I kid you not. I grew up in a family that considered a trip to the ice cream parlor an excellent substitute for lunch, and thank heaven they did. Because my favorite drink in the world is still a Baskin-Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge milkshake with chocolate syrup. It’s just where life is at.

Today, my friend Megan is celebrating her 100th blog post with a giveaway, and a bunch of her best bloggy friends are taking part! I’ll talk more about Megan in a minute, but for now, enter to win. And while you’re at it, enjoy this no-churn mocha almond fudge ice cream, my own personal loving tribute to Baskin-Robbins!

When I first began blogging a short two and a half years ago, I joined a pretty overwhelmingly large and yet supportive group of food bloggers. There are a bazillion of us out there, and it can be hard to find your way to an audience.

Fairly early in the game, I stumbled upon Megan’s blog, The Emotional Baker. She had some pretty rockin’ donuts up that day, and she was writing about her struggles with a running injury. I’d recently recovered from a stress fracture caused by my own running, so I immediately felt a kinship with her.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m still a big fan. Megan has posted some of my favorite desserts, from these peanut butter pretzel bars to carrot cake pop tarts. And every time I visit her blog, I see yet another idea that pushes the bounds of creativity.

As food bloggers, we’re faced with the constant challenge of coming up with ideas. How many things can you do with a brownie? If you’re a blogger with regular postings, finding ways to switch it up is a constant practice. It can be stressful, joyful, empowering, or all of the above.

That’s why we’re so tightly knit, and so supportive. Only someone who is caught up in the crazy world of blogging can understand, and most of us have full-time jobs as well. We do this for the love of the work, and enjoy our friendships with one another along the crazy, wild ride this is!

One passion many of my fellow bloggers and I share is a love of no-churn ice cream. There’s an ice cream maker somewhere at my parents’ house nearby, but I’ve never had to borrow it. Why? Because of a little miracle known as sweetened condensed milk.

When SCM (as those of us in the know call it) gets combined with whipped cream and frozen, it turns into ice cream. You can customize flavors at will, too. Some people like to use Cool Whip as a shortcut, but I personally use my KitchenAid to whip up the real thing. It tastes better and creamier.

This ice cream is made with a chocolate-coffee mixture, and then I mixed in roasted almonds, chocolate chunks and hot fudge. Honestly, putting this ice cream away is a real challenge. I keep digging around for more chocolate chunks or almonds.

Here’s wishing Megan many more happy blog posts. Now it’s time to celebrate with some ice cream and a giveaway!

I’ve teamed up with 15 other bloggers to help celebrate The Emotional Baker’s 100th Recipe! We’re giving away two prizes.

• Grand Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card.
• 2nd Place: TEB’s Favorite Baking Tools Prize Pack.

The prize pack includes:

• One Camry High Accuracy Digital Kitchen Food Scale // $18.99 value
• One iSi Basics Flex-It Measuring Cups // $24.99 value
• One RSVP Endurance Spice Measuring Spoon Set // $13.95 value
• One Wilton ColorSwirl 3-Color Coupler 9-Piece Decorating Kit // $7.90 value
• One Chef’n Switchit Narrow Silicone Spatula // $9.99 value

Giveaway Made Possible By:

• The Emotional Baker
• Spoonful of Flavor
• Eva Bakes
• FIVEheartHOME
• Cook Nourish Bliss
• Beer Girl Cooks
• The Seasoned Mom
• No Spoon Necessary
• Beaming Baker
• Flavor the Moments
• Like Mother, Like Daughter
• Fresh April Flours
• Vanessa Baked
• Brooklyn Farm Girl
• The Semisweet Sisters
• Just About Baked

Giveaway Rules:

1. Enter the giveaway through the Rafflecopter widget below. Earn entries by following the host bloggers on social media. (If you’ve followed in the past, that counts! Just enter the information as prompted.) All entries will be verified. No purchase is necessary to win.
2. The giveaway is open until Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. EST. One Grand Prize winner and one Second Place winner will be chosen at random and e-mailed within 48 hours. Winners must claim prize within 48 hours of initial contact. The retail value of the prize is $75. Prizes listed above are the only ones available.
3. Grand Prize: Open to USA, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom.
   Second Place: Open to U.S. residents with a valid shipping address only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The other day, I was really worn out. But since I’m not a coffee drinker, I did the next best thing: I gave myself a shot of this mousse. It’s not alcoholic, but it sure is caffeinated. Be still my heart. Nope, it’s beating too fast for that.

Not only is this the epitome of coffee and chocolate goodness, but there are also chocolate Heath bits through and through. Mousse has never tasted so incredible!

Mousse is definitely a sensitive topic in my family. When I was growing up, one of my brothers didn’t put such a high premium on staying out of trouble. To make matters worse, he had this really bad habit of laughing at my parents whenever they were trying to punish them. I always told him that was a dumb move, but he didn’t seem to care that much.

On the rare occasions when my brother wasn’t wreaking havoc, my mother would reward him by making chocolate mousse. My mom didn’t bake often, so this was quite a treat. He loved chocolate mousse and I guess it was supposed to be a behavior incentive, but it didn’t work in the long term because, you know, kids.

Anyway, I have another brother who always a model of kindness and goodness. He was in trouble, oh, never. So all these years later, he’s still kind of amazed that while the majority of my mother’s children behaved well and never received mousse, my brother got it for being good now and then. It seemed like a great injustice.

And, well, I guess it was. But I’ve learned that it’s impossible to treat your children the same way. They’re different people, and it’s inevitable that they can’t always have the same things. It might come across as unfair, but I think it’s unavoidable.

Besides, my brother can have all the mousse he wants now, because I’ll make it for him! I’ll even make it for the one who didn’t behave. I love them both.

This takes almost no time to whip up, and it’s so nice and cool and light for these hot days. The toffee bits give a delightful crunch amid all the mocha creaminess, and you’ll be very happy. Plus, if you put this mousse in elegant glassware, it becomes the best company dessert ever!

If you want to stall some family squabbles this holiday weekend (or anytime, really), give mousse a try. It might make your kids behave, anyway…for about ten seconds!

Personally, I’m not a coffee drinker. I’m fairly wired as it is, so I don’t need any chemical help getting going every day. And I was on a decaf kick for a while because it tastes nice, but it also stains your teeth. I guess some people don’t fall prey to that, but I do, which also explains why I gave up green tea. Hot beverages are not my friend.

As a result, I like to get my caffeine kick through dessert, and what better way than with the best muffin I’ve had in quite a while? These pack a nice coffee punch while not being overly sweet, making for a gentle start to the day. We all need that on a tired Monday morning!

In the meantime, I’m doing okay because I did not stay up late. I’ve mentioned before that my body turns off at nine, and I’m not ashamed of that. It’s also wired to wake up in the 4s, and I’m very upset about that. I should have been a farmer.

The thing is, once anyone wakes me up, that’s it. I’m up. My brain starts racing and I just can’t sleep any more. Kenny, on the other hand, sleeps through pretty much everything and if he does wake up, he’s snoozing again within seconds. It’s very tempting to throw things at him in the wee hours of the night out of sheer frustration at his sleep skills.

Over the past week, I have been awakened by the following: a child with a nosebleed, a child needing her nose to be blown, someone slamming the toilet seat shut at maximum volume at two A.M., Kenny accidentally turning the light on in the middle of the night, little feet running down the hall at top speed back and forth (I don’t want to know), and a nonstop looping nightmare that I’m drawing My Little Ponies nonstop for my daughters. Which actually did happen in real life, but the nightmare is worse.

While this level of sleep deprivation runs nowhere close to what we experienced when the children were babies, I have to wonder if I’ll ever sleep well again. When they get older I’ll just wonder where they are, who they’re with and what they’re doing. I can see myself doing a lot of waiting up. And by the time they’re responsible adults, I’ll have forgotten how to sleep properly at all.

But then, I can always throw things at Kenny while he sleeps if it makes me angry. He’ll never know. And I can make breakfast muffins with lots of coffee in them to get me going.

A few weeks ago during our big snowstorm, I decided to bake my way through Dorie Greenspan, and these muffins were part of that. As happens a lot with any recipe I make, I added chocolate chips. My mother pointed out that no coffee dessert recipe is nearly as good without chocolate, and I agree with her wholeheartedly.

These are pretty easy, and they make for good motivation after a night of little sleep to get up and at ’em. We’re all tired, but let’s see what we can do to make today happen!

There used to be something romantic about snowstorms too, but now that I’m watching Kenny dig us out from two-plus feet of snow while my children destroy the house, I’m not really that into it. I’d much rather have clean streets and be at work, thank you very much.

The good news is, I’ve got these mocha mousse brownie bites to keep me company as the snow refuses to melt and the winds die down. These are pretty much my idea of a perfect Valentine’s dessert. These rich, fudgy brownie bites are topped with a mocha mousse and drizzled with chocolate. If you think it’s rich, you’re right! That’s how I do.

In the D.C. area, people aren’t used to snow. When I first moved here, I was shocked at how a simple dusting could immobilize the entire region for hours, so you can imagine what this huge snowstorm (dubbed Snowzilla in these here parts) has done for the area.

It all began Friday night, and we have yet to see a single snowplow. Our cul de sac is still dusted with twentysomething inches of fresh powder, untouched by person or machine. I’d like to think we’ll be plowed out at some point, but I really have no clue when. In the meantime, the task falls upon me to keep the three little monsters happy. Lucky Kenny gets to go back to work tomorrow in our basement, since he teleworks.

So, any suggestions? I’m looking for snow day ideas that aren’t crazy messy or difficult. We’ll have our baking time, our yoga/fitness time, our movie time, our snow time. But what else can I do? Help me, please. PLEASE.

In exchange, I will bake you marvelousness if you ever come through DC. Really. It’s the least I can do for keeping everyone sane in the big bad storm aftermath.

These bites of decadence might be helping with that sanity a bit, too. When things get rough, I can hide in the closet with a stack of these and a thermos full of Riesling. That’s a pretty good coping strategy, in case you needed one.

If you’ve never made mousse using cream, it’s the easiest and safest way to go without resorting to Cool Whip. Instead of a mousse packed with raw egg, this requires whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Then the mocha gets mixed in (hellooooo, coffee and chocolate) and once the mousse is chilled, you can pipe it onto the brownie bites. It’s elegant as well as satisfying!

Stay tuned, because if they don’t plow us out by Wednesday’s post, I’ll either need more snow day ideas from you or some serious therapy. In the meantime, the digging begins as Valentine’s Day looms ever nearer. Stay warm, everyone!

So instead, I’ll summarize. Ready? Oreo crust. Mocha mousse filling. Chopped Heath bar garnish.

Can we get some applause here? Maybe a reward of some kind? Actually, eating the pie is its own reward.

This might be one of those days when I’m mainlining pie. See, I just read another Donald Trump quote. Before we get into it, let me just be clear: I’m not talking politics right now. I’m just talking about this one person and his views on women.

We all know that the word “feminist” is loaded, and that’s too bad. It has taken me many years to be confident enough to say, loud and clear, that I am a feminist. If we need to define that, my view is that men and women should be equal. That means that we should be given the same opportunities, be on the same pay scale, and be free from societal double standards. As in, I don’t think that it’s fair to call a man a “player” and a woman a “slut” (pardon my language) when they’re engaging in the exact same behavior.

Enter Donald Trump. He’s on record as referring to women as “bimbos,” “fat pigs,” and “dogs.” He’s been very clear that he subscribes to the ancient idea that women are less intelligent than men. Anyone who truly believes that should probably not be in charge of anything more serious than real estate.

If anyone had made similar comments about men, I’d be up in arms, too. I think all of us deserve fair treatment. Let’s not even get started on Trump’s comments about people who come to America from other countries. He’s sounding scarily racist, and people need to speak out and defend others. It’s not okay to victimize people on the basis of their race or gender. It’s 2015. Get with the program.

And it’s also not too professional for a presidential candidate to be using derogatory or foul language. But I’m picky about language, being an English teacher and all. I know that I never use certain words in the workplace. Maybe he shouldn’t, either.

I have a theory about politics, actually. Here it is: if we all stopped arguing and started eating pie, the world would be a much happier place. Or, you know, dysfunctional. But there would be pie.

This pie is partially no-bake, which is always a lot of fun. The crust is made of Oreos, and then I whip up heavy cream and combine it with melted chocolate and coffee to make a mocha mousse. It’s coffee chocolate heaven. And if you’ve never had Heath bars with coffee (any Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz Ben and Jerry’s eaters out there?), it’s the best flavor pairing ever.

Just be careful, because once you start eating this pie, you probably won’t stop. But that’s okay. It’s much healthier to eat this whole thing under a blanket in the closet than to listen to Donald Trump talk about women. Like he knows anything about us.

We all have our version of that, the near-impossible summit that we can’t reach no matter how hard we try. For years, that was my grandmother’s mocha bread. When I was little, I didn’t like apple pie. Chalk it up to youthful foolishness. So when my grandmother made the pie, she’d also make this bread. And I loved it. It was so special that I’d eat it slowly, sliver by sliver, to make it last. Usually, I gobble up my dessert. But this was too special.

And when I grew up, I tried to make it. Over and over again I followed the recipe, calling my grandmother each time I failed. It was too light in color, or too heavy in weight. What was I doing wrong? It got to the point where I suspected her of recipe sabotage.

Finally, about a year ago and shortly after my grandmother’s death, I got the mocha bread right. I’m still not sure exactly what I did to make it correctly other than acquire more knowledge and skill, but I feel like the torch has been passed. She was a phenomenal baker who used scant resources in harder times to make amazing food. Later in life, she still had the knack for producing recipes that nobody else seemed to have.

So I’m sharing this piece of my family legacy with you. I almost want to call it a mocha pound cake, but I’ll hold back because though the crumb is dense, the bread is light and spongy. And as you’ll see, the chocolate is not dominant. The lighter brown color indicates that the bread really features coffee above chocolate, though both flavors come out in excellent balance.

I should also mention that I call this a bread because it’s a loaf cake, very much like a banana or pumpkin bread. It has that appealing softness and is never dry.

While I often encourage being experimental, don’t change things up when you’re making this. It just won’t turn out the same way. That’s why I’ve written the minutes into how long everything gets mixed. And when you’re scraping the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl, get as much of it into the batter as you can. That will produce the richness in color.

Having this bread with a cup of coffee is awesome, but it goes equally well with tea or, as I can attest to having first eaten it as a child, milk. And be ready: people will ask you for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened (the latter if you want to avoid dairy)
• 2 cups flour minus 2 tablespoons
• 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter or margarine in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the dry ingredients and mix slowly. Add the water and vanilla, mixing until the flour is dampened, then beat more vigorously for two minutes.

Add the eggs and melted chocolate and then beat for an additional minute.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 65-70 minutes until the edges are browned and the middle is firm. Test with a toothpick if in doubt.

Cool and remove from the pan. Using a serrated knife, cut into slices.