Spinach Cheese Appetizers

Easy to make appetizer. Serve warm or cold.

Go Ahead. Pass the Chocolate (Pudding)

Sometimes a gal just needs a little chocolate. Or a lot. Sugar queen in that image even has M&M earrings. Okay, I don’t go THAT far, however, I did craft a pair of polymer earrings shaped like slices of cake with chocolate icing between the layers. I’ll post a how-to on those really soon.Look for another post about making a collage book so you can craft your very own chocolate page.

Back to CHOCOLATE.

My son recently asked me to make chocolate pudding. Although we had some of that instant stuff stashed in the pantry, I wanted to make some REAL pudding from scratch. There is nothing quite like homemade pudding, still slightly warm, with a dollop of fresh whipped cream on top. I just cannot seem to wait until the dessert completely cools to delve into its chocolate richness.

This recipe will fill five dessert cups quite nicely.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups milk
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Blend the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Add the milk and the chocolate. Cook over medium heat, stirring until it gets thick and bubbly. This takes a little patience to get it there! Once it thickens, continue cooking and stirring for a couple more minutes. Reduce heat to low.

Stir a little bit of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks and drop it all back into the pudding mixture. Cook and stir for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Mix it up and pour into dessert dishes.

Enjoy chilled or warm!

mmm… cookies

When I get a notion to bake cookies, I’m never satisfied with one batch — I have to make several. Twelve dozen cookies one Saturday afternoon meant lots of treats for my co-workers.

Here, we have traditional chocolate chip cookies with English walnuts, then cocoa added to the batter for chocolate-chocolate chip and white chips, followed by my grandmother’s recipe for peanut butter cookies. Any other PB cookie pales in comparison to this marvelously simple recipe. My brother may thunk me on the head for sharing this but it’s just too good not to!

So, here we go! Let me know if you try it and ADORE the cookies!!

Best Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg (beaten)

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

Cream ingredients together. Form teaspoon-sized balls. Place on cookie sheet two inches apart. Dip fork in flour and form criss-cross pattern. Bake 350°F 6-8 minutes for chewy cookies or 8-10 minutes for crisp cookies.

My favorite Fudge Recipe

So foolproof, a kid can do it

Foolproof Chocolate Fudge

from Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

Easy, fool-proof fudge

18 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts
14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
dash salt
Melt chips and milk over low heat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in wax paper lined 9-inch square pan. Chill 2 hours. Cut into squares! Turn it into Rocky Road fudge by adding 1-1/2 cups of mini marshmallows!