Dessert-of-the-Month Club

You may remember that our family decided to give each other homemade (or otherwise creatively obtained) gifts for Christmas this past year. One of the gifts we gave to my brother-in-law, Russell, was Dessert-of-the-Month Club. I totally stole this idea from another blogger I know, but it was a big hit with Russell.

Of course, this means that I am going to have to deliver with a new dessert every month, which is where the "love" part comes in. If you know me well, you know that cooking is not one of my favorite pasttimes, at least not on an everyday, routine basis. I do enjoy baking, though, and am looking forward to "sacrificially" giving to Russell all year long (awww. . . how sweet!).

As we got closer to the end of January, Russell actually had to drop me a hint about how I hadn't made dessert yet, so we had a quick "consultation" and I got some ideas for what he'd like for me to make throughout the year. Instead of revealing it all in this post, I think I'll spread it out and let you be surprised each month.

For January, Russell chose what is probably one of his favorite desserts:  German Chocolate Cake.

I could have gone the really easy, cop-out route, and used a cake mix and store-bought icing, but I'm a better person than that. Ok, barely better, but even though I did decide to partner with Betty Crocker and use a box mix for the cake (why mess with a time-tested good thing?), I actually stirred ingredients for twelve minutes over medium heat and made the icing from scratch! And an even bigger sacrifice was that I had to use one of my most-hated ingredients, which is coconut (blech!).

I didn't get any complaints from the recipient or from his wife, with whom he shared the cake, so I guess the first installment was a success. Stay tuned for what is coming up soon for February . . .