Chocolate is a Girls Best Friend

Rub your eyes

Can you believe this beautiful drink of water that's in Paula's kitchen today

My friend and actress Angie Harmon is here, and if there's someone who loves chocolate as much as I do, it's Angie

Oh my. So I've cooked up a chocolatey menu to die for

First up is my cocoa-infused chili, And Angie prepares her crunchy salad with a cocoa vinaigrette

It's really tasty. I can't wait. And this place is going to erupt, y'all, with my chocolate and peanut butter volcano cake covered with a silky chocolate glaze

Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Chocolate is a close second. Close

Every girl loves chocolate, right? I love you. And I love you

Oh, my goodness. Can I just move in? Yes, you can. Okay

I've always wanted a daughter. Yay! I'm so glad you're here, Angie

Me too. And like I said, in your honor, today's all about the bittersweet flavors of chocolate

So, Angie, I thought I'd start us off with a chocolate-infused chili

You are going to chop the garlic. I need about three cloves

Okay. I want you to de-seed jalapenos. Thank you. I'm so sorry

That's terrible to do that to your guests. But look. You're smiling. I've got some rubbers for it

So you just put those on, honey, if you can get it over that. Okay

That mine that you're wearing on your hand. Really? Okay, yeah. And while you're doing that, I'm going to chop us some onions

I found out that you live in Charlotte. Yes, ma'am, I do. I thought you lived in L.A., maybe

I've got three daughters. I know. They're my little beauties. I want to see them

Do they look like mama? They do look like their mama. And, of course, I have to tell you, I've been spying on that good-looking man of yours, too

Wait, okay. Yada, yada. Oh, thank you. My. Finley Faith, Avery Grace, and Emory Hope

Oh, my gosh, I love their names. Thank you. They're Southern names. Yes, they are

I've been checking up on you, girl. Have you? Yes. Do I have the test

Morning raised in Dallas. Yes, ma'am. So you are a southern girl. I am indeed

Now, do you really cook, Angie? I do. And you know, I have to tell you, I learned from my grandmother, from my aunt, and from you

Really? Yes, ma'am. Now, I've got two pounds of ground beef that I'm going to start browning

There's two things that I have in common with Texas women, y'all. We do

Both love cast iron and hairdo. We like them high. That's right

All right. Love your hair. Hope you win. Yeah. The higher the hair, closer to God

Yes, yes, yes. What is your husband's name? Jason. See you. Jason

Yes. Jason. He's a football player. Ex? He's an ex? Yes, ma'am

He played for the New York Giants for 10 years. Wow. I heard that Jason proposed to you on The Tonight Show

Yes, I did. Wait, am I dicing these or am I chopping? Yeah, it just meant something

Okay, got it. Okay. I told Jay, I was like, do not ask me about my personal life

That is not. Uh-huh. Yeah. Why? Because I'm a private person. Oh, my gosh

And I come right out and start asking all the people. No, it's okay. It's okay. Oddly, I feel like I could just sit here and tell you anything

You can, and I won't tell a song. but it was i will not tell a soul just not one person

yeah no i had no idea so you were sitting there on the sofa

and jay yes and jay starts talking about this man that i'm dating and finally he goes

do you think you'd come out here and i was like what i was no longer the southern lady i was like

i beg your pardon uh-huh no and then out walks jason and no yeah he comes out and i remember he

was shaking and i was like and you can hear me shaking it's the only time i've ever seen him

nervous. You can hear me through gritty teeth. What are you doing

All of a sudden you turn vangeloquist. Like that! And right then

and there, he dropped on one knee and asked me to marry him. And it took me 16 seconds to say yes

Oh no, that's a long time in TV language. I know, I know. On 16. Bended knee

Oh no. Poor baby. I'm fixing to add one tablespoon plus two

teaspoons, Angie, of chili powder. I'm going to add One tablespoon of cumin

Oh, that's good. All right. So we're going to stir that up. So toss in your jalapenos, baby

Just throw them in there. And I'm going to add two tablespoons of our cocoa

After you're done throwing in the ranch beans, can you add me a teaspoon of oregano

a half a teaspoon of red pepper. Do you like hot stuff

Yeah. Love it. So what your favorite eating I have a big range but it usually whatever you got on the show that day Yeah Woo Now is it everything Is it juice and everything Yes So honey while you dealing with the ranch beans I gonna just finish chopping up this jalapeno

Then I'm gonna need you to add one teaspoon of oregano and one teaspoon of cayenne pepper, okay

That looks amazing! Yes! All right, now, I want you to open that can of diced tomatoes

Yes, ma'am. Dump in the black beans. Okay. And then over here, I've got four cups of tomato sauce, two cups of beef broth

Okay. So I'm going to pour all that in. Tomatoes going in

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Now, dear, if you could just add the black beans that we've rinsed and drained

You actually started out as a model, didn't you, Angie? I did

I did. Both my parents were models. No. What did they model

I mean, they were more, I would say, print and things like that

But also, that was a different time. You know what I mean? It wasn't about the supermodels. Right

It wasn't such a big thing. Right. That's totally the way it was with my Uncle Bob

Yeah. Poor Uncle Bob. Poor Uncle Bob. He had a mad affair with Carol Burnett

Angie, now we need to just let this simmer for a while. Y'all don't go anywhere because there's more

Guess what I'm going to make you? What? I'm going to make you a version of my volcano cake

Oh, yay! So that's where we're going. With Miss Angie. Oh! Coming up next, this volcano cake is b with peanut butter and chocolate

Oh, yum. Uh-huh. And later, Angie whips up a cocoa vinaigrette for our crunchy salad

Look at that color. Isn't that pretty? Well, y'all, I'm in here today with Angie Harmon, this beautiful young woman that so loves cooking

And I'm going to make for you today our volcano cake. And I'm going to start with a white cake mix because I wanted lots of contrast

When I use a cake mix, y'all, I always switch from water to milk because that milk's going to make it richer

So that's what I'm going to be doing to this. So this is milk instead of water

Milk instead of water. If you'll do that, like I said, it just makes it richer

Okay. All right. So if you will mix two cups of confectionate sugar in my cream cheese

A stick of butter. And then we're just going to eyeball the peanut butter

Okay, but I have to tell you something. Yes, tell me. Clearly

I'm horrible at baking. Horrible. Can I do it like that, or do I need to flatten it

Yes, no. No, because we don't care if you put too much. And you want two of these

Yes. Oh, this is going to be a mess. Okay. This cake calls for three eggs, but I always like to add an extra

There's two. And I'm going to do three-fourths a cup of oil

What's that? That's a stick of butter. I just needed to hear you say it

Now that's a girl's best friend. Wait, what's that? This is oil

Thank you so much. I can leave now. I'm just leaving. I read on the website one day, this was years ago

who is that old gray-headed lady with that fake southern accent? There is nothing fake about that

Do you think I would fake this? If I was going to fake something, it'd be French

This is about as genuine and as wonderful as it gets. Oui, oui, masseur

What do you want to do with this? Now, you can start with a heaping spoonful of that peanut butter, girl

We're going to have more peanut butter with our little chocolate and peanut butter changes

Oh, so good. All right, so you just mix the cake mix about two minutes

All right. Okay, now, wait a minute. All right. So I'm going to give you that

Okay, but wait. Okay. Wait, why? Oh, okay. You're not scared of electricity, are you

No, but this thing I am. Oh, this is, this, it goes everywhere

Don't get mad. Don't get mad. Oh, God. How could I get mad with you? It was okay

So we're going to bake this in a 13 by 9 by 2, Angie

Okay. And I'm going to spray it good. Look, I'm kind of getting this

Look at you go, girl. I'm kind of excited about this. Turn that thing up. Oh, really

Okay. Oh. I can tell you don't bake much. I don't. You know why

I fear the baking because it's an exact science. It really is

If you mess up one small thing, it's done. Well, when you're starting with a cake mix, you are lowering your chances of messing up

All right. So I just highly recommend that. Angie, I just lined the whole bottom of our pan with the peanuts

All right, now I'm going to stick my finger in that. Okay. I would die if I hurt you

I would die. I would just die. All right now I going to take your stuff Okay and I keep mixing Yes you just keep them mixing Okay And now you taste that when you think it rich enough with the peanut butter Like you want it to taste like peanut butter

Mmm. Mmm. All right. You know, it doesn't have to be real strong with peanut butter

I think this is kind of perfect. Now I'm taking these little chocolate peanut butter things

Oops, they fell in our cake, Angie. Did they? One accidentally fell in my mouth

Oh, my God. Yum. I know. I'm going to chop up a cup full to add to our mix

And what do you think we added? Like a half a cup of peanut butter? What I'm thinking

Yes. What do you want me to do with that? Why don't you take it off and put it in the sink

Just the, okay. Wait, wait, wait. Right here. I'm going to learn how to do this from you

All right, look at that. Oh. One for you. Okay. One for me

Do I have to rinse it off? Okay, I'm done. Just lick it off. So, Angie, let's just mix in the peanut butter and the chocolate pieces

and then we can just pour the whole mixture over our nuts. Oh, look at that

Yes. All right, now, we're just going to gently put that over our nuts

All right, now, so this is what we're going to do next. We're going to take our cream cheese and our butter

and we're going to just do it just like that. So when we cut into this cake

Mm-hmm. We're going to cut into clumps. Everybody's going to have a chunk of cream cheese

Tell me about your show. I have wonderful people on my crew and on my cast

and everybody loves to laugh and have a good time. So let me ask you this, Angie

How do you live in Charlotte and shoot in L.A.? Who tends to your children

My husband, Jason. He is a wonderful, wonderful father. You're a lucky chick

Yes, I am. All right, we're going to put this in the oven, y'all, at 350

We're probably going to bake it somewhere between 35 and 45 minutes until it looks like we like it

Okay. And then at the end of our meal, we're going to put a hot chocolate glaze over this and let it just slither into those craters

Oh, yum. Uh-huh. Yum. Yes. Can I get that for you? Yes, darling

We'll be back in a minute. Oh, my goodness. It's all about chocolate

Coming up next, we toss together Angie's salad with a chocolate vinaigrette

Love it, love it, love it. Then... This looks amazing. We dig into our chocolate creations

Oh, my God, it's really amazing. And later, our volcano cake has a chocolate glaze overflow

Is that not a sin? Angie, we've got the volcano cake in the oven

Yes. We've got our chili ready. Yes. It's all yours. Okay. It's a little nerve-wracking, Cookie, with you, but I'm okay

No, no, no, no, no. Don't be. I'm your tool. Good. Come and move in with me

Okay. Yay! Just that easy. Did I get a bedroom near the husband

Yes. I didn't. Anything. That was my evil twin that jumped up and said that

Oh, my God. Okay, okay, well, okay, we're going to make a crunchy salad

Okay, yay. And it's going to be a cocoa vinaigrette. Okay, yay. Which might sound a little..

You know, I don't think I've ever had a cocoa vinaigrette. It's really tasty

I can't wait. So how many nuts you won't chop? If you could chop a cup of those almonds

Okay, a cup. They are roasted and salted. That would be fabulous. Okay, okay. We're going to use four cups of arugula

Love arugula. Love, love, love, love. I love arugula. And then I've got the two celery sticks and the English cucumber

You know, I don't use a regular cucumber ever. I actually use pickling cucumbers

Really? I just love the way they taste. So in the dressing over here, I'm going to take a teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Dijon. Which I love Dijon. I do, too. Don't you just love just cooking in the kitchen with your friends and your family

Do your girls get in there with you? They do. They're really, really starting to get into it

They love it. And you know what? They feel invested when they help, you know, and then they're going to like it even more

Exactly right. I tell folks with chilling, if you let your kids get in there and help, they're so proud of their accomplishments

And they're not necessarily going to fight you on it, because I've got one that will fight me on anything that isn't sweet

Really? Yes. I'm going to take one teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

And then I'm just going to eyeball it while you're doing that. I'm going to do a fourth cup of balsamic vinegar

A fourth of a cup of balsamic vinegar. A fourth of a cup. That looks like about a fourth of a cup, right

Yeah. And then the same with the oil. I'm going to do a fourth of a cup of the extra virgin olive oil

See, I just like to cut little strips out like that. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

And make them pretty. So you don't mind. No not at all Thinner Now do you just want them sliced or diced However you want to do them Okay I like to do it like you like to do it You tell me I slice them and then I dice them

And I'll dice them. Angie, how in the world did y'all wind up in Charlotte, North Carolina

Oh, I love this story. That seems like such a far place from..

Texas or Los Angeles? Yes. Yes, it is. Well, Jimmy Johnson is an incredibly successful NASCAR driver

Yes, yes. And he is the godfather to my third. Uh-huh. And his wife, Channy, is the godmother to my second

So we went to go visit them. I was pregnant at the time with my third. And I asked my husband, I was like, Jason, please, will you just take me for a walk in this beautiful southern place

Uh-huh. And I said to him, I go, Noah, isn't this beautiful? Like, don't you think you could live here? And he kind of went like, well, yeah, sure, I could live here

I had a house the next day. I did. Can I put the arugan in

Yes, yes. That's roughly four cups, don't you think? Yes. We have the most wonderful group of friends

See, isn't that pretty? Look at that. Yes, it's beautiful. So I'm just going to kind of go like this with my hands and get all that stuff mixed up like that

Tell me one more time what's in that dressing. We have a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a teaspoon of the unsweetened cocoa powder

fourth of a cup, balsamic, fourth of a cup, oil, you're done

All right, so you're going to dress the salad. Dress this salad. I'm going to dip with some chili

God, look at that color. Isn't that pretty? Bon appetit

Oh, this looks amazing. Mmm. Oh, my God, the chili is amazing

I taste the cocoa. Mm-hmm. Do you like it? Mm-hmm. Isn't it interesting, the cocoa with the salt and with the balsamic, and it just kind of plays off each other

My husband will love that. Mm. You ain't tasted nothing yet, sister

Just wait till you taste that volcano cake. Mm. Don't go anywhere, y'all

Coming up next, a chocolate glaze to smother our volcano cake. Then Angie and I dig in

to our decadent dessert. Angie, we're bringing it home, honey

Okay. What's that? It's cocoa. I'm being a smart ally. I just love hearing you say it

I'm going to put about a half a stick of butter, And then I'm going to put a fourth of a cup of cocoa

I don't want this too, too, too, too chocolatey. And look at our volcano cake

See why it's called a volcano? Because it looks like a volcano erupted in there

All right. So we're going to melt that butter with our cocoa. Okay

We are making a chocolate glaze for that wonderful volcano cake. And I have to say that chili in that salad was so delicious

It was so good. Did you really like it? Yeah, I loved it. All right, so I just need to add a little bit of milk

All right, so what I need for you to do now is add me a couple of cups of confectionate sugar

Okay. While I'm stirring to get this cocoa dissolved in there. Okay

You know what? I like that other stick of butter. He looks so lonely laying there

We just put him right on in there. Dump away, girl. Dump. Yum

That's all right. That's all right. Okay. That looks good. Beat it

All right. Smooth as your mother-in-law's love, honey. Look at that. Ooh

Yes. So I'm going to add a teaspoon of vanilla. Look, yum

Can you use those on faster? Oh, look at that. Right now, we're going to take it from this pan to that plate to our pie hole

Look, look, look. Okay. Angie, when are you going to come back and bring those girls

Tomorrow. Yay. I want to see them. They are going to be so jealous of all this

Oh, no. I'm sending them some of this home. I might have to take it. So now you tell me what you honestly think

Oh, my Lord. I know. So now you've got this down pat

Yes, ma'am. So you're coming back, right? Yes, please. With those girls

I love you. I love you, too. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me

Loving best dishes to all of y'all out there. And y'all watch our girl here because she's fabulous