Quick and Easy Chocolate Pudding

It was nine or ten at night and Eric and I were both craving something sweet. But there was nothing sweet in the house except a bag of chocolate chips (many a bag of chocolate chips has never made it into a baked good). Then I remembered this pudding recipe I pinned on Pinterest that was quick and easy and I knew I already had all the ingredients in the house. So I made pudding. Sweet tooth satisfied.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups millk (the original recipe used skim, I used whole)
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine the cornstarch and sugar in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk. Whisk until smooth then add the remaining milk and mix. Over medium-high hear, bring the mixture to a boil. Soon as it reaches a boil, lower the heat to medium and whisk until mixture thickens--approximately 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour in the chocolate chips, butter, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.

Serve warm or chill in the refrigerator. We were impatient so I put our pudding in the freezer.

Makes approximately 3 cups.

I honestly don't know if I'll bother with the instant boxed pudding again. I liked the flavor of this so much better. And there's really only a couple of extra steps.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Chocolate Swirl Cake (Made with Swiss Cake Rolls)

Swiss cakes rolls bring back memories of brown bagged lunches in elementary and junior high school. First I'd eat all the coating coating off, then rolls the cakes out the best I could, lick off the cream filling, and finally devour the cake. I may or may not still eat them this way. But if you asked me what my favorite Little Debbie snack was, I'd have to go with Nutty Bars--unless we're including their seasonal snacks then it's Pumpkin Delights hands down. Eric favors the Swiss Rolls bar none. And that's why to celebrate his very last day of class (Eric is now a college graduate!) I am making him this Chocolate Swirl Cake. It is no-bake, incredibly decadent, and contains Swiss Rolls--in other words, the perfect cake for Eric.

This recipes comes from Taste of Home with a few minor changes.

Ingredients: 
20 Swiss Rolls (a little less than 2 boxes)
2 3.9-ounce instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
2 3/4 cups cold milk
1 8-ounce (2 cups) container of Cool Whip, thawed

8.5-inch springform pan

Directions:
Slice each cake roll into six pieces. When you cut them, the chocolate coating is going to break off; reserve the chocolate for decoration. Line the pan with the cake pieces, beginning with the sides. I made four rows of cake pieces. Then line the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mixture until well combined and smooth. Place in the refrigerator for approximately 5 minutes until the pudding has thickened. Fill the center of the cake with the pudding. Top with the Cool Whip and sprinkle bits of chocolate coating on top. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes:
This dessert is chocked full of calories. In order to bring the calorie count down at least a little bit, I used skim milk to make the pudding and fat free Cool Whip.

Eric went nuts when he came home after his last college final and saw this cake waiting for him. But I guess it didn't have enough Swiss Cake Rolls to satisfy him. He had a huge slice of this dessert with a side of cake rolls.

Sorry the picture is a little blurry. Those are Eric's photography skills.

Enjoy!

~Krissy