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You are here: Home / I'm cooking / Heaven in a bowl

Heaven in a bowl

November 21, 2007 ·

I finally managed to make the chocolate ice box pudding. It really shouldn’t have taken me this long to get it all together, especially since it’s the only contribution I’ll be making to Thanksgiving dinner.

I went to the grocery store last Wednesday with my goal being that I wouldn’t have to return to the store until after Thanksgiving. Grocery shopping right before Thanksgiving is like going to a bar on New Year’s Eve. You have to deal with tons of amateurs who have no idea what they are doing.

However, while I was gone this weekend, P informed me that a six foot rat had gotten into my Ghiradelli chocolate bars and that they would need to be replaced. The rat was actually nice enough to go to the store and buy new chocolate, but we ended up running out of other essential items such as toilet paper and powdered sugar. And we have to have powdered sugar.

Anyway, after our trip to HEB this morning, Caroline and I were ready to make the chocolate ice box pudding.

And since I want y’all to have a lovely Thanksgiving, I will share the recipe. Use this information carefully. Once y’all try this you may never be the same.

Chocolate Ice Box Pudding

The Diet Coke with Lime is completely optional and probably not really recommended.

8 oz. of semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup water
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 packages of ladyfingers

Mix sugar and water together in a medium size bowl and microwave until the water has thoroughly boiled and the sugar has dissolved. Add in chocolate and microwave another 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Set mixture aside.

Melt butter and powdered sugar over low heat in a large saucepan. When melted together, add chocolate mixture and stir constantly until it boils well. Set aside for 20 minutes and then add vanilla.

Separate eggs and put egg yolks in a large bowl and egg whites in a mixing bowl. Beat eggs yolks and gradually add chocolate mixture to them. Allow to cool completely (or put in refrigerator if you’re like me and have the patience of a gnat)

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture. Pour into bowl lined with ladyfingers. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve with homemade whipping cream. Do NOT desecrate this sacred dish with Cool Whip.

Here’s Caroline with the chocolate. If she had been home on Saturday I have no doubt that she would have served as an accomplice to the six foot rat that ate the chocolate.

This is AJ showing Caroline how to eat the powdered sugar right out of the pan. It was really helpful.

This is the mess I made on the stove when I decided to sling hot butter and powdered sugar everywhere. Tomorrow I will give thanks that at the moment the hot butter hit my hand I managed to not yell any profanities.

Here’s the inside of the cabinet where I keep all my silver serving pieces. Please note that they are all neatly wrapped in silvercloth and stored in Ziploc bags. I am very proud of this because it is the only area of my life in which I am this organized.

However, it still took me 15 minutes to find my medium sized Revere bowl in spite of it being labeled “Medium Sized Revere Bowl”.

I don’t know why.

These are the ladyfingers. It’s a very complicated recipe.

Here they are lining the Revere bowl. This is a crucial step in the process. You must ensure that you have the proper pudding to ladyfinger ratio or Thanksgiving will be RUINED.

Here is the finished masterpiece. Don’t you think Jenni and DeAnna would have been completely okay with the whole Brad dumping them thing if they’d had a bowl of this to self-medicate?

Come to mama.

Caroline insisted that she lick the spatula. And the bowl. And the spoon.

The good news is I don’t plan on washing her face, so tomorrow she can just eat whatever is leftover.

She obviously has no self-control where chocolate is concerned. I don’t know where she gets it.

And I don’t know whose hand that is.

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Comments

  1. Heather Kay

    November 21, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    WOW! This looks awesome!! I will definitely be making this after my next grocery shopping trip. I have never met chocolate that I didn’t like.(ok love who am I trying to kid)
    Thanks for taking the time to post it and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
    Heather

  2. Barb

    November 21, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    Lady Fingers? I wonder where that name came from. It’s really kinda creapy. Good thing they taste so good! Happy Thanksgiving!

  3. Linda C at 2nd Cup

    November 21, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    The picture of Caroline holding the bar of chocolate is like looking at the textbook definition of pure unmitigated joy. “Joy to the World, all the boys and girls; joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea; and chocolate joy for me!”

  4. Sincerely Anna

    November 21, 2007 at 7:42 pm

    I laughed all the way through this post. I’m with Linda, the picture of Caroline holding the bar of chocolate is nothing but joy. Really, what else is there in life? Happy Thanksgiving!

  5. Karly

    November 21, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    OK, I’ve been wanting to ask this forever…I’m from up north and we do not have HEB here. At least, not anywhere near me. Is it pronounced Heb? Or is it H.E.B.? THIS HAS BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY.

    Also, that pudding looks DELISH.

  6. alison

    November 21, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    Loved that picture of Caroline all excited about that giant bar of ghiradelli!

  7. Emily

    November 21, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    OH MY WORD THAT LOOKS GOOD!! The only thing holding me back from running to our Krogers is knowing that it is full of crazy people fighting over the last turkey. I’ll have to save this recipe for Christmas or maybe Friday! 🙂

  8. shelley

    November 21, 2007 at 8:34 pm

    Oh Goodness!!! That does look like Heaven in a bowl! I’ll be adding it to my list of things to make this month…make that this week!

  9. Wendy Darling

    November 21, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂

  10. Ashleigh

    November 21, 2007 at 8:39 pm

    I admire you and your great Thanksgiving contribution. Between having my mother in law here to do any and all cooking, a newborn demanding all attention (not to mention his older brother), and the Vons service deli’s hard work, all I’m doing for Thanksgiving dinner is providing the table at which we’ll sit. And technically, I didn’t even do that. My husband did…. so, yeah. You’re doing good.

  11. Fox's Momma

    November 21, 2007 at 8:46 pm

    I am so set to make this – just one thing – I’m having a hard time getting over the uncooked eggs. Is it really OK? I am totally digging on the chocolatey goodness…

  12. Elaine

    November 21, 2007 at 8:58 pm

    Yours is the funniest blog I have yet to come across. I really enjoy reading it. Thanks for the laughs and smiles! Happy Thanksgiving!

    And to the comment above… I am originally from Austin and now live in the DFW area and it’s H.E.B. and I think my mother goes there everyday at least once. She worships the place. She has stock, I think… And we don’t have it here so I miss it.

  13. Danielle T.

    November 21, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    Oh. Oh, my. Yes, please.

  14. melanie

    November 21, 2007 at 10:04 pm

    I made your pecan pie with chocolate chips yesterday. It hasn’t been cut yet. I am going to have to start a Big Mama file. :>) YUM.

  15. brandy

    November 21, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    looks delish! and it looks like her bangs are growing out nicely–and quickly!

  16. kelli

    November 21, 2007 at 10:21 pm

    So, what you’re really saying, is that you’re backing off the “Don’t eat anything you pick off your face” rule.

    Cool.

    But, does that require sticking Caroline’s face in the icebox overnight as well?

    Just askin.

  17. Lorrie (Dnksmommy)

    November 21, 2007 at 10:25 pm

    oh my! that does look GOOD! then again, can ANYTHING made with Ghiradelli chocolate NOT be good?

  18. Kate

    November 21, 2007 at 10:29 pm

    But….you are talking RAW EGGS!! You have to COOK the eggs or you might DIE!! Won’t you??

  19. JP's MOM

    November 21, 2007 at 10:50 pm

    I love the thought of a Big Mama recipe book! Complete with pictures of course!

    Can’t wait to try this recipe…sounds delightful. My hips may not enjoy it, but oh well!

  20. The Pumkin Patch

    November 22, 2007 at 12:54 am

    That looks awesome and you are a hoot! I love me some chocolate and think I gained 2lbs. just reading that. 😀

  21. Mary Kat's Mom

    November 22, 2007 at 7:40 am

    Thank you for giving me a dish to take to my family Christmas party! Keep up the good work with adding inches to my waistline. Love ya! Really! What good is life without incredible chocolate dishes?! Looks marvelous!

  22. lynn

    November 22, 2007 at 8:03 am

    HELP!! I am with Fox’s Mamma – does this really mean the eggs are raw… I have serious raw egg issues… It looks stunning but…. is it really okay?

  23. jubilee

    November 22, 2007 at 8:42 am

    My face looks like Caroline’s after I’ve made brownies! Sounds like a great recipe. Thanks.

  24. Kacey

    November 22, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Looks yummy, and I want to bow before a young mother who chooses REAL VANILLA for her baking. You are truly wonderous!

  25. Jen Fitz

    November 26, 2008 at 11:10 am

    why do you wrap your silver in plastic?

  26. Becky

    December 1, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Melanie, are lady fingers cookies or donuts?
    I know I must be deprived not to know…

    Your recipe sounds wonderful.
    Blessings,
    Becky

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Who is Melanie?

Melanie ShankleMy name is Melanie and, in some strange twist of fate, I’m also known as Big Mama because I started this blog in July of 2006 when my daughter, Caroline, was not quite three years old and I was in the process of convincing her that BIG girls use the potty and BIG girls don’t have pacifiers, thus she thought BIG was the highest compliment in the land and began referring to me as BIG MAMA.Read More

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