Warm Up with Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding

* This post has been compensated through the AE Dairy Blog Ambassador program.  All views and opinions shared are my own. *

Snow is falling and it is the perfect time to go out and enjoy AE Dairy's seasonal milks by making this warm, fudgy Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding.

Every Fall AE Dairy rolls out their seasonal milks, including my favorites Egg Nog and After Dinner Mint.  A new milk they added to the line up this year was Chocolate Hazelnut.  I loved this new flavor combination.  The chocolate milk has a subtle hazelnut undertone to it but at the same time, made me think of biting into a Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolate!  The rich flavor comes from the three European cocoas AE Dairy uses to create their chocolate milks, along with the balance of the hazelnut they added to create this seasonal milk.

After drinking a couple quarts of the milk I thought about how great the milk would be in a baked chocolate pudding.  My Grandma Marilou would make this baked fudge when I was growing up for special occasions and I stumbled acrossed the recipe several years ago.  If you like Chocolate Melting Cake you'll love this baked pudding!  Perfect for a crowd, this baked pudding forms a cake top over a rich fudge sauce with a subtle hazelnut flavor.  Add a scoop of ice cream and you've got the perfect warm, sweet treat to curl up with on a snowy, winter night.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding

1 cup Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

5 Tbsp Baking Cocoa, divided

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Sugar, divided

1/2 cup AE Dairy Chocolate Hazelnut Milk

2 Tbsp Butter, melted

1 tsp Hazelnut extract

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 cups Hot Water

Whisk together Flour, Salt, 2 Tbsp Cocoa, Baking Powder and 1/2 cup Sugar in a 2-quart baking dish.

Combine melted Butter, Milk and Hazelnut extract, and then mix into the dry ingredients in the baking dish til well incorporated.  It will create a thick, wet dough.  Spread evenly over the bottom of the baking dish.

Mix the remaining 3 Tbsp Cocoa, remaining 1/2 cup Sugar and Brown Sugar, and then sprinkle over pudding batter.  Pour hot water over top and bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes.

Have you tried all of AE Dairy's seasonal milks?  Which one is your favorite?  Be sure to run to your grocery store quick before they're gone.  This would make a great New Year's Eve dessert for your family or small get together of friends.  And remember to Comment for a Cause!

Homemade Chocolate Mint Oreos

* This post has been compensated through the AE Dairy Blog Ambassador program.  All views and opinions shared are my own. *

Last week on Twitter I shared that "It's the most, wonderful time, of the year" because Anderson Erickson Dairy's Egg Nog is at the grocery store.  

🎵 It's the most, wonderful time, of the year 🎵 @AEDairy Egg Nog is here! #AEdairy #IA365 pic.twitter.com/0Du6GFJ3RT

— Val Plagge (@PlaggeVal) October 12, 2016

All of AE Dairy's versions of Egg Nog are released at the end of October (I know this because my birthday is at the end of the month and I'm such a big Egg Nog fan that I've received cartons as birthday gifts...) and their other seasonal milks, which debuted last year, hit the store shelves earlier this month.  Seeing these "holiday" milks in the grocery store makes me excited for the approaching holiday season and in the mood for baking!

Once I saw AE Dairy's After Dinner Mint chocolate milk hit the shelf, I was inspired to create a tractor friendly treat with it.  I love to bake, and especially for the holidays, but with my days spent harvesting corn and soybeans, I had to figure out something that was quick, delicious and easy enough to eat while traveling down the field at 3 mph.  My first thought was a cookie.  Cookies are always a hit during the fall (and for Christmas) because they're easy to eat.  But how could I use this chocolate milk, that has a mild mint undertone, in a cookie?  Ding, Ding, Ding - frosting!  Well no one wants a frosted cookie while driving a tractor or combine... but what if the frosting was sandwiched between two cookies???  Aha!  Homemade Chocolate Mint Oreos.

Homemade Chocolate Mint Oreos

Cookie:
2 boxes of Chocolate Cake Mix
4 eggs
2/3 cups vegetable oil

Frosting:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Shortening
1/4 tsp Peppermint extract
2 cups Powdered Sugar
2-3 Tbsp AE Dairy's After Dinner Mint Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk

Start by making your cookie batter.  Mix the cake mixes, eggs and oil with a spatula till all ingredients are fully incorporated.  This will be a thick batter, so don't give up on it - it will come together, I promise!

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.  After you take them out of the oven press them down to flatten them.  Let them rest a couple minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

While the cookies are baking you can make your frosting.  Blend the butter and shortening together with a hand mixer.  Add peppermint.  Then add the powdered sugar.  Finally, add AE Dairy After Dinner Mint chocolate milk to the mix a tablespoon at a time until it is fluffy.

Once the cookies are cool, spread a nice helping of frosting between two cookies.  Recipe yields 2 dozen sandwich cookies.  These pair delicious with a glass of AE Dairy's After Dinner Mint Chocolate Milk too ;)

Have you tried AE Dairy's After Dinner Mint Chocolate Milk before?  I'm not even a huge fan of chocolate and mint, but this milk has the proportion of chocolate and mint just right that everyone can enjoy a glass.  This milk would also be great milk to warm up for hot chocolate!  Remember to Comment for a Cause!