Chocolate month spurs sweet memories

February is National Celebration of Chocolate Month and that means chocolate lovers across the nation actually have a reason to celebrate by eating chocolate.

I don’t know about you, but as a self-professed chocoholic, I don’t need a national celebration to justify my chocolate consumption. I add chocolate syrup to my milk, ice cream or coffee. I eat chocolate candy anytime I can get my hands on it. And I’ve been known to eat chocolate cake for breakfast or lunch, although I probably wouldn’t admit that in a Health Connections magazine article.

My love of chocolate began when I was a little girl helping my father make fudge, my mother make hot cocoa and my grandmother make chocolate pudding, pies and cakes.

Not only did I like watching them relax and enjoy the cooking process, but I also loved the sweet scent that filled our kitchen as the chocolate product took form in the oven or on the stovetop. My favorite part was helping the cook stir the concoction because then I got to lick the spoon.

I especially loved to eat my Granny Callahan’s chocolate pudding just after she had taken it off the stove, stirred in vanilla and butter and served the rich, creamy dessert to me while it was still warm. She was my father’s mother and some of his cherished memories were also of her making chocolate goodies for him when he was a boy.
 So, many decades later, when he was battling cancer and there seemed to be nothing I could do to ease his suffering, I thought of my granny. Then I reached for my little index box where I keep her recipes and set to work baking my father a chocolate cake from scratch.

He couldn’t really eat much of it due to his illness, but the sight and scent of the baking process spurred his memories. And soon I was fully engaged, listening to stories of his childhood on a ranch in South Texas, where his “little Mama,” as he called her, had spoiled her kids with the following recipes, as well as many others.

For National Celebration of Chocolate Month, try baking up some chocolate memories with your own family. Sweet traditions are born of such things.

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Granny Callahan’s Chocolate Cake
(Adapted by Nancy Gilkey)

3/4 cup cooking oil
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

3/4 cups cocoa

1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium mixing bowl, mix oil and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Beat until mixed well. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and mix with creamed mixture alternately with water. Lightly oil baking pan and dust with flour. Pour batter into pan, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Chocolate Frosting
Makes 2 cups

6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/3 cup cocoa
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional: Fresh berries

Cream butter or margarine. Mix cocoa and sugar together. Add to margarine alternately with milk and vanilla. Stir until completely smooth. Allow cake to cool before frosting it. Top frosted cake with fresh berries, if desired. Frosting can be saved in fridge for up to two weeks.

Granny’s Chocolate Pudding

2 heaping tablespoons cocoa
3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flour

Mix well and add:
4 egg yolks
2-1/ 2 cups milk

Cook until thick and add:
1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon butter