This month's theme is Love is in the Air.
There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:
I made Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie:
Food is love. Cliche, I know, but for a reason. I believe it. Hell, I live it. Whenever College Boy is here for dinner I always try to make his favorites. And when PurDude is home for vacation I go all out. Seeing him enjoy what I make . . . even getting up in the morning to see how many of his favorite snacks have disappeared overnight . . . brings me joy.
And when PurDude flies back to school I always put some snacks into his backpack for him to find along the way. I imagine his smile when he finds it. Well, except that one time it almost got him strip searched. You see, he LOVES my Cinnamon Cranraisin Pumpkin Bread. I had made 2 loaves for Thanksgiving and there was about 2/3 of a loaf left. I wrapped it in plastic wrap, then in foil and snuck it into PurDude's backpack. Seems TSA frowns upon young men with large tinfoil wrapped rectangles going through security. Something about it looking like an explosive. Who knew? Well, according to PurDude I should have, but . . . ummmm . . . live and learn?
Anyhooo, all this to say that, really, although I often struggle to find a recipe to fit our theme, or I may have a recipe I want to share but bend myself into a pretzel making it fit the theme, that was not the case today. Food is love. Anything I shared would be an expression of Love is in the Air.
But Valentine's Day is coming up so I wanted to be sure to share something really special. I hope you think that's what I've come up with here. I decided to try this Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie for two reasons. First, strawberry and chocolate seems like the quintessential Valentines pairing. And second because although we don't eat a lot of ice cream when it's cold out, everyone loves when I make a batch of my homemade hot fudge, so I do that at least 2 or 3 times over the winter months. This pie was inspired by those hot fudgy sundaes.
I made a simple crust by crushing thin vanilla oreos in the food processor.
You can buy hot fudge, but I made my own Homemade Hot Fudge.
If you can find fresh strawberries, that's great. I buy them in the summer when they're less expensive and freeze them myself. If using frozen, be sure to drain well.
Beat the cream cheese and fudge layer until smooth.
Beat the heavy cream, add the strawberries, then fold into the hot fudge mixture. Pour over the crust, then smooth out.
Refrigerate. To serve, heat up more hot fudge and drizzle over the top. Grab a plate, two forks and share with your true love!
As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!
Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:
Kia of Think in English shares Stories of Falling in Love with a Second Language.
Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Things I Hate But Do Anyway.
Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Chocolate Cherry Muffins.
Kristin of Little Mama Jama shares how to make Glass Milk Bottle Vases.
Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares how to make Handmade Treats.
Rabia of The Lieber Family blog shares how to make a mixed media art collage Two Become One.
Kia of Think in English shares Stories of Falling in Love with a Second Language.
Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Things I Hate But Do Anyway.
Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Chocolate Cherry Muffins.
Kristin of Little Mama Jama shares how to make Glass Milk Bottle Vases.
Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares how to make Handmade Treats.
Rabia of The Lieber Family blog shares how to make a mixed media art collage Two Become One.
Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie
©www.BakingInATornado.com Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
30 vanilla thin oreos
3 TBSP melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup hot fudge sauce, room temperature
My Homemade Hot Fudge recipe HERE
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries
OPT: additional hot fudge sauce for serving
Directions:
*Place the Oreos into a food processor and process to crumbs. Mix with the melted butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Press into and barely up the side of a springform pan. Refrigerate.
*Beat the cream cheese, hot fudge sauce and 1/4 cup powdered sugar until smooth.
*In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the other 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and beat until stiff peaks hold. Fold in the strawberries.
*Fold the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust. Even out and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
*To serve: heat additional hot fudge sauce. Remove the sides of the pan, slice pie and drizzle with the warm hot fudge sauce.
Food is love, no doubt for we foodies who love to cook and bake and talk about food and read about food. Too funny about the foiled brick and TSA, good to know! This recipe sounds great, hot fudge and ice cream and let's not forget the yummy pie.
ReplyDeleteHot fudge sundae without the ice cream. Perfect for Valentine's Day!
DeleteWhat's not to love!! It looks awesome
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol. Happy (almost) Valentine's Day to you.
DeleteOhhh that looks beautiful and delicious! The story about your son and TSA had me laughing - I can just picture it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it had me laughing too. Him? Not so much.
DeleteYum! Benjamin got mad at me yesterday because I wouldn't buy fresh berries for $3.99 a pound! It would have been a quarter a berry!
ReplyDeleteI know just how he felt. I love fresh berries and hate seeing them in the store at a price I won't pay.
DeleteThat hot fudge pie looks so nice, some security people are so serious, but it did make me giggle a little
ReplyDeleteYes, it made me giggle a little too!
DeleteYou did here the sobbing "oh why, I have 11 more pounds to lose and I'm probably rejoining Weight Watchers this month, there is no justice, this sounds so good..." sob sob sob you broke the heart of a 64 year old woman today. OK. I'll just make it... Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYou need to do what I do, make it when there's a lot of people around and you'll be lucky to get more than a bite.
DeleteYou had me at hot fudge! Oh my goodness I could not make a whole pie my ass would be a goner.
ReplyDeleteYou know you're supposed to share, right?
DeleteThis is amazing!! Sharing out for everyone to enjoy. :) And yes, food is love.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the shares!
DeleteThat looks amazing, I don't know anyone who wouldn't love that cake! My husband's mother used to fill up boxes of food and have them shipped from Istanbul to Ankara when he was going to college there! Food from home is always the best.
ReplyDeleteDon't tell my son that. Every time he sees I've baked something new he asks me to ship it to him. I'm pretty sure this pie wouldn't get to him in one piece, though.
Delete