Let’s make some Chocolate Leaves!
You’ll notice that I’m doing this because I get a kick out of it, not because I’m refined, elegant, and professional! 
First of all, I should’ve got my husband to do the photography instead of someone less than 4′ tall. But, I picked on the one who was sitting on a barstool with her face within a foot of my project, asking questions and wanting to help. Can’t blame her… at 4 years old, I’d have been dying to be turned loose with a paintbrush, melted chocolate, and leaves… paint, lick, paint, paint, lick…
I’ve made chocolate leaves only once in my life… just last weekend. So, if you’ve made them twice, you’re more experienced than me. 
I went out to my rosebush (if you DON’T know me, you’re picturing something with beautiful pink roses hanging all over it, aren’t you? And if you DO know me, you’re thinking, “Huh?! You have an ALIVE rosebush?!”, aren’t you?)… anyway, I went out to my rosebush and picked 8 leaves off, brought them in and washed them under running water, and patted them dry with a paper towel. Then I took a paintbrush (everything else that’s actually a kitchen tool looked too big and cumbersome) and spread melted chocolate on the bottom side of the leaf.
I just let them harden a little at room temp, then put another coat on and put them in the fridge to harden. Then, I got them out and peeled the leaves off…
When they were done, we were awing over them and Lexi said, “Mom, they’re SO pretty! Can I eat them?” Um, let me think… “No!”
I put them back in the fridge till I was ready to use them.
Next time, I’d make them a bit thicker. It was kinda neat how thin and delicate they were, BUT I started with 8 leaves, had 3 casualties, and ended up with 5 because they broke when I was pulling the leaves off. It was fun and they looked so neat… I’ll definitely make them more often!
Have any of you made chocolate leaves before that you could give us all some more tips?
What I put the leaves on was a new recipe , so I’ll throw that in here too, while I’m at it.
German Chocolate Cream Pie …from the 2002 Quick Cooking Annual cookbook
1 pkg (4 oz) German sweet chocolate
1/3 cup milk
1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp sugar
1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
Whipped topping, frest mint and chocolate dessert decorations, optional
In a saucepan over low heat, cook the chocolate and milk until choc is melted; stir until smooth. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
Stir in chocolate mixture. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Freeze until firm. May be frozen for up to 3 months, just in case you could leave a chocolate pie alone for 3 months, knowing it’s right there in the freezer!
Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with whipped topping, mint and chocolate decorations if desired. Yield: 6-8 servings.
I had a bunch of melted chocolate left over and no more Cool Whip, so I just drizzled the chocolate over… it does need garnish of some sort, looks very plain without!
It was really good, except that I’m a milk chocolate fan, not semi-sweet. To me, this German sweet chocolate tasted just like semi-sweet. I want to try it again sometime and substitute 4 oz (or more 
) of milk chocolate chips instead of the German chocolate.
Something Old, Something New
———————————— First the old —————————————————–
I have made this recipe so many times and it turns out great every time. I don’t know where it came from, it’s handwritten (by me) in my blank cookbook that isn’t so blank anymore!
Pumpkin Roll
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
Beat eggs for 5 min. Gradually beat in sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Stir together dry ingredients. Fold into pumpkin mixture.
Spread in greased (I greased and floured it) 15″x10″ pan.
Bake @ 375 for 15 min. Turn out on towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. I usually run a pie server around under it to make sure it’s loose before turning it onto the towel.
Roll towel and cake together. Cool.
Unroll and spread with filling.
Filling:
1 c. powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese
4 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Beat until smooth and creamy. Spread over cake.
Roll and chill before slicing. I put it in the freezer to chill… the firmer it is to slice, the better. Well, I guess I’ve never had it frozen solid. It might not cut very easy then. You could roll it either way, it depends on how big you want the pieces to be.
—————————————- And now the new ———————————————–
This recipe comes from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card. I did a bit of variation to it. Look at the pictures…I don’t ned to tell you if it was good or not! 
Easy Chocolate Lover’s Cheesepie … I actually made it into a cheesecake instead of a cheesepie, so in this case, it’s Easy Chocolate Lover’s Cheesecake
3 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese softened
3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. (12 oz pkg) Hershey’s mini semi sweet chocolate chips (I use regular-sized chips and used milk chocolate)
2 T. whipping cream
1 extra-serving-size packaged graham cracker crust (9 oz) (I mixed 1 1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs, 3 T. sugar, and 1/3 c. melted butter together and pressed it in the bottom of a springform pan. Then I chilled it in the fridge until I was ready to pour the batter in.)
Heat oven to 450. Beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir in 1 2/3 cups choc chips; pour into crust.
Note: I’m always asked to share some of my crust and batter when I use a springform pan because of my little helper in the kitchen with some of her own mini bakeware.
Bake 10 minutes. Without opening oven door, reduce temp to 250 (I don’t have a window in my oven. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was for me to simply turn the oven down and walk away!); continue baking 30 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven to wire rack.
Cool completely. Cover; refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Place remaining 1/3 cup choc chips and whipping cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 20 to 30 seconds or just until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Cool slightly; spread over top of cheesepie. I put some caramel ice cream topping on, then piped the chocolate mixture on. I don’t know that it was really any better, just felt like doing it that way.
Refrigerate 15 min or until topping is set. Cover; refrigerate leftover cheesepie.
——————————————- This and that ——————————————————
I just paged down and it’s looking pretty desserty lately! Time to get some main dishes and side dishes on here again! We have not been just eating desserts! 
Actually, all those desserts happened to be food to take away somewhere. Can tell what I like to make the best when I have to take food somewhere!
What are you having for supper tonight? Sometimes I’m stumped and I’m sure some of you are too. Let’s have some suggestions for us all! 
I have a ham in the fridge and am planning to make that for supper tonight. Not sure what’s gonna go with it yet.
Chocolate Peanut Supreme
My food group was on for salad and dessert for carry-in at church a few weeks ago. I made a veggie and dip tray and Chocolate Peanut Supreme dessert. I try to make my featured recipes like the recipe says, but the dessert recipe has a substitution in it. But I’m fine with that because it’s an idea you might like to use sometime… you know how when you’re baking cookies and something comes up (like, the baby needs attn, you get to talking on the phone, or you just plain forget about them) and then that batch gets darker, which makes them crunchy instead of soft and bend-able, and nobody wants to eat them? Well, when that batch cools, crush them with a rolling pin and put the crumbs in a bag in the freezer, then when you make a recipe that calls for graham cracker crumbs or crushed Oreo crumbs for the crust, just pull out your ready-made crumbs and use them. Saves you from having to eat dark crunchy chocolate chip cookies!
Chocolate Peanut Supreme …from the 2000 Quick Cooking cookbook.
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (didn’t have chunky, so I just used creamy)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I substituted the above-mentioned cookie crumbs)
1/2 cup sugar (I used about 1/4 cup because the cookies were sweeter than g.c. crumbs)
1 pkg (5.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 carton (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 cup chopped peanuts (I skipped the peanuts and sprinkled some cookie crumbs on top)
In a bowl, combine peanut butter and butter. Stir in cracker crumbs and sugar; mix well. Press into a greased 9×13 pan.
Prepare pudding with milk according to package directions, spoon over crust.
Spread with whipped topping.
Sprinkle with peanuts.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until set. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12-16 servings. This was SO good, but I do want to try it the right way sometime (without substitutions)!
And here’s the veggie tray…
One of my all-time favorites
I’ve been craving fruit pizza ever since it got warm outside. It’s such a good summer dessert!
Fruit Pizza …from the Taste of Home 2nd Edition cookbook, with some personal preference changes by me
1 pkg (20 oz) refrigerated sugar cookie dough …I make a cookie dough from scratch, then measure out 20 oz.
I think homemade is tastier… my recipe (featured here) has nutmeg in it.
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Kiwi
Bananas
Mandarin oranges
Grapes
I’ve never put kiwi in. There are other fruits I like better. Here’s the order and fruits I use: mandarin oranges and grapes, bananas, strawberries cut in half, pineapple (fresh, not canned! it’s the best!!), blueberries, mandarin oranges, bananas, and one marichino cherry in the middle. I vary the order sometimes, but it’s always those fruits.
Glaze:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Pat cookie dough into an ungreased 14″ pizza pan.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until browned; cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over the crust.
Arrange the fruit on top. In a saucepan, bring sugar, OJ, water, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt to a boil, stirring constantly for 2 min or until thickened. Cool; brush over fruit. I make the glaze and let it cool while the crust is cooling. I’d think if you’d put the fruit on, THEN make the glaze, that the bananas would be brown by the time it’s cooled. As soon as I get the first ring of bananas on, I glaze them. Then I put the rest of the fruit on and glaze the whole works. I use a pastry brush.
Store in refrigerator. Yield: 16-20 servings.
Now tell me, are you in the mood for fruit pizza?
“Mom, how do you make… ?”
From my mom…
Easy Cinnamon Biscuits (not sure of the real name, if there is one)
2 7.5 oz cans Pillsbury biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
2 handfuls brown sugar
Cinnamon
8 oz Cool Whip
Grease 9×13 pan and put biscuits in.
Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
Spread Cool whip on top.
Looks more like a dessert now, doesn’t it?
Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
These are great!!!!! There’s a goo at the bottom and next time, I’m planning to add some pecans on top before putting on the Cool Whip. They take very little time to assemble, plus no rising time. Very good! Keep on hand for a warm breakfast on busy mornings!
From my mom-in-law…
Yum Yum Pudding
60 Ritz crackers
1 stick butter
2 qt vanilla ice cream
2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups milk
Crush crackers. Mix with melted butter. Spread out in a 9×13 pan and bake at 350 for 5 min. (I made a half batch for us, so used a smaller pan here and should’ve used a smaller bowl later!)
Beat softened ice cream. Add milk and pudding. Put crumbs in the bottom of a serving dish, saving some crumbs to sprinkle on top.
Pour ice cream/pudding mixture over crumbs.
Top with remaining crumbs.
Store in refrigerator (not freezer). Yum is right! I didn’t remember having it before and as I was making it, I was so tempted to add some chocolate for an extra layer. Glad I didn’t because it was so good!!!! Lots of buttered toasted crackers!
About Me
Hi! Welcome to my kitchen! My name is Kay. I'm from northern WI. I love cooking and baking. Especially baking. It's thereapeudic for me. I'm not a professional or gourmet cook by any means. I'm a Mennonite homemaker who happens to take pictures of some of the food I make. I have 2 little 'helpers'... Lexi (5) and Tiffany (2), who are young cooks in training. I don't do anything on the grill... that's where my husband comes in! He grills quite a bit, especially in the summer. So, sit back and enjoy browsing thro' the recipes. If you try some of them, I'd love to hear feedback on how you liked them!
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