Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle

Chocolate pudding, peanut butter mousse, graham cracker toffee and whipped cream…need we say more?This sweet rich concoction came about this weekend.  We were celebrating my son-in-law, Joe’s birthday.  HE love anything with peanut butter in it.  Add chocolate and it is all the better.  For years now I have been collecting recipes that incorporate his two favorites and have kept them in a file entitled ” Peanut Butter Chocolate Desserts” on my computer in my “Recipes” folder.

This past week disaster struck…both my phone and my computer “died” within 24 hours of each other.  I bought a new phone and took my computer to the “genius bar” at the Apple Store.  The “genius” who helped me didn’t have any idea what was wrong with it and sent me to a local repair store….72 hours later my computer was pronounced dead with little if any hope of recovering the data on it.  They told me that if I took it to a place that specializes is data recovery there is a very slight chance some of the data could be recovered….maybe.  (I will keep you posted on that outcome).

So when I was ready to start making Joe’s birthday dessert it hit me that my whole file of Peanut Butter Chocolate dessert recipes is gone….in fact ALL my recipes are gone!  All but those already posted here on Two Chums and some that I happen to have hard copies of in a recipe file.  Of course I still have about 100 cookbooks I can use as resources but I am praying someone can get all that material on the old hard drive of my computer off and it can be reinstalled on my new computer.

Since necessity is indeed the mother of invention I took to “inventing” a new chocolate peanut butter recipe for Joe.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle is what resulted.  It was well received by my family.  I’m guessing if your family likes the combo of peanut butter and chocolate they will like this too!

It was a fun family birthday celebration….so much love, so much joy and some very abundant living 🙂

Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle

Any one of the individual components that make up this dessert is yummy and delicious all by itself.  But add them all together and well….that’s abundance!!! This is simply a matter of layering each of the sweet creamy and crunchy elements to make up this yummy treat.

Chocolate Pudding

1/4 cup cocoa
1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 cups milk
4 oz chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir cocoa, cornstarch, salt and sugar together in a heavy bottom sauce pan.  Add milk and cook over a medium flame stirring often until mixture begins to thicken.  Turn off the heat.  Add in chocolate chips, butter and vanilla and stir to combine.  Pour into a bowl and place a piece of waxed paper or cling wrap over the surface in order to stop a “skin” from forming as the pudding cools.  Refrigerate until cool enough to use or to serve if you are only having the pudding.

Peanut Butter Mousse

In the bowl of a hand mixer combine:

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 jar (16 oz.) peanut butter (preferably all natural)
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2- 3/4 milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped

Beat all ingredients together except for cream.  Whip the  cream and fold in whipped cream to form a mixture with the consistency of a nice thick and creamy mousse.

Graham Cracker Toffee

Graham Crackers
1-2 cups peanuts
1 recipe of Matzo Toffee*
1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips OR 3-4 chocolate bars

Make the toffee according to the recipe (the graham crackers and peanuts will substitute for the matzo and nuts in the original recipe) Break up the candy into bite-sized chunks.

*Toffee

Line a 11×17 baking sheet with 6″ squares of matzo.  Cover baking sheet completely.  Melt 1 cup of butter in a pan and add 1 cup of brown sugar.  Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes stirring regularly.  Pour this butter sugar mixture over matzo and spread evenly.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for five minutes.  Let sit for five minutes after you remove it from the oven.  Pour a 12 oz bag of chocolate  chips over top and spread chocolate as it melts.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Refrigerate until well set – about 30 minutes.

Whipped Cream

With an electric mixer, whip 2 cups of heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Within an hour or so of when you are ready to serve the trifle, layer the components in a glass bowl…chocolate pudding, graham cracker toffee, peanut butter mousse, graham cracker toffee, whipped cream, graham cracker toffee and repeat the layers ending with the whipped cream covered with graham cracker toffee.

Serve  up large spoonfuls in shallow bowls and wait for the big satisfied smiles on your family and friends’ faces!