Coffee-Mate, a Giveaway and an AWESOME Dessert Recipe!

My mornings look like this lately:

Dark and beautiful. Not yet sunny but looking promising. We are getting over germs that have wrecked our entire house. We are on an uncountable night without sleep, battling coughs and boogers and fevers and teething. It’s been wretched. But I’ve gotten to see a variation of this incredible view out our back deck windows each and every early morning. They almost makes the mornings bearable.

But what really does it for me is my cup of coffee. I consider it an immense treat and pleasure and savor every moment of it’s perfect heat. If everything else is going wrong, and I’m at the end of my rope, I still know I can have a perfectly delicious cup -o-jo just the way I like it.

People always ask what I put in my little cups of nespresso and truth be told- the main ingredient in every single creation is for sure my Coffee-Mate.

I cannot live without the stuff right now- it’s divine. During the holidays it was their perfectly flavored peppermint mocha (husband once came home with 5 giant bottles of it after I jokingly asked him to stock me up!) I adored that flavor. Then it was Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie flavor. Obviously a huge winner for me.

But right now, their new line with “Extra Sweet and Creamy” and “Italian Cream” are simply divine. Velvety smooth with the perfect sweet notes to enhance my bitter choice of coffee.  It’s a fine line for me between a sweetness that makes you sick and a sweetness that is reminiscent of homemade whipped cream. Coffee-Mate is (thank God) certainly in the later category.

Coffee-mate’s newest flavor, Extra Sweet & Creamy, gives you a balanced cup with creamy taste and extra sweetness. I love that they offer several flavors with a range of sweetness — from Original, to Italian Sweet Cream, and of course — Extra Sweet & Creamy.

 

I was so pumped about trying these new flavors and the way they tasted that I created this fun but simple recipe for Lilly’s birthday dessert today! It just wasn’t fair to let my coffee have all the fun 😉 My poor child actually uttered the words, “Mommy I am sick of cake” this week and I’m trying to give her something different. She loves pudding, chocolate mousse, ice cream, whipped cream, cheesecake, berries and sprinkles so this was something that kind of threw all the best (easiest) parts of those things into one dessert. Coffee-mate’s smooth, creamy taste has been perfected to bring out the flavor in your coffee so naturally that is a good sign when you think about chocolate. Bitter coffee and bitter chocolate are similar in flavor composition and both accept sweetness so deliciously well. You can whip this up in no time at all and have it ready and waiting for you in the fridge. That’s my kind of no-fuss dessert these days! And the Coffee-Mate Extra Sweet and Creamy adds such a nice homemade flavor- I promise you will love this dessert no matter what you want to call it.

Crumb “crust”:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tblsp. butter, melted

1 Tblsp. granulated sugar

Combine crumbs and sugar. They add melted butter mixing with a fork until combined. Evenly distribute 1/4 cup of crumbs into each of 6 glass parfait cups (dessert bowls, wide glasses, or even one large pie plate would work fine here.) Press crumbs to coat bottom and 3/4 of sides of containers.

Chocolate Filling:

1 8oz. size tub of frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 tsp. vanilla

1 12 oz. bag of Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp. extra sweet and creamy coffee-mate creamer

In a microwave safe dish, combine heavy cream and chocolate. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 – 3 minutes stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth, melted and combined. Place the ganache mixture into the fridge until cool to the touch. When cool (and in a larger bowl), gently fold into whipped topping. Add creamer and use electric mixer to mix on high until combined.

Scoop into prepared graham cracker filled cups spreading the chocolate up the sides of the dish to create a well in the center. Make sure you cover all of the graham cracker crumbs.

Filling:

Your favorite frozen berries!

Gently spoon your favorite frozen berries into the well you created in the chocolate mixture. The berries will thaw later in the fridge so don’t worry about that. Just make sure you fill up the glasses with good frozen fruit. Almost done!

Topping:

1 more container of frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 Tbsp. Extra Sweet and Creamy Coffee-Mate creamer.

In a large bowl, thaw whipped topping. Combine creamer and beat on high until fluffy (don’t over mix here or you will deflate the cool whip too much).

Add a few sprinkles and you are all done! If you are going to store these in the fridge until ready to serve, hold the whipped topping until you are ready to give your guests dessert. If you spoon it onto the desserts before they go back int he fridge, you will wind up with soupy mess instead of semi-solid topping.

Looks like birthday dessert to me!

Yum.

Salivating? Simply comment on this post to enter to win FIVE (yes five) bottles of Extra Sweet and Creamy Coffee-Mate creamer. Woo hoo!

Be sure to follow Coffee-mate on Twitterfor more delicious fun and giveaway opportunities!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.