Chocolate Eclair Squares

         March 14th is Pi Day, and trust me, I'm going to be making a pie. My husband has requested an apple pie, he was having none of the peach pie that I had bought the supplies for the other day. So that will be on the agenda tomorrow night, along with our tradition of watching Pushing Daisies (the pie maker!). I know we really should be packing, we are getting the keys to the new place on Friday, but my motivation is just not there, and in the battle of packing vs. watching Lee Pace, the obvious answer is watching Lee Pace. 

         I decided to finally make something for work and thought Chocolate Eclair Squares would be the perfect thing. It is my favorite dessert to make in the summer, because it is so easy to make, cheap, and most people love it. Maybe by making it, we can erase all this snow that decided to come our way after a few wonderful warm days. I thought we were in the clear for spring, apparently I was wrong. 

         I found the recipe here a few years ago. You can do variations on it, for example, one year I made it chocolate peanut butter eclair pie, that was a big hit with my uncle, who is a total peanut butter fiend. My best suggestion for the recipe is that the longer it sits, the better it tastes, similar to tiramisu, letting it all absorb in together. The recipe recommends four and a half hours of refrigerator time, I would say overnight tastes better, and most times I try to make it two days in advance. 

So let's begin- first the ingredients 

The recipe calls for vanilla instant pudding, tonight I went with French Vanilla

Next you add two cups of milk to the two packages of instant pudding, and mix until there is thicker consistency- basically until it looks like the yellow part of the cadbury egg creme.

Stir in the 8 oz. of cool whip and mix until well blended 

You can use pretty much whatever you want for the pan, sometimes I use a pie plate, tonight I decided to use my white casserole dish from Crate and Barrel that was one of our shower gifts. I love this dish because the side reminds me of frosting. I think it might have actually been called a frosting casserole or something to that effect.....

nice and pretty

Next, take the nilla wafers and cover the bottom of the dish.....

Then you cover the layer of wafers with the pudding and cool whip mix.

Try not to eat too much of the filling as you go...

Add another layer of nilla wafers......

It's all coming together....

And another layer of the filling and cover with a last layer of wafers. Refrigerate overnight. 

Ready for the refrigerator 

A few hours before you are going to serve the squares, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave or using a double boiler. Pour over the wafers and refrigerate. Refrigerate again- the chocolate will harden. 

oooh chocolate.....

Sometimes I have extra when I make this, so  my husband will be getting a mini one. He'll be excited when he opens the refrigerator tomorrow and sees this for his lunch. He was jealous that my work was getting the squares. 

He's spoiled. 

That's it- you're done! Enjoy!