Chocolate Week: Day 4

What's in a name?

Oreo: The people at Nabisco aren't quite sure. Some believe that the cookie's name was taken from the French word for gold, "or" (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, "oreo." Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the "re" from "cream" and placing it between the two "o"s in "chocolate" - making "o-re-o." And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce.

No matter how it got named, over 362 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since it was first introduced in 1912, making it the best selling cookie of the 20th century.

M&Ms: One of the Ms comes from Forrest Mars Sr., while the other M comes from Bruce Murrie, son of long-term Hershey president William F. R. Murrie. Conflict of interest?? Not so much. When M&Ms were first produced, Hershey's chocolate was used as the M&M core. And these yummy candies were introduced to WWII GIs first.

Kit Kat: No one really knows for sure, but the name apparently came from the Kit Cat Club. This club was an 18th century English club with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives. And creepy/cool thing to note, they aren't just "bars" of a Kit Kat, they're called "fingers!"

Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream Cake (Very easy to make, and everyone loved it!)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Chocolate Instant Pudding
8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

Directions:

1. Pour fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

2. Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

3. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.