Kids In the Kitchen: S`more Parfaits

Hi! I’m Angel Girl and I’m 10.

Mom needed a special dessert made for our company on Saturday, but she was too busy with the painting to make something. So I did! I made these yummy parfaits all by myself. (Well, Buddy did help sprinkle the marshmallows and lick the bowl!)

They were really yummy! Everybody loved them!

S`more Parfaits

2 cups of cold milk
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate

fudge or chocolate pudding mix

2 cups coarsely crunched graham crackers
(about 24 squares)
1 cup miniature marshmallow
4 tablespoons miniature chocolate chips

Get a bowl and whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes.
Put a small layer of pudding on the bottom of dessert cups or parfait glasses.

Then put a layer of crushed graham crackers.

Spoon another layer of fudge pudding on top of the graham crackers.

Make a layer of marshmallows, followed by a layer of chocolate chips.

Then add another layer of fudge pudding.

Sprinkle some marshmallow and chocolate chips on the top.

Refrigerate till served.

If you are using a bigger glass you can repeat the layers!

I really liked making this dessert! You should try it! You would like it, too!

I Hope Your Mother’s Day Was Covered With Chocolate

A very happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms reading! I hope you all had a wonderful day full of appreciative and helpful children!

A Mother’s Day tradition in our home is a delightful layered dessert featuring chocolate pudding, cream cheese and cool whip. Since it is made in layers, several children can help to make it, each working individually.

And in a perfect world they would make it all themselves and clean up the kitchen when they were finished!

Chocolate Layered Pudding Dessert

Crust: Blend together in food processor: 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup of nuts (I used almonds), and 1 cup of flour. Press into a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Layer 1: Mix together 1-8 oz, package of cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar. Carefully fold in 1/2 of an 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip. Spread on cooled crust. Refrigerate.

Layer 2: Mix together 3 cups of milk and 2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding. Carefully spoon over cream cheese layer.

Layer 3: When pudding has set, carefully spread the remaining Cool Whip over the pudding layer.

Keep refrigerated.

I used one recipe of our homemade chocolate pudding instead of the pudding mixes (check out my entry for Tuesday, Feb. 5th, 2008, if you want the recipe) and added just a touch of almond flavoring to the pudding.

You could substitute any flavor of pudding you wish, chocolate mint, milk chocolate, chocolate fudge, or even use (gasp) lemon or butterscotch (although I don’t know why you would!)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding (and Mom!)

I’m pleased to have a “guest blogger” today. My mom (the original thrifty lady and ultimate chocolate lover) brings some words of wisdom and a great traditional chocolate recipe!

It is cold, damp and snowy outside today. Comfort food comes to mind. The aroma and taste of comfort food brings back warm memories.

Growing up my Mom would make chocolate pudding for dessert. It was an inexpensive treat to finish off our meals. We liked it warm with milk.

As our children were growing up there were days that I served food that was good for them, but not their favorites. (like liver and onions!) Plenty of mashed potatoes with a bowl of chocolate pudding for dessert was the ‘spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine to go down!’

Now when the grandchildren come to visit they like a bowl after their macaroni and cheese lunch. Ice cream is their topping of choice!

This is the original family recipe, updated for the microwave, but just as comforting!

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Combine in microwave safe bowl: 1 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3 Tbsp. cocoa.

Stir in 2 1/2 cups milk.

Cook on high in microwave until mixture is hot, but not boiling. Stir every 2 minutes.

Beat 3 egg yolks in a small bowl. Stir several spoonfuls of hot milk mixture into the egg yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk mixture stirring constantly. (This process is called tempering the eggs.) Continue to cook in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until the pudding is thick. Remove from microwave and stir in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Serve warm with your favorite topping, or chill in the fridge for several hours and serve cold.”