The Baked Brownie

A couple of months ago I told my hubby that on a trip to Brooklyn to gather up some goodies and grab lunch that we were going to need to make a detour for dessert. To his initial display I had him make a trip a good 20 minutes out of the way to go to Baked for a couple of their brownies. I had seen them on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate to get one of their Sweet and Salty Brownies and their original Deep Dark Brownie. The trip was totally worth it and in the end he was totally thrilled that we made the trip, they were AMAZING brownies!

S'Mores Bars

Here are we again, right back to my s'mores obsession. After I made these bars and took my first bite I had a moment of ahhh here we meet again. I don't know what it is about the chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker combination that sends my heart a flutter but it's there and I always find myself going back for more. In fact, I'm munching on one of these, this very moment as I type up this post.

I came up with this recipe through a little trial and error. I had originally searched a bunch of recipes but none were exactly what I was looking for, I wanted something dense and more bar like than cake or cookie and I wanted to nix the graham layer on top and have the marshmallows star. I love how these came out, they have the perfect balance of chocolate, graham and marshmallow. The only mistake I made was trying to cut the bars before they fully cooked with only resulted in a huge sticky mess. Once they cooled fully they cut quite nicely and came out perfect.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I love, love, love chocolate chip cookies and with Valentine's Day upon us it seemed like a perfect time to make them. I'm not anti-Valentine's Day by any means, but years of working in a florist has killed the over the top excitement I used to feel about Valentine's Day. So rather than head out to a restaurant and be given a dozen roses my husband Joseph and I prefer to spend the holiday quietly at home with a nice home cooked meal and a yummy dessert. Unfortunately these wont be served for Valentine's as they barely made it two days before they were all gone! I made these the other day when we had some company over and they got a big thumbs up all around from everyone who tried one. I love the browned butter aspect of the cookies, which gives the outside a big crunch but still makes for a nice soft center, which to me makes for the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Here's yet another Pinterest treasure that I found while browsing the other day. It amazes me that as little time as I feel I have on a day to day basis, I still manage to squeeze out a little time each day to browse for and at times even make some recipes from Pinterest. This particular recipe took less than 10 minutes to put together and quite honestly couldn't have stumbled across it at a better time. I literally just ran out of Hersey's Syrup two days before I came across this recipe which is how I knew it was meant to be.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte

It's no secret that chocolate and peanut butter are one of my favorite combinations, it's one of my hubby's too. In fact, it's a favorite combo of the majority of my family, I mean really, what's not to love? We had a special occasion a few weeks ago and I couldn't decide what to make. I knew I wanted to use chocolate and peanut butter because my uncle goes crazy over it but I just couldn't decide which recipe to go with. Finally, I settled on my own version of Brown Eyed Baker's Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte. Right away I knew I had to change it up because I don't have a spring form pan anymore because mine kept leaking and I tossed it. So first up I was making it in a deep dish pie pan. Second I wasn't really crazy about the idea of using nutmeg and cinnamon in a peanut butter pie so I created my own spin-off recipe based on hers.

The pie was a huge hit and as I thought my uncle went crazy over it, claiming his piece wasn't large enough. It was an all around win and I think I may have just found a new staple in my dessert repertoire.

Marshmallow Frosted Brownies & A Giveaway!

I love brownies...and marshmallows for that matter so combining the two seemed like the perfect thing to do when I saw this recipe for marshmallow frosted brownies on Pinterest from Mommy's Kitchen. I had high hopes for these bad boys and it couldn't have been better timing that I found this recipe just as I received coupons for free Duncan Hines Products as a part of the FoodBuzz Featured Publishers Tastemakers Program. If this wasn't meant to be, then I don't know what was. I followed Tina's recipe closely, but honestly if I were to make these brownies again I'd nix the chocolate frosting completely or just drizzle a little over the top. Shockingly enough this sweet tooth actually has a limit and these brownies were a little too sweet for me. I would have been happy with just fudgy brownies and melty marshmallows.

Whatever way you decide to make them, I'm sure you'll love it. They are definitely going into my permanent rotation.

Plus bonus time! Two lucky readers will receive a coupon for free Duncan Hines products compliments of Foodbuzz's Tastemakers program and of course Duncan Hines. To enter you must do one (or all!) of the following:

1. Leave a comment here telling me what your favorite Duncan Hines product is.
2. Become a fan on Facebook and leave a comment saying so (if you already do, you can leave a comment saying so).
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Red Velvet Brownies

I love Red Velvet Cake. We had it as our wedding cake, we celebrate every year on our anniversary with one and really just about any special occasion can call for a red velvet cake in my book. One of my other favorite desserts are brownies so you can imagine my excitement when I was browsing on Pinterest earlier today and saw red velvet brownies! Simply amazing. I started to Google recipes and after a lot of browsing I decided that since it was nearly 9 o'clock at night I would do the short cut version of them and worry about making them from scratch the next go around.

The recipe involved using a box of red velvet cake mix plus a few other ingredients and resulted in a rich, decadent brownie that is unlike any other I've ever tasted and did I mention the cream cheese frosting? Yea, that's right, they were amazing and I highly, highly recommend making them....now.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Who doesn't love a good old Hostess cupcake? Chocolaty icing, yummy cream filling and a decadent cupcake...except the last time I had one it wasn't quite the cupcake I remembered and loved as a kid. So in turn I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands and try my hand at my own version of the cupcake. To start off I researched a bunch of recipes for Hostess Cupcakes until I came up with what I thought was the perfect recipe. I decided that I wanted a very moist cupcake and opted to go with my favorite chocolate cake recipe - Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake. The cake choice was perfect, it got thumbs up all around, but then again that may be due to the cream filling, because really what's a Hostess Cupcake without the cream filling?

French Macarons

I learned about real macarons during our visit to France last year and then I spent an entire year wishing a local bakery sold them and that they would taste even a quarter as good as the ones I had in France. They didn't, in fact no one did and the closest I found was frozen ones at Trader Joe's which were good but not quite right. Then one day I decided it was time to buckle down and make them myself, get over my fear of them and take on the challenge. And you know what I found out? They weren't so difficult after all, in fact they were quite easy to make. French macarons require patience and following very precise directions. There are multiple steps involved and they all need to be followed exactly, don't skip or try to rush the process, do it all, do it right and you will be amazed at how delicious these little cookies are, you will amaze all your friends too with your talents.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie - A Pie for Mikey

I have never met Jennie or her husband Mikey, I don't even believe I have ever come across her blog before this past weekend, but I know now that I will be a dedicated follower and that Jennie and Mikey and their two young daughters will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm fairly new to the world of food bloggers and I myself am overwhelmed by the response by bloggers and people around the world in response to Jennie's post about Mikey's passing.

My Birthday Cake - S'Mores Pie!

So yesterday was my birthday and naturally my husband asked me the basics, what did I want him to cook me for dinner and what kind of cake did I want? Typically that answer for me is a no brainer and I did answer my usual for dinner his specialty chicken dish and mushroom risotto (I will have to have a guest post from my husband on here one day with his dishes - they are just divine!), usually cake is easy too - ever since our wedding red velvet cake is both of our top choice for any celebration. This year though I wanted something different and since I had asked him to make a fairly labor intensive dinner I thought I take over my own birthday cake.

I did a lot of searching and finally decided on the S'Mores Pie from Steph's Bite by Bite, it looked delicious and it is just perfect for me....lots of chocolate and marshmallows and a graham cracker crust. I only varied the recipe slightly and to take my pie one step further I used my own homemade marshmallows that I made earlier in the week. It was perfect...happy birthday to me!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again...chocolate and peanut butter are one of the greatest pairings to ever exist. My mother has been making fudge for years, since she was in high school to be exact. It's a recipe that she has kept a secret all those years and I am about to tell all of you....so let's just hope she doesn't find out I blew her best kept secret. You see it's a big secret because of how easy it is to make this fudge.

Exactly how easy is it you ask? Two ingredients and no candy thermometer easy.

I wanted to spice up the fudge a bit in honor of this post and to make it my own a little bit. So I decided I wanted to pair the chocolate fudge with peanut butter fudge. I found a bunch of recipes but they all had quite a few ingredients and steps and considered my chocolate fudge is just two ingredients in felt just wrong. I needed something just as simple and easy.

And then I found it. A small posting on a thread that was so deep and buried in my online search that I can't even remember where I found it... Two ingredient peanut butter fudge.

Sound the alarm, I have a chocolate peanut butter fudge recipe with only four ingredients and still no candy thermometer. Hallelujah, sound the alarms. You must make this now.

Puppy Chow

Puppy chow, muddy buddies...call it whatever you'd like, this stuff is delicious and seriously addicting. I remember as a kid seeing the recipe on the box of Chex cereal wondering why my mother never thought to make this for me. Chocolate, nutella and confectioners sugar coating wonderfully crunchy cereal? A kid could only dream and now that I have my own house and my own kitchen I make this whenever we are having company over and I always get the same reaction....people just love this stuff!

If you've never had, you must stop everything you're doing, run to the nearest supermarket and make this immediately. I promise you won't regret it. Share it amongst friends or keep it all for yourself, that part I'll let you decide.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream

Nothing beats ice cream on a hot  summer day and lately the past few days have been scorchers. If I'm being really honest I don't need hot weather as an excuse to eat ice cream, I will eat it in the dead of the winter in the middle of a snowstorm. Pair it with a brownie and some whipped cream and I'm in heaven and homemade ice cream to boot? Now we're talking.

If you were to do a search on ice cream recipes I'm willing to bet that you'll find hundreds if not thousands of variations. When I got my ice cream maker a few years ago I got right to work to find the perfect ice cream recipe of all. It took a little tweaking but I managed to come up with one that is simply amazing. It is loosely based on Chef Richard Blais's chocolate ice cream recipe from Top Chef from the episode when he made the Banana Scallops and Banana Guacamole but I altered it based on other recipes I found and made it a little more waistline friendly so I wouldn't feel so guilty going back for seconds!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate and peanut butter are one of the greatest pairings ever. Nothing beats the sweet and salty combo and the perfection of the two when combined. Peanut butter cups are pretty much the holy grail of the pairing, the duo at it's best and one of my favorite desserts. One of the downsides this treat is it often has ingredients that are not the best for you, hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup are all things we should eliminate from our diet, but I'll tell you, it's still hard to stay away from these things despite the doctor's warnings.

So what's a girl to do but make them herself? I have been contemplating this idea for some time but couldn't quite figure out how to make them and then I found a solution online that made perfect sense. Make them in cupcake liners! How genius is that? It's the perfect size, you get the classic ridged edges and it makes clean up a breeze.

Can you just taste them now? They're so easy you can practically make them in your sleep.

Blueberry Muffins

When I was in middle school I participated in a dance group at my church for which we rehearsed every Saturday morning. My mom would always bake muffins for me to bring with to share with the rest of the girls. There was nothing better those mornings than sinking our teeth into a warm muffin before stretching and getting ready to rehearse. It was a moment of quiet, calm before rehearsal as many of us were barely awake for the 9am start time.

All these years later my mom's muffins are still my favorite and I make them from time to time whenever I have a craving for them. Best of all they're made with yogurt instead of butter so they are pretty healthy. I have made both blueberry and chocolate chip variations and included in the recipe below.

Chocolate & Oat Cookie Bars

This is yet another one of my favorite treats from my childhood. It isn't quite a cookie or a blondie...it's almost as though you took the two and combined them to get this amazing treat. There's only a few ingredients and you can make this in a pinch since most of the ingredients are always on hand at home for most people.

It's always a crowd pleaser and the kind of dessert you definitely want to make for company because if you have them at home you will eat them!

Chocolate Covered Cannoli Stuffed Strawberries

Chocolate Covered Cannoli Stuffed Strawberries....

Yes you read that correctly, and yes it is just as drool-worthy as it sounds. A couple of weeks ago on vacation a woman I met said she had these as the favor for her wedding and now she makes them herself when she wants to bring something to a gathering. She said they were a big hit - hello?? How could they not be?! It's like saying the sky is blue. Chocolate covered strawberries are delicious enough, but to add cannoli cream inside them, now we're talking down right drool-worthy.

And I haven't even told you the best part.....they are so easy to make, slightly time consuming but very easy. Now here is my slight disclaimer, I bought cannoli cream from an Italian supermarket, had I made the cannoli cream it would have been slightly more challenging but not by much. I had a ton of running around to do the day before Father's Day and I just didn't have the time and to be honest I haven't found a homemade cannoli cream recipe that I love (if anyone has one, I would love a suggestion!). As another bonus it was actually a bit more economical to buy the premade cannoli cream, which is always a plus.

S'Mores Cake

I have a confession...I am obsessed with marshmallows, espeically chocolate covered ones so naturally s'mores are one of my favorite desserts. I have been drooling over various food blogs for months and their wide variety of s'mores desserts when I decided it was finally time to make one. It was Memorial Day weekend and my sister-in-law asked me to make a dessert for their bbq, I knew it was time to roll up my sleeves and dive into a s'mores dessert. I had a ton of potential desserts to choose from but when I saw Sweet Tooth's Giant S'More Cake I knew I had found my dessert.

The dessert was delicious, but a little on the heavy side for my taste. Next time I would use less flour in the graham cracker cake to make it a bit lighter. It was described as a cookie but it had a heavy almost dense cookie bar feel to it. It tasted delicious though. The recipe seems like it may be a bit daunting but it was ridiculously easy. The cake also produces a ton of servings, we had 8 adults and 3 kids at the bbq and we ate about half the cake.

Chocolate Crescent Pockets

In celebration of Valentine's Day Food Network put on an hour long special consisting of chefs preparing their favorite chocolate dish.  Now I will be the first to admit that Paula Deen's recipes always look delicious and I would be willing to put money on that fact that they taste better than they look, but her recipes are always chock full of butter and shortening and things that I try to use minimally.  So typically when I bake something of Paula Deen's I tend to start by cutting the butter in half.  On this show, however Paula wrapped mini chocolate bars and Hershey Kisses inside puff pastry sealed it up brushed it with a bit of egg wash and baked them in the oven until they were pockets of gooey amazing chocolate goodness.  She then paired them with homemade chocolate ganache and fresh whipped cream.  AMAZING. My husband and I were drooling at the TV so I decided that since he was taking the reigns this Valentine's Day for dinner I would take charge of dessert.

I decided to change up the recipe a bit (something I am always guilty of) and swapped out the puff pastry for crescent rolls and added some Nutella to the mix, after all Nutella makes everything taste better!