Easy Pudding Cake

This is a favorite from my growing up years. My mom used to make it all the time, and I think it was the first thing I ever learned to bake. It is very easy, and very tasty. I made it on Sunday, and probably ate the half of the cake by myself...for better or for worse... :)

Pudding Cake aka Best Chocolate Cake EVER.

Prep Time: 10 Min
Baking Time: 30 Min

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
1 cake mix (chocolate)
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 c. chocolate chips

Make pudding in medium saucepan according to package instructions. Remove from heat. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add chocolate cake mix (dry) to pudding and mix just well enough to incorporate (small powder bits are fine). Spread quickly into greased and floured 9X13 inch pan. Sprinkle nuts and chips over the top and press into the batter with the back of a spatula. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you please.

Variations: Lemon cake mix with vanilla pudding and white chips, spice cake mix with butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips.

Pumpkin Desserts To Die For!

I love pumpkin. I don’t mean the literal pumpkin guts or anything. Just processed pumpkin with tons of preservatives and chocolate added. Mmmm, nothing says autumn louder than a pumpkin dessert. Last year around this time, my good friend Jesse C. brought over a plate of these divine cookies. I can still remember the blue tinted glass plate on which the cookies sat. Everything about these cookies was perfect- from their circular shape, to the balanced chocolate-pumpkin ratio, to the slightly crispy outside and the perfectly gooey inside. I highly recommend these cookies. Thanks for saving they day yet again, Jesse.

Total Prep Time: 7 Min
Total Cook Time: 10 Min
Total Price: $0.00 They were a gift. (I challenge you to find an unsuspecting pumpkin-a-holic to make them for you too!)

Perfectly Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can (29 oz) of 100% Pure Pumpkin (I use Libby's brand)
2 boxes spice cake mix
1 bag (11 oz) of your favorite chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pure pumpkin and spice cake mix in a large bowl until even consistency. Mix in chocolate chips. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet (or I use parchment paper) using a spoon. Bake 10 min. However, I have found each oven may be different, so watch cookies and remove from oven after a toothpick/fork comes out clean in the middle of one of the cookies.

Another tasty yet easy pumpkin dessert is this Pumpkin Crumble. Check out the recipe here! 

I made this for my work meeting, and it was a complete success. Two thumbs up.

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

I wish I could take the credit for this beautiful delight, but I can’t. However I can take the credit for loving chocolate and laziness enough to share this recipe with the world! This is super easy, and yet if you’ll notice by the picture, very official and gourmet looking. Perhaps even romantic looking. Maybe you should make these this weekend for your secret crush. You’ll win him/her over for sure with these.

Total Prep Time:10 min
Total Cook Time: 10 min
Total Cost: most people have most of these ingredients can be found in yours or your neighbors pantry except maybe the chocolate chips, which you can get for $2.50. Go love your neighbor.

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

4 tablespoons of room temperature butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz bittersweet melted chocolate (I just used most of a bag of good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a muffin tin with butter. Sprinkle sugar over the butter, coating each cup. Dump excess sugar out. The recipe usually makes about 8 cakes, so you only need to coat that many.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one well. Then add flour and salt until just combined. Melt chocolate (I usually do it in the microwave in 30 second intervals) and mix into the batter.

Place equal amounts of the batter into the sugar lined muffin tin and bake on a baking sheet for 8-10 minutes or just until the top of the cakes no longer jiggle when slightly shaken. (this is the crucial part, if you go to long you'll over cook them, they are supposed to be "molten" inside after all). Scoop into a bowl (don't worry about it staying intact when you take it out of the muffin tin-it won't.)

Serve with vanilla ice cream and berries (I like raspberries with a little sugar on them the best) and get ready for the best and easiest dessert of your life.

*This recipe was brought to you by Melissa. Another amazing co-worker with a good head on her shoulders and a good recipe book on her bookshelf. She is a saint, and also cute. If you would like information on how to contact her, or how to make her a Molten Lava Cake of love, just let me know!