Banana Cream Chocolate Trifle Recipe

18 whole graham crackers (5 x 2 in.), divided.
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed,
1 pkg (3.4 oz) banana cream instant pudding and pie filling
1 cup milk
1 lemon
4 large bananas

Finely chop half of a graham cracker using Food Chopper; set aside. Coarsely crumble remaining crackers into Mixing Bowl.
For ganache, place chocolate morsels and 1 1/2 cups of the whipped topping into Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 45-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring every 15 seconds.

Combine pudding mix and milk in Mixing Bowl; whisk until mixture begins to thicken. Fold in remaining whipped topping, and set aside.

Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 tbsp juice.

Peel bananas and cut into 1 1/2-in. pieces and mix lemon juice and toss gently in small bowl. Set aside 12 slices for garnish.

To assemble trifle, place half of the crumbled graham crackers over bottom of Trifle Bowl. Place half of the bananas over the crackers, arranging some of the bananas against sides of bowl and top with one-third of the ganache (see Cook's Tip). Spread half of the banana filling over ganache, spreading to edges. Repeat layers one time. Decorate with remaining ganache. Sprinkle top of trifle with chopped graham cracker. Arrange reserved banana slices around edges of trifle.

Wonderful Books, and Decadent Desserts

Hmm..which one shall I tell you all about first, the dessert, or the book, I'm sure you're all saying, "the book!' so I'll start there. :)

For our read aloud time during school, mom has been reading us all the book, From Dark to Dawn; originally written by Elizabeth Charles in 1863, and has been edited and revised by James and Stacy McDonald. It is a story of Martin Luther, and the Reformation, and is summed up on the back of the book like this...

'In a day when most people even christians, know very little about church history. This fascinating tale makes it possible for adults and children alike to take a step back in time, enjoy good literature, and experience the excitement, passion, joy and terror of the reformation.'

It is a book I would recommend to everyone, it makes a perfect read family read aloud book, and has been extremly educational both about the Reformation, and the Catholic religion and their customs. You can buy the book at Grace and Truth Books, and you can click on the link below to get to their website.

http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/search/results.asp?S=dark+to+dawn&T=exact

This morning as we were reading, and paragraph really jumped out at me, and has given me something to think about today, and I thought I would share it with you, I found very inspiring.

It comes from an exerpt from the journal of Fritz, a new christian in the book.

"But day by day I will seek to yield myself, body, soul and spirit, to the living will of my almighty, loving God, saying to him morning by morning,

'Give me this day my daily bread. Appoint me this day my daily task.'

And he will never fail to hear, no matter how often I fail to ask."

I hope this will inspire you as it did me, or maybe help you over a bump in your day.

Now onto dessert!! :P

Yesterday, after I had done a bunch of baking, (bread, scones, lemon bars) I made a fun new dessert from a Pamper Chef cookbook, called... are you ready for this?

Banana Cream Chocolate Trifle. Yum-O!

It was supposed to be a beautifully layered dessert, done in a glass dish with square sides,
(which of course you can order from Pampered Chef, if you happened to have an extra $40 laying around!!! )
Needless to say, we don't have one, so it was still a layered dessert, you just couldn't really tell. :)

And WOW! It was so gooood! Everyone gave raving reveiws, but said it needed more chocolate! :) And dad really loved it, which is a good thing because in the end all of my cooking and baking is really for him, I love it when I make something dad really likes!

I'll be glad to share this magic father pleasing recipe with you all, but it's a rather long recipe, so I'll open up another post to put it in! We all had forks and dove in, but it's being a very rich dessert, you really can't eat a whole lot of it. Of course for my brother it's just mind over what your stomache is trying to tell you! :P

Happy June All!

~Emily