Chocolate Raspberry Pots de Creme

To my mother,

Thank you for anything and everything you do for me. I appreciate it all, even if I don't express it to you nearly enough. You're my editor. You're my shoulder to lean on. You're my source of wisdom. You're my mentor. You're my friend. But most of all, you're my mother and I love you, forever and always.

Thank you for letting me move back home while I'm in between places. I know I never seem to make my bed and my room is always a mess. I know the kitchen is always covered in a thin, immovable layer of powdered sugar and flour and it's totally my fault. I know, in my 22 years of life, I haven't quite figured out that my dirty clothes go in the laundry basket instead of on the floor.

Thank you for understanding this is a difficult concept for me.

I can't express my appreciation to you for allowing me to take as much time as I need to figure out what I want to do with my life. You don't rush me or push me towards one direction over another. You listen to me thoughtfully and try to help me figure out where I belong. Thank you for supporting me, no matter what my "career of the day" happens to be.

I love you because I can count on you to watch every romantic comedy with me, no matter how awful or cheesy it may be. I love you because you support my obsessive baking even when we're all watching our calories. I love you because we both have lofty dreams of being gardeners even though we can't be bothered to weed our vegetables once we plant them.

But most of all, I love you for being the kind of mother I can only hope to be someday. Happy Mother's Day!

Love,
Kristin

These Chocolate Raspberry Pots de Creme are dark, decadent, and rich. Dark chocolate is melted and mixed into a base of cream cheese. Raspberries are then infused into the chocolate, bringing a touch of sweetness and a new dimension of flavor. These pots are not for the faint of heart. If you are wary of such a dark and decadent dessert, feel free to use a semi-sweet or even milk chocolate to cut the bitterness of the dark chocolate. It will give it more sweetness and a lighter tone.

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Raspberry Swirled Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

With the feeling of spring in the air, I've been craving more summer sweets. Fruits, light desserts, and cold treats are topping the list. Even though the weather has not been very cooperative in my neck of the woods lately, I've decided I will try to bring my own spring to my kitchen (wearing my winter coat and all). In the lastest of my desperate pleas to will actual spring into finding me, I thought I might be able lure it in with delicious foods.

After all this effort (and all the pink and yellow delights gracing the pages of this blog), I think I've finally done it.

About time.

One of the side effects of all this spring baking is a serious (and possibly life threating) lack of chocolate. For nearly a month I haven't shared any chocolate recipes with you. Not one. That must be some kind of record and I'm not sure its one I should be proud of. As a self-proclaimed chocoholic, I'm no longer living up to my name.

So this week, in order to fix this grave mistake, I challenged myself to make a spring dessert with chocolate just to prove that it can indeed be done. And it can. In this decadent dessert, raspberries, coconut, chocolate, and ice cream come together to make a sweet treat you're certainly not going to want to miss.

This Raspberry Swirled Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream has complex flavors that meld just beautifully together. The base of the ice cream is not a custard, but rather a combination of coconut milk, cream, and sweetened condensed milk. While this does yield a subtle coconut flavor to the final product, the raspberry swirl overwhelms this flavor in most spoonfuls. Nevertheless, raspberry and coconut are good friends and you will not mind the match. The chocolate chunks are there simply because I believe chocolate makes everything better (and in this ice cream, it truly does), but you could omit this ingredient if you just wanted a fruity treat.

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Snow Cones

A few weeks ago, I wrote a letter to Mother Nature asking (begging, pleading) for her to stop the snow and winter weather and bring me (and you) a little spring instead. Either my letter was lost in the mail or Mother Nature actually read it and was furious that I dared to give her a few suggestions.

It's still snowing. It's still winter.

Sigh.

Only a handful of days since the beginning of April have had a high above 50 degrees. On the most glorious day of all, it was a gorgeous 70 degrees outside. For the frostbitten folk, it was like stepping into a new light. The snow had melted. Spring was in the air. The flora began to bud and birds sang in the trees. The people rejoiced.

But the weather is never consistent when you live in the Upper Midwest. A few days later it snowed. It snowed on our hopes and dreams of spring. Of going out and doing things. Of bike rides, gardens, and children wearing water wings. The people did not rejoice. The people cried.

I went for a walk in the aftermath of one such blizzard. With the ground newly cloaked with white, it felt like the first snow of the season. As I find with most first snows, the snow is too beautifully distracting to think of the gray days ahead (or behind, in my case). It isn't until you get inside a warm house or scrap ice off the windshield of your car does the reality of winter set in. Nevertheless, the trees were covered with blooming buds weighed down heavily with snow and I was enchanted. Though winter and spring may butt heads, this was a clear example of the conflict right in front of my nose.

So, Mother Nature, I'm not going to fight your snow or your cold weather. I'm not going to whine about wearing my winter coat. I've learned my lesson. No more trying to tell you what to do. Mothers know best, do they not? As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. Spring or not, I'm on your side.

Reluctantly.

As another famous saying goes, if you have lemons, make lemonade. Or, in my case, if you have snow, make snow cones. I made my snow cones with real snow since I just happened to have a few tons on hand. If using real snow, I recommend using the fresh stuff. Whatever is falling from the sky will do quite nicely. I would hesitate to use snow older than a day simply because you don't know where it's been or where the wind has taken it. I really shouldn't have to say this, but do not use colored snow (yellow, brown, or otherwise).

Of course, as you fine people who live near the equator (who I happen to deeply envy right now) know, you do not need real snow to make snow cones. These can be easily made using a blender to finely crush ice. Whether its a hot day or a cold one, snow cones can be enjoyed by all.

These snow cones are light and refreshing. The snow cone syrup is made with your choice of a flavored drink powder (I used Kool-aid) so you have the power to flavor and color your snow cones. These can be easily whipped up in a few minutes, making them practical and perfect for spur of the moment snow cone inducing occasions.

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