Hot Chocolate Souffle

From Hershey's Made Simple, page 132.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Photo by Brittany Meng.

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided, plus some for sprinkling
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
6 egg yolks, well beaten
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
Sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Lightly butter 2 1/2 quart souffle dish; sprinkle with sugar.  For collar, cut a length of heavy-duty aluminum foil to fit around souffle dish; fold in thirds lengthwise.  Lightly butter one side of foil.  Attach, buttered side in, around outside of dish, allowing foil to extend at least 2 inches above dish.  Secure with tape or string.

Stir together cocoa, 1 cup sugar, flour, and salt in a large saucepan;  gradually stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until mixture boils;  remove from heat.  Gradually stir small amount of chocolate mixture into beaten egg yolks; blend well.  Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture in pan, blending well.  Cook and stir for 1 minute.  Add butter and vanilla, stirring until blended.  Set aside and cool for 20 minutes.

Move oven rack to lowest position.  Heat oven to 350 F.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar in large bowl until soft peaks form; gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating  until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold about one-third of beaten egg mixture into chocolate mixture.  Lightly fold chocolate mixture, half at a time, into remaining egg white mixture just until blended; do not overfold.

Gently pour mixture into prepared dish; smooth top with spatula.  Gently place dish in larger baking pan; pour hot water into larger pan to depth of 1 inch.

Bake 1 hour and 5 to 10 minutes or until puffed and set.  Remove souffle dish from water.  Carefully remove foil.  Serve immediately with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes:
- I used a round Corningware casserole dish.  Just make sure what you use is deep and holds 2 1/2 quarts.
- You'll want to make sure you have enough people to eat this within a day or two; after that, the texture changes and it's just not as good.  Really, it's best to eat it all the first day, especially fresh.

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake

This is another AllRecipes.com recipe that I had to try.  Um, delicious!  It's like eating a cinnamon roll and a cheesecake at the same time, which I think was the point.  And you could maybe justify eating it for breakfast: after all, it's got eggs, cream cheese (you eat them on bagels anyway), and basically cinnamon rolls.  It sounds well rounded to me!

Cinnamon Roll Batter:
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter (at room temp)
1 egg (at room temp)
1/2 cup half and half
1 Tbs. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Cheesecake Filling:
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese (at room temp)
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
2 Tbs. flour
3 eggs (at room temp)

Cinnamon Filling:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 oz. cream cheese (at room temp)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter (at room temp)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice, optional

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a springform pan.

For Cinnamon Roll Batter:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Add egg, half and half, and vanilla.  Beat for another minute.  Scrape down bowl.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients.  Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.

Press half of the batter onto the bottom of the springform pan using greased fingers.  It will be sticky and thick.

For Cheesecake Filling:
In a clean bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.  Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add the vanilla and flour and beat for another minute.

Pour all of the cheesecake filling on top of the cinnamon roll batter in the prepared pan.

For Cinnamon Filling:
In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Mix until thoroughly combined.

Drop spoonfuls of the cinnamon filling over the entire top of the cheesecake.

Finishing Assembly/Baking:
Drop the rest of the cinnamon roll batter by spoonfuls over the entire top of the cheesecake.  Using a knife, swirl ingredients together as well as you can.

Bake for 50-55 minutes.  Cake will be puffy and lightly browned.  Let cool for 20 minutes at room temperature and then cover and move to fridge for at least 4 hours.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter together.  Add vanilla, powdered sugar, and lemon juice (if desired); beat to desired consistency.  Frost cheese cake.

Notes:
- I don't own a 9" springform pan--just 8.5" and 9.5"--so I used the larger of the two.  I think using a 9" would have been cutting it close to overflowing in the oven.
- I used fat free half and half.
- In addition to greasing the springform pan, I cut a round of parchment paper to fit in the bottom and greased it as well.
- After 3 minutes, the butter and sugar I creamed for the batter wasn't "light and fluffy," but I called it good anyway.  It was mixed.

Chocolate Truffle Pie

From Kraft Foods.

Prep: 10 min
 / Cook: 35 min

Makes: 10 servings



Picture from the Kraft Foods website.

10 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
½ cup whipping cream
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour

Whipped cream
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Place chocolate in large microwaveable bowl. Add whipping cream. Microwave on high 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended; cool slightly.

Add eggs, sugar and flour; beat with wire whisk until well blended. Pour into lightly greased 9-inch pie plate.

Bake 35 min. or until outer half of pie is puffed and center is slightly soft; cool until slightly warm. Dust powdered sugar over top. Serve topped with the whipped topping.

Jell-O Cake / Cupcakes

From Sis. Judd.

1 cake mix (plus required ingredients)
1 small box Jell-O mix
1 small box pudding mix
1 envelope Dream Whip
¾ cup hot water
½ cup cold water
1 ½ cups cold milk

Make cake according to directions on box. Let cool for 20 minutes.

About 10 minutes before cake is done cooling, mix lime Jell-o with ¾ cup hot water. Once mix has dissolved, add ½ cup cold water. Let cool until cake has finished cooling.

Using a large fork, chopsticks, or something of the like. Pour Jell-O over cake.

Whip together Dream Whip, pudding mix, and cold milk for 5-8 minutes, or until fluffy. Frost cake.

Refrigerate for a couple hours.

Notes:
- You can also make these as cupcakes, but it's a little harder.

Some possible combinations:
- Chocolate cake, raspberry Jell-O, cheesecake pudding
- White cake, strawberry Jell-O, chocolate pudding
- Orange cake, cherry Jell-O, vanilla or white chocolate pudding
- Lemon cake, lime Jell-O, lemon vanilla
- White cake, cherry Jell-O, vanilla pudding (pictured)
- Anything else that sounds good.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

From Taste of Home (Aug./Sept. 1998), page 47.

Prep.: 15 min/Bake: 40 min. 
Yield: 12-15 servings.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
2 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 cups finely chopped zucchini (may use grated zucchini)
12 ounces chocolate chips (reserve 1/4 cup)

Cream together margarine, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and milk.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to other mixture and mix well.

Add zucchini and chocolate chips, except for reserved 1/4 cup of chips. Mix.

Spread in greased and floured 9x13 pan. Sprinkle reserved chocolate chips over top.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Nutrition Facts:
1 piece = 333 calories, 16 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 46 mg cholesterol, 173 mg sodium, 45 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein

Notes:
- You can sour milk by adding enough milk to about 1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice to make 1/2 cup.
- This is my mom's version, which is way better (the original only calls for 1/2 cup chocolate chips--hello!).