Sweet Thursday! Recipe and Link Up!

Today is our FIRST OFFICIAL LINK UP PARTY in "The Coffee Shop" I am so excited! I hope I start seeing more and more people join with each passing week! If you didn't read our post last Thursday (when we had a "Link up Party REHEARSAL" (lol) then you probably don't know what Sweet Thursday is all about ... So click on our "Sweet Thursday TAB" (or the Sweet Thursday button above) to read more about it... in just a few words I'll say that it's all about linking up and having a very Sweet Thursday! I'll share a dessert recipe and I will ask you to link up to one of your posts featuring sweet goods (pastries, candy or any kind of sweet treats) ... Let's make this and every Thursday SWEET!  (Link up tool at the bottom of this post!)

Now I will share my recipe which is delicious, VERY easy to make and doesn't require any baking! (Recipe from Auntie Amy)

Chocolate Eclair Torte

 

Ingredients

• 2 individual packages graham crackers
• 2 (3 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 cups milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

For frosting:

• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2 Tablespoons butter 
• 2 Tablespoons white corn syrup 
• 3 Tablespoons of milk 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cup powdered sugar.

Directions

1. Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with graham crackers. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Stir well. Stir in whipped topping to pudding mixture. Spread half of mixture over graham cracker layer. Top with another layer of graham crackers and the remaining pudding. Top all with a final layer of graham crackers. Refrigerate for about two hours before you frost it.

To make the frosting:

Melt chocolate, butter, corn syrup and milk. Stir in vanilla and sugar. Spread on top of dessert once it's been in the refrigerator for about two hours (it will make it easier to spread the frosting). Refrigerate for at least 8 more hours before serving

© Paloma King

Chocolate chip Cookies - FAIL!

In Mexico we have a saying "Al mejor cazador se le va la liebre" - "Even the best hunter will miss a rabbit" ... And of course I am far from being the best cook... but I feel like at least CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES are something I have "mastered" by now! And yes... I am actually very proud of my chocolate chip cookies but last night I just wasn't feeling like baking... I am fighting a cold (or that's how I feel)... and I just wasn't "inspired"... Plus hubby is sick and I made him some "caldo de Pollo" (Mexican Chicken soup) to make him feel better and I thought "Chocolate Chip Cookies" would be the Cherry on top of the cake that would help him recover! Not that they have medicinal properties! LOL! ... But LOVE does help heal! Doesn't it? So... regardless of all the "signs" I got telling me I shouldn't bake I still went for it... My 9 month old baby was tired and cranky by the time and she was crawling around my feet I kept  being distracted!! Then... I finally managed to start scooping the "cookie dough" on my baking sheets... of course I had to start eating cookie dough by then! (who can resist?) when this thought came to my mind all of a sudden "You shouldn't eat dough that has raw eggs in it" ... and that's when it hit me! RAW EGGS? RAW EGGS!!! I hadn't added the eggs to my batter! I felt like crying! (how dramatic! But forgive me! I was in one of those days where you just feel like crying even over "chocolate chip cookies without eggs!" ... I didn't know what to do... I KNEW adding eggs at this point wasn't a choice... But hubby, seeing my frustration suggested I'd "give it a try" and so I did.... let's just say that not only I wasted flour, chocolate chips, sugars, vanilla and butter but I also wasted 2 EGGS! which could've been saved if I hadn't added them when I knew I just shouldn't! It's funny I am posting this just after my previous post when I was making fun of myself and my "beginnings" in the baking field! Anyway... moral of the story??? Never bake when you just KNOW you are not feeling well... not feeling like baking and when you have a 9 month old baby crawling around you! .... and if you do ... just... DON'T FORGET THE EGGS!!! and if YOU DO... don't add them at the end.... at least save the eggs! - You can laugh now Auntie Sally! -

Hubby showing some"sacrificial love" ate two, they still ended in the trash

© Paloma King

Why I bake...

This is a more personal post... I got nostalgic today while making a dessert that I would usually eat in one of my hubby's aunts house... "Eclair Chocolate Torte"... and it got me thinking about my wonderful family in Wisconsin (we just recently moved from there)... and how they helped me "start baking"

First of all... I must say... that I had always seen my dad baking... I grew up hearing about flour, eggs, pecans and cinnamon, I knew what it was like to smell warm bread coming out of the oven but honestly I never really "understood it", it was always there... as a part of my life and I never appreciated it, my dad is a baker, a wonderful one, but I guess I always took it for granted, so much that I actually barely ever ate of the bread he made... Then I married and I moved to Wisconsin, where my husband, a wonderful and handsome gringo lived his whole life, also blessed to have people in his life (his mom and aunts) who have always baked from scratch and have always enjoyed doing so! I soon learned how much he "needs" to eat warm cookies! His mom would always make cookies for him, sadly she passed away and I never met her, but because of all that hubby loves coming to a home that smells like something is baking! So I started! in the beginning I didn't really know "how to start" but I looked for some online recipes (or took the recipe from the back of the Nestle chocolate chips bag) and started making "chocolate chip cookies" ... I felt like I had "discovered something" I couldn't believe I could "make cookies"! I always thought it would be harder... and you might laugh but I actually believed cookies took hours to bake! HA! ... Then, my husband's aunts (My aunts) started including me in their "baking sessions", they would bake "Christmas cookies" together and I joined them... embarrassed at first because they are REALLY GOOD AT IT! They seemed so "in control" and I was like a clumsy hen just copying what they were doing... I remember I tried making peanut butter cookies with them... and I didn't add guess what? PEANUT BUTTER! Auntie Janet was nice enough to eat the flat sugary crumbly mess that we could remove from the baking sheets (I doubled the butter too!) we all had a good laugh! ... So my love for baking started growing... I started "baking something" for the family gatherings... although I always felt like I was "bringing water to a well" (translation of a Mexican expression) ... You know? Like I was making a cake for a cake expert! LOL! how intimidating! But everyone would still oooh! and aaah! when eating what I made! I must say I have a wonderful, loving family in Wisconsin... and all those things encouraged me too keep baking! (Hubby's praises over the things I baked were definitely important too!)... Then, going to grandma's house (hubby's grandma) and seeing her spread baked goods and her famous chocolate cake when we would visit were something else that made me love baking, the way my aunts and grandma do everything with such love and femininity... I felt like I was witnessing with my own eyes a scene taken from "Little Women"! I truly thought things like that happened only in books... but I am so thankful I got to see it happen in real life... in my life... God has blessed me so much! grandma Shirley, Aunties Sally, Janet and Amy have been like a gift to me! and it's because of them that I actually finally got to understand why my dad speaks the way he does about flour, milk, butter and eggs! I hope I can keep learning so one days someone enjoys being around me as much as I've enjoyed being around those wonderful ladies!!! I hope I can see them soon!

© Paloma King