TWD-Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Happy late-Pioneer Day! Every July 24th, we commemorate the arrival of Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. It's a big deal here. Parade. Rodeo. Fireworks. Family. Friends. Food. It gives us a reason to celebrate on a hot summer night! Last night we had a lovely evening with neighbors, eating this delicious sorbet and lighting fireworks.

Dorie's Creamy Dark Chocolate Sorbet was the perfect cool dessert on a warm summer night. I actually made the sorbet on Sunday. It came together in a snap and I was able to get it in the fridge before we went to church. Later in the evening I put it in the ice cream maker and then into the freezer. 

I served the sorbet with a Chocolate Crinkle Cookie and fresh strawberries. It was divine. Deep, dark, creamy chocolate. We loved this recipe and I will definitely put it in the keepers along with many other Dorie recipes!

Should you care to give this a try on a hot Summer day (which I'm sure you do), head on over for the recipe at A Whisk and a Spoon. 

Birthday Cake Fun

My sweet Miriam had her 5th birthday! I can't believe it. She is such a fun girl. Since Christmas she has been talking about having a rudolph (family) party and cake. I was kind of hoping that by the time May rolled around she might forget, but she did not. We have listened to Christmas music in the car nonstop for months. So I found myself having to make a rudolph cake. I am not the best at creative cakes in general. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. I went google images and just pulled up an image of rudolph from the movie and used it as an outline. She wanted brownies instead of cake. Awesome! Because I don't really love cake and Brownies were much easier to work with.



I made the extra pieces on top out of sugar cookies dough. I just traced the outlines of the ears, eye, and antlers onto the dough. I used a mini york mint for the eye and a red gumball was the perfect solution for the nose. It was a hit. Gone in seconds, because brownies are so much better than cake and so are sugar cookies. All the kids went crazy over the gumballs, so it is good I bought extra. I love that this girl thinks out of the box and is not afraid to follow through. She was teased by her sister for months that she wanted rudolph, but Miriam stuck with it without a care in the world. Love that girl



The hubby had a Birthday too. Just last week. He made it easy on me (so nice since I am 8 months pregnant and still not on a first name basis with my kitchen). He chose key lime pie, which I made, and a costco bought apple pie (awesome, I didn't have to slave over it, bless him).



The key lime pie recipe came from a Betty Crocker Cookbook that we got for a our wedding, I think it is even the Bridal edition (aka: non baking savvy people).

TWD: Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins

My kids say "a muffin is just an ugly cupcake", but I disagree!! A muffin is so much more... THIS muffin is so much more!! Its rich and dense and chocolatey. Because it isn't so sweet, you can really taste and appreciate the bittersweet chocolate. The flavor is SOOOOO spectacular. I think it really pays to use a high-quality chocolate. Plus, any time you can eat chocolate for breakfast, I'm in!! What? Its legit. Muffins are a breakfast food. They are.

My sweet boy was being so patient waiting for his muffin. We all agreed, it was worth the wait!! It didn't take long though, these came together in a snap!! Next time I may let the kids make them. Thanks Bridget at "The Way The Cookie Crumbles" for this weeks choice!! If you would like to give it a try (and I'm sure you do) click here. :)