buttermilk and instead just sour the milk with a Tbs. of vinegar for each cup of milk. However, I was in a huge hurry when I made this cake and just grabbed the milk and poured it in before I soured it. Plain milk worked fine.

Mix all the ingredients in an electric mixer until well blended. Pour into a 9×13 pan that has been greased. Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the Peanut Butter Frosting you’ll need:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, at room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbs. milk
2 tsp. vanilla

In an electric mixer blend the butter and peanut butter. Add the other ingredients and mix until smooth and spreadable, mixing in the extra Tbs. of milk, if needed.

Filed under: Dessert Tagged with cake mix, chocolate, peanut butter15 Comments

Black and White Cookies

February 9, 2009 by Tiffany

I have been wanting to make Black and White Cookies for a long time and since we had several “snow” days (really snow and ice days) a few weeks ago, it seemed like the perfect time. I used a recipe I found on smittenkitchen. It made quite a few cookies. Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as those on SK.

Gather up the ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

These are the ingredients for the cookie part. We’ll get to the icing later. I did wonder about using that lemon extract, but I had it on hand and it turned out to be very good – subtle.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add in the eggs, extracts, and milk. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then mix them in with the wet in batches.

Use a spoon to drop the batter onto a baking stone or cookie sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 min. The cookies should spread out. The first couple batches of mine were too puffy and rounded so I stirred some milk into the batter to thin it. That helped them spread out in the oven and flatten a bit. Mine also didn’t turn out very round. I think one of those cool cookie scoops from Pampered Chef would help with that. I just used spoons.

Now for the icing:

You’ll need:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup water
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. light corn syrup
1-2 Tbs. cocoa powder, optional

I just love this close up of the chocolate

Boil a cup or so of water in a pan on the stove. Put the powdered sugar in a large, heat safe bowl and stir in enough of the boiling water to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Be careful with the water – it’s easier to add water to thin it down than to add powdered sugar to thicken it back up.

Spread the white frosting on half of all the cookies. Place the bowl over the pan of boiling water on the stove. Add in the chocolate and corn syrup, stirring to melt. You can also add cocoa powder if you want the icing really black. I had to add some more boiling water to get this spreadable.

You’ve basically got a double boiler going here.

Ice the other half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. Yours will probably look prettier than mine.

Decide which side to start eating, or just go straight down the middle. There’s still nothing like walking with your hubby down the sidewalks of NYC eating a black and white cookie together, but these were fun to make and they tasted great too.