White Chocolate Pop Corn

I first had this as a midnight snack at a scrapbook retreat it was so tasty I knew I needed to try making it. You just need a REAL big bowl (or two.) This was a big hit with my family. They are already offering suggestions of all the different things we could mix into it.

1 bag of microwave pop corn with NO BUTTER (air pop corn would work well too)
3 squares of White Bark Coating
colorful candy decorations (optional)

Pop the popping corn. You don't want any butter or oil, it will make the coating get gummy & not set up properly. Transfer the popped corn into a bowl. At this point I transfer the pop corn by hand to a bowl I will mix in. By doing it by hand you can make sure not to get the un-popped kernels at the bottom of the bowl.

In a microwave dish melt the candy bark. I used 3 squares. Melt the candy 30 seconds at a time when it begins to get soft, stir around with a spoon & continue heating 30 seconds at a time until all of the candy bark is melted.

Pour the melted candy onto the popcorn & toss around in the bowl with two spoons. Once you have mixed in the candy bark, you can mix in your colorful candies. I used cupcake sprinkles, you could also use holiday colored M&M's or, hmmm, I wonder how some crushed candy cane pieces would be.

While the mixture is still soft (it doesn't set up too fast so you have time to work with it) use a large ice cream scoop to portion the popped corn into colorful muffin papers.

Chocolate Pudding Cake - No Eggs

*************Updated 07/06/21. I appologize for the formatting on this post it used to look beautiful but Blogger has lost it's mind and I no longer have any control over formatting THIS is why I have quit blogging***********

It would make me seem very smart to say that I thought of making this recipe because of the current egg scare, but it wasn't until after I MADE the cake that I realized, "Hey, there are no eggs in this cake, cool!" This is an old fashioned style pudding cake, you can't cut it, you have to spoon it out. It has a wonderful chocolate cake on top and chocolate pudding on the bottom. It's real fudgy so I suggest you serve it with vanilla ice cream. When you eat leftovers, if there are any, heat each serving in the microwave. I was planning to make fruit crisp for my family, but suddenly I got a craving for this. It's a good recipe to answer chocolate cravings as it uses standard pantry items. This recipe is from The Pampered Chef Delightful Desserts.

Chocolate Pudding Cake
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups granulated sugar (that's 1 1/2 cups total)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (that's 1/2 cup total)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vanilla (that's 1 1/2 teaspoons total)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional decoration)
NOTE: Sugar, Vanilla, & Cocoa powder are used in 2 different mixtures. I have listed these measurements separately to help you remember.
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup for cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium/large mixing bowl. Add milk, melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla; stir until smooth. Stir in chocolate morsels. Spread evenly in a baking dish. 2) In a small mixing bowl, whisk together remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; gradually stir in boiling water and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla ( I ALWAYS goof & put all the vanilla into the thick batter - if you make this mistake don't worry, it still tastes good.) Carefully pour mixture evenly over batter in baking dish. 3) Bake 30-35 minutes or until done - the toothpick test doesn't work with this cake because it's supposed to be pudding underneath. Don't worry this cake has no eggs so you don't have to worry about the eggs getting cooked enough. Sprinkle with a dusting of powdered sugar & spoon into dessert dishes with vanilla ice cream. This would probably also be good with some berries, I'm allergic so I can't test that theory but if you do, let me know.

Pineapple Delight Cake

This is a favorite summer dessert recipe. It's cool and refreshing, the recipe has been in my family and a potluck favorite for years. I'm allergic to most fruit, but I can have pineapple so this is one of the few fruit desserts I can eat. I got this recipe from my Mom who got it from Betty Hirshy.

I made this cake for an open house at my Dad's house in California in July and more recently I made 2 of them for a Luau for the 55+ group at our church.


Pineapple Delight Cake

1 yellow cake mix (or 1/2 see note below)
1 large vanilla instant pudding (I prefer the new French Vanilla if you can find it)
1 1/3 cup milk
1 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 9 oz container of Cool Whip

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Bake in 9x13 pan; cool.

Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth, slowly add the milk until incorporated, then add the pudding mix and beat until smooth. This will result in smoother, quicker mixing and you may be able to do it quickly enough to be able to pour the pudding on the cake. If you just dump everything into the bowl and beat it (as per the original recipe directions) you can end up with flecks of cream cheese - you can see them in the photo 2nd cake I did as described above and didn't have that problem.

Spread pudding mixture over cake. Top evenly with pineapple. Spread on Cool Whip. I do recommend using Cool Whip for this because it is more stable than real whipped cream.

This cake needs to be refrigerated.

One time I only had pineapple chunks, so I chopped them until they resembled crushed pineapple. I recommend you let them sit for 10 min and drain again if you do this. A lot of juice seeped out after I put it on the cake and made it a lot wetter than I like.

Note: The original recipe called for baking 1/2 of the cake mix. I used the full cake, but as a result it does stick up higher than the top of the dish.
Bake it in a 9x13 dish to make it thin; cool. Do not over bake about 15+ minutes.

Variation: Use Chocolate Cake, substitute bananas instead of pineapple, and sprinkle top with slivered almonds.

Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding

We've had two days of rain and tonight I was in the mood for something warm and comforting. This dessert is so delicious. I found it in a Pampered Chef Cookbook - Cooking for Two and More. Croissants form the base for this bread pudding, soaking up a delicious custard which is studded with chocolate gems. The top is sprinkled with sugar and becomes crisp like french Palmiers pastry. Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate, it makes a wonderful counterpoint to the sweet custard. I have made 3 changes to the original recipe...
First - I love the increased richness of the custard which comes from using whipping cream instead of the original half and half.
Second - I use Girardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. I prefer the large gems of chocolate instead of the fine flake I got when coarsely chopping block chocolate.
And finally - I added cinnamon to the sugar that is sprinkled on top. Chocolate and cinnamon truly are a wonderful combination.
Enjoy this easy recipe which strikes a wonderful balance between creamy and crisp, bitter and sweet. It makes a lovely desert or a decadent breakfast with tea, coffee, or Mexican drinking chocolate.


2 eggs
2/3 cup whipping or heavy cream, unwhipped (or half and half)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 medium croissants, cut int cubes
1 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (scant 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly spray mini baking dish with non-stick cooking spray (pie plate size or smaller.)
2) Whisk eggs one at a time, then whisk in Whipping Cream, vanilla and 1/4 cup sugar.
3) Place croissant cubes into baking dish; top sprinkled with chocolate chips. Slowly pour egg mixture over croissants; let stand 10 minutes.
4) Mix together remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top.
5) Bake 34-40 minutes or until top is deep golden brown and thermometer reads 160 degrees F. 6) Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.