Love is in the air!

Since this was first month for my challenge I decided to incorporate Valentine's Day to give myself a theme. And what does one think of when it comes to Valentine's Day? Chocolate!

The possibilities with chocolate are endless. So, despite this being a "challenge," I decided to keep it traditional -- and easy -- and go with dessert.

When deciding what kind of dessert, I chose my husband's favorite: icebox cake. Even with many Google searches, the origin of icebox cake is unclear. I thought this dessert came about during the Depression, but its history goes back further than that. Although I feel confident that it came back into fashion during the Depression. For my husband and I, this dessert brings back many fond childhood memories. My grandmother would make this in her 13x9 Pyrex, using graham crackers and chocolate and vanilla puddings. My husband's grandmother made it with graham crackers and chocolate pudding. Sometimes she dressed it up with bananas.

My idea was to put a grown-up, Valentine's spin on a childhood favorite.

I made chocolate pudding (not instant!) and stirred in a cup of thawed and drained raspberries. Then I took my round, glass Pyrex and lined it with Nilla wafers. I poured a layer of pudding on top of the wafers, and repeated until all the pudding had been used and the dish was full.

I continued my grown-up spin when serving the dessert. I drizzled mint chocolate syrup over it, and topped it off with a dollop of whipped cream.

Overall, it wasn't bad. However, this wasn't the exact dessert I initially planned. Originally I wanted to use Lorna Doone cookies, vanilla pudding, and strawberries. The strawberries would turn the pudding pink, and I thought that layered with the shortbread cookies would make for a pretty presentation. But my husband doesn't like vanilla pudding or strawberries, so I had to alter my game plan. I am curious, though, how the dessert would've tasted if I had made it following my initial plan.

Grade: C

Coming up: Let's hope the luck of the Irish is with me in March!