Soup for dessert; yes indeed. This delicious Milk Chocolate Soup is a light ending to any meal, maybe even a Valentine’s dinner. You can make this soup ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Milk Chocolate Soup with Cake Croutons

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbls. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
4 cups whole milk, divided
seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean OR 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
4 half inch slices frozen pound cake, thawed

Directions:

In a medium saucepan stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in 3 cups of the milk. Add the vanilla seeds, if using, to milk mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in 2/3 cup of chocolate and vanilla extract, if using, until smooth.

Transfer soup to a large bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge 2 to 24 hours.

For cake croutons, preheat oven to 350. Arrange pound cake slices on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until browned, turning once. Cool on baking sheet on a wire rack. Cut cake slices into 1/2 inch cubes.

To serve, stir the remaining 1 cup milk into soup. Ladle soup into 8 dessert bowls and top with cake croutons. Place the remaining 1/3 cup chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave about 1 minute or until melted, stirring occasionally. Drizzle melted chocolate over each serving.