Peppermint Chocolate Eclair Cake

I told you I have been obsessing over

Peppermint!!

I have never been this crazy about peppermint before.

I think I am dreaming of it.  It's all I want for dessert, 

paired with chocolate, of course.

I decided to take one of my most popular desserts,

Peanut Butter Chocolate Eclair Cake,

and make it perfect for Christmas.

I love the layers of pink layered between chocolate.

It makes such a beautiful dessert, and the texture and

flavor is just as wonderful.

Peppermint Chocolate Eclair Cake Recipe

1 pkg. Chocolate graham crackers

2 small pkg. white chocolate instant pudding

3 C. milk

12 oz. Cool Whip

Scant 1/4 tsp. Creme de Menthe (or Peppermint) oil flavoring

Pink gel food coloring

1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 T. Butter

2 T. Light corn syrup

1/2 C. powdered sugar

2 T. milk

In a large bowl, mix the pudding mixes with the milk, whisking until

smooth.  Add the Creme de Menthe oil flavoring and food coloring.

Taste and adjust the flavoring if needed.  (I prefer Creme de Menthe

because Peppermint often ends up tasting like medicine.)

Then fold in the Cool Whip.

In the bottom of an 8x8 inch square pan, place chocolate

graham crackers close together, cutting pieces to completely

cover the bottom.  

Spoon half of the pudding mix on top of the graham crackers.

Top with another layer of graham crackers, and then the other

half of the pudding mix.  End with one last layer of graham 

crackers.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate chips, butter and

corn syrup for 30 seconds.  Remove and stir.  Microwave

another 30 seconds if needed, and stir until smooth.  Place

in a medium size bowl with the powdered sugar and milk.

Whisk until there are no lumps.  Spoon onto the top of

the cake, smoothing the frosting to the edge of the pan with

a knife.  Sprinkle on crushed peppermint candy.

Refrigerate until the chocolate frosting is set.  Cut with

a knife that has been run in hot water and wiped dry.

Serve 9

This Peppermint Chocolate Eclair Cake will

have you singing Christmas songs!

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Pavlova

'Tis the Season for rich and delicious

desserts and this Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova

is the perfect Christmas or winter dessert.

Each bite has the moist crunch of meringue with

the rich smoothness of chocolate ganache and

the flavor punch of peppermint bark. 

Wow, this just screams celebration!! 

My friend Rachel made this for a dinner party

last week and hubby and I kept having visions

of Pavlova dance in our heads  - so I made

it myself for a dinner invitation last night.

The recipe comes from Williams-Sonoma.

Click here for complete instructions.

I made a few minor changes to the preparation.

Rather than letting the melted chocolate and cream

mix sit and cool for two hours (way too long for

my patience) I put them in a large mixing bowl

and beat them with the whisk attachment until 

the mixture became like a soft pudding.  When

you can spoon the ganache onto the meringue,

it is ready to use.  This only takes a few

minutes on high.

Have all of your ingredients

ready as the ganache can cool rapidly.  

I also baked all of my meringues

at once, and only shaped them to 8 inches

each as they will grow.  I did two pans in

my big oven and one in the little but it ended

up that I didn't use the fifth layer as I ran 

out of ganache.

If you can't get WS's Peppermint Bark,

Ghiradelli makes a great one or whip up

a quick batch of your own. 

I used a combination of Jensen's and Ghiradelli's

for mine because that was what I had on hand.

This could also

be made with Ande's Mints or you could

change it to almond - so many possibilities!!

This isn't just a Christmas dessert.

The Pavlova is delicate and cracks easily 

so handle it with care.  You would think it

would be difficult to slice and serve, but use

a serrated knife to cut it.  You want it room

temperature to cut it or the ganache will

be too hard.

Layer after layer of light and moist

meringue cuts the richness of the

ganache.  Oh, the texture combination

is fantastic!  The peppermint flavor 

comes just from the peppermint bark so

it isn't too minty.

This is one of those desserts that takes 

some time for prep but is worth it.

This is one of those desserts that

depicts

"dreams of sugarplums dancing in their heads".

We give this a ten thumbs up!

I will be posting this with 

Foodie Friday

Pink Saturday