Melted Chocolate Chip Frosting

The other day I made a box chocolate cake and realized afterwards that I didn't have any frosting. I remember my mom using melted chocolate chips one time for a yummy frosting. I've tried making frosting with melted chocolate chips before and it never quite turns out right, but I think I found a keeper with this scrumptious frosting.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk*
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

 Yield: Will frost a 9X13 cake

*Sommer's Secret: I used half and half since I had some on hand and I think it made this frosting way more rich but I'm sure milk will do the job just fine.

UPDATE: I've used 2 % milk several times now and it works just fine! 


Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, bring butter, milk and sugar to a boil.
2. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.
3. Beat until Cool.*

*Sommer's Secret: I only "stirred until smooth" and spread the gooey warm mixture over my cake.
I also doubled the recipe and had a lot left over so put the rest in a container in the fridge. I'm thinking if maybe I incorporated more air into the frosting by beating my refrigerated frosting wouldn't have ended up like this the next day:

I was kinda upset about it but broke off a few chunks and was surprised it actually tasted like fudge! hmmm maybe I'm on to something (I'll have to experiment with the idea of this being a quick fudge recipe later), anyway I decided to break off some pieces and throw it in the microwave for a few seconds.

I was encouraged by how it melted.

So I stirred a bit and my lovely yummyness came back to me...

Sommer's Suggestions:  I think the possiblities of this simple recipe are endless by using various extracts and chips. I'm sure you could even substitute the milk with evaporated milk or soy milk. Some of the great concoctions I thought of would be using white chocolate chips for a white frosting or using mint chips for mint brownies. I bet you could even add peanut butter for a yummy surprise.