Gooey Mocha Pudding Cake

While I was reading last month's Glamour magazine, I came across a recipe that I wanted to try so I ripped it out of the mag. A few hours later, upon seeing it on my bedroom floor, I realized that I'm doing this blog on chocolate and decided to share this delicious looking recipe by a judge from Top Chef, and former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Fab Five member, Ted Allen. Here it is, ENJOY!:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup flour
7 tbsp. powdered cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups hot coffee (he uses Godiva chocolate creme coffee but insists that any brand will do)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar;flour;3 tbsp. cocoa, baking powder and salt. Blend in milk, butter and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour the batter into a 9-inch square pan. In small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar; 4 tbsp. cocoa and brown sugar; sprinkle over batter. Pour coffee over top. DO NOT STIR. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Let cool. Serves 9.

Easter Candy

Why did chocolate get so deeply incorporated with Easter? I always thought the whole commercialized portion of Easter was all about a big rabbit hiding pastel-colored eggs but now it is about Easter baskets and every kind of candy imaginable being molded into eggs, bunnies, and carrots. This commercial from the 80's just emphasizes how big chocolate is for the Easter season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCWvb_mf2ts Unfortunately, I could not upload the video, but if you follow the link, you will see an old commercial showing kids thanking the Easter Bunny for giving them M&Ms. What happened to painting the eggs and going on hunts the next morning?
It is funny how chocolate always finds its way into the stocking, basket or bag of children during every holiday even if it doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with the holiday, like M&Ms and Easter. At least the M&Ms today are pastel-colored, and not the original kind like in the commercial!

Okay, so here's the deal with being Christian, at least Catholic. During the Easter season, particularly the 40 days prior to Easter Sunday, also known as Lent, most Christians choose something to give up along with the no meat of Friday rule. I have been giving something up for years, coffee, french fries, peanut butter, cookies, and this year, soda. I have always wanted to try to give up chocolate but I could never get myself to do it. There is just too much temptation and way too many opportunities to eat the delicious treat. Not only do I not particularly want to give up chocolate, but after thinking about it, there are so many foods that I eat that contain chocolate. While in school, I generally survive off of granola bars, peanut butter crackers packs, and 100 Calorie Packs, usually the chocolate chip cookie variety. Everyone knows that the best granola bars are the "Chocolate Drizzle" Special K bars so I know that I would not be able to resist eating them. Also, it is easier to find snacks with chocolate than without. If I gave up chocolate, then I would have to be extra careful not to go to the vending machine and get something that turns out to have some type of chocolate flavor or chocolate chip in it. And it doesn't help at all that for most of Lent, every store is selling Easter candy, and I know that I always buy the Mini Eggs from Cadbury.
Maybe if I prefered Peeps over Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs then I would have an easier time giving up the milk chocolate goodness, but until then, I'll keep giving up the things that I know I could live without.

Not So Wearable

I almost forgot about this episode of this season's Project Runway where the designers were given the challenge of using candy wrappers to create new dresses. On Episode 6, entitled "Eye Candy", the designers went to the Hershey's store in Time Square and they were given five minutes to grab whatever materials they could that they could use to transform into makeshift fabric. Well, the results were pretty interesting...including dresses made out of Hershey, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, KitKat, York Peppermint Patties, and Twizzler wrappers, pillows, and other raw materials. Talk about shameless promotion on the part of Hershey chocolate ;) but it was all good, here are the designs:

This is the

winning design,

made by Rami.

This is the losing
design, by Elisa,

which sent her home.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

Everybody knows that chocolate-flavored cereal is the best kind of cereal in the world. It is the kind that all the kids wanted when they were kids, not caring that Cheerios or Corn Flakes were much healthier than puffs of chocolate. But it was hard not to want the sweet-tasting cereal because of all the bright boxes, toys, and the chocolate milk that you get at the end of the bowl.

It had been a while since I ate chocolatey cereal, but last night while at my aunt's house, I had a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. While pouring some in a bowl, I heard my 6-year-old cousin screaming "I'm crazy for Cocoa Puffs! I'm crazy for Cocoa Puffs" which just made me laugh.

Recipe for Cocoa Puffs Choco Milkshake--

Ingredients:

2 cups of milk

2 cups of coco puff cereal

1 tsp of honey

1 small banana

Preparation Instructions:

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and serve!

Maybe the banana will make it seem a bit healthier, but kids cereal just should not be in milkshake form.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Leave it to the wonderful Tim Burton to remake a film about a creepy guy in a top hat and a candy factory and make it even more popular. I must admit that I love this director which could be why I prefer the 2005 remake over the original but I digress. This movie, in case anybody has not seen either version is about a man who owns a chocolate factory and opens it for a day to five lucky golden ticket winners. Each room is full of some strange candy making technique or another and there is even a huge chocolate waterfall that turns into a rich chocolate river.
This entire movie consists of scene after scene of chocolate eye candy, quite literally, even if Johnny Depp looks a little weird. It is a funny, sweet, worthwhile film for chocolate lovers everywhere and anyone interested in a meal-in-a-stick of chewing gum...perhaps Willy Wonka should have gotten a patent?

Hershey Park

Hershey Park would have to be one of the coolest theme parks in America. I went there during my sophomore year of high school and I am not ashamed to admit that I had a blast. There were rides and people dressed up in Hershey Kiss and Bar costumes like at Disney World except you were in Pennsylvania. There were gift shops full of plushes in the shapes of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and any other Hershey product. I remember a store that had a wall dedicated to just different kinds of Hershey chocolate varieties. My favorite part was the tours that showed you how the chocolate was made from the cocoa beans and the processes that it went through. Part of the tour even had an area that smelled just like chocolate. There were even sample size chocolates at the end.
I had fun there and I would encourage others to go as long as they don't take themselves too seriously!