Tag Archives: chocolate

May 17, 2013 · 10:35 am

Reese’s Cupcakes

Tomorrow is a coworker’s birthday. She asked me to bring chocolate cupcakes. Too boring for me, so I had to get fancy.

These are fun, rich, and look fancy!

Reese’s Cupcakes (yields 24 cupcakes)

The cupcake base is the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake. It’s right on the back of the cocoa box. I have made them a couple times here and here. Aaaannnnnd I just realized I didn’t post the actual recipe either time so here it is:

Chocolate Cupcakes – adapted from Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

(I know it’s a lot of ingredients but it’s easy – I promise!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl (or stand mixer bowl).

2. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Carefully add boiling water and mix in thoroughly by hand. (If you try to use the stand mixer, water will splash everywhere. Trust me. Don’t do it.) Batter will be very thin.

4. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 the way. Bake for 11 minutes. While they are baking, start unwrapping miniature Reese’s cups.

5. After 11 minutes, remove the cupcake pans from the oven. Carefully press a Reese’s cup into the top of each cupcake and return to the oven. Bake for another 11 minutes.

6. Let cool completely before making the frosting.

Some of the cups sank lower than others for the second half of baking…

By the way, how cute are these liners? They are the only non-super-girly liners I could find with orange on them. I felt like orange was necessary because, hello – Reese’s!

Now on to the good stuff….

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1 lb powdered sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp milk + 2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put powdered sugar in the bowl first. Cut up the butter into small slices or chunks, and spread out on top of the powdered sugar. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and 3 tbsp of the milk to the bowl. (I know this sounds silly, but putting the powdered sugar on the bottom helps the other ingredients incorporate better.)

2. Mix on low until powdered sugar is incorporated and will no longer fly across the kitchen. Beat on medium speed until frosting is smooth. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of milk one at a time until fully incorporated.

I frosted my cupcakes with a large closed star tip. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to cover the secret Reese’s cup inside the cupcake. Top with other Reese’s cup and ta-da!

These cupcakes are super rich and SO dreamy with the peanut butter frosting. How have I never made peanut butter frosting before?!

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8 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as buttercream, chocolate, peanut butter, reeses

April 3, 2013 · 9:00 am

Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough

This is actually just a post rewind of sorts… bear with me.

…the other day, my husband said I should make chocolate chip cookies. Cookies are basically his favorite thing ever. (And I don’t mean my decorated sugar cookies. He likes regular ol’ cookies.) Me being the hormonal, whiney, cranky-pants that I am lately, protested because A) I would have to make cookies, and B) I couldn’t eat any dough.

See, people always say you shouldn’t eat raw cookie dough or cake/brownie batter because the raw eggs and salmonella blah blah blah… and no one actually listens to that.

BUT. When you’re prego, salmonella is a really big deal. Like it can cause miscarriage big deal. So I wasn’t even trying to tempt myself.

Thankfully, I had these Cookie Dough Truffles up my sleeve. Raw cookie dough sans eggs. I will now refer to it as Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough.

(**Quick note: While this satisfied my cookie dough need, it didn’t quite satisfy my husband’s cookie need. You can’t bake dough without eggs, it just won’t work! I think I owe him…)

When I posted the original recipe, I coated them in chocolate. I’ve made this dough a few times now, and most of the time it doesn’t make it to the dipping stage. Usually I bake it into something. This time, no way.

I scooped the dough into small balls, lined them up on a wax lined baking sheet, and left them in the freezer overnight. The next morning, I packed them all in a quart-sized zip top bag and gifted them to my brother-in-law for this birthday. He’s a cookie dough fiend.

…not all the dough made it into cute little balls. The rest resided in my fridge until we polished it off last night.

To make things easy, here is the recipe again, appropriately renamed:

Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough - adapted from eat.drink.smile.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla
scant 1/3 cup milk (little less than 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used reg size but mini would work!)

Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugars until combined.

2. Add vanilla and milk and beat, scraping and cleaning beaters/paddle a couple times.

3. Mix together flour, salt, and baking soda, then slowly add to wet mixture until completely combined.

4. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Scoop into small balls and freeze on a baking sheet. Once solid, store in a zip top bag for anytime snacking.

Pregnant ladies everywhere, you’re welcome.

2 Comments

Filed under Misc

Tagged as chocolate, cookie dough

March 12, 2013 · 9:30 am

Minty Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

These cookies are EASY PEEZY.

Did you know that I have a tag for easy cookies? In the right column there is a tag cloud of words that I use most often. If you find “easy cookies” you will see all the recipes that I tagged like this one. Because they’re so easy!!

These start with a basic box of cake mix. I chose Chocolate Fudge flavor (by my girl Betty) because I wanted them as rich and chocolatey as possible.

Beat cake mix with 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of oil and voila! Cookie dough.

To these I added about 1/2 bag of these wonderous Andes Mint Baking Chips. I have had these for a while and finally got around to making something with them. I thought St. Patty’s day approaching would be the perfect time because they’re green!

Scoop 1/2 tbsp sized balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. (10 if you like a softer cookie, 12 if you want a crunchier cookie.) I like to use a mini cookie scoop so that they all come out the same size. Let cool for a couple minutes before moving to a wire rack. They come out puffy but deflate a little and set up nicely.

These were not too chocolatey (perfect for me) but nicely minty like a girl scout cookie.

4 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as cake mix, chocolate, easy cookies, mint

February 26, 2013 · 9:30 am

16th Birthday Cookies & Cake Balls

Alyssah turned 16 this week! Her mom is an old coworker of mine and decided to trick her for her sweet 16. Alyssah was told that there was just no money for a birthday party this year… but in reality there was a huge surprise party planned!

We went with zebra, hot pink, and turquoise as the “theme.”

This was my first time making zebra cookies. I contemplated a few ways I could do it before settling on outlining each stripe and filling them separately.

They came out better than I imagined, and each one was unique because I just free handed the stripes.

The rest of the cookies were filled in hot pink and bright turquoise, with alternating mongrams, 16′s, and her name.

Don’t they look cute together? I am in love with this set.

Last year for Alyssah’s birthday I made these Red Velvet Cake Balls. Her mom asked for cake balls again, so this year I went with yellow cake and chocolate coating.

I colored the chocolate coating black (or as black as I could) so that they would match the cookies. Then I drizzled the tops with turquoise and hot pink to match the cookies.

Alyssah was so surprised at her party! Her parents told her they were going to her aunt’s house for dinner. All her friends were hiding under the tables and behind furniture so they could pop out as she walked through the door!

4 Comments

Filed under Cakes, Cookies

Tagged as blue, cake balls, chocolate, girl's birthday, pink, sugar cookies, yellow cake, zebra stripes

December 28, 2012 · 4:00 am

Homemade Peppermint Patties

I made peppermint patties. As in the York type. I wouldn’t have thought it would be possible for them to taste as amazing as they did. After one bite my jaw dropped… and after the second bite (to make sure I wasn’t dreaming) I had to snap this photo and send it to my husband and brother.

I’ve seen homemade peppermint pattie recipes before, but this one seemed so easy and quick that I decided it was time to give it a try.

Homemade Peppermint Patties – adapted from Sweet Savory Life

Ingredients:

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp peppermint extract

food coloring (optional)

24 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or candy melts

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups of powdered sugar, the sweetened condensed milk, and the peppermint extract. Mix on medium speed until everything is incorporated.

2. Add food coloring if desiered. Add remaining powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until all is incorporated. Candy mixture will be thick and sticky.

3. Line a few baking sheets with wax paper and make room in the freezer. Prepare to get messy.

4. With a spoon or spatula, grab a dollop of candy about 1″ in diameter. It’s going to be very very messy so just do the best you can with it. You want them to eventually be disks on the wax paper, about an 1″ or so apart. The original directions say to make a ball then press it flat on the wax paper. I found it was easier to plop the dollop on the wax paper, use my fingertips to push the edges into a round shape, then carefully pat down the top until it’s smooth.

(Have you ever played with cornstarch/water goop as a child? It feels hard but then it always sinks down flat again.. This was kind of like that. It settles on it’s own, you just want to make sure it happens in a nice round shape.)

5. Once an entire pan is full, put it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. I ended up with 3 trays full of these little pink patties.

6. Melt chocolate chips or candy melts in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time. Once smooth, remove a pan of peppermint patties from the freezer. Peel off one of the disks, coat it in chocolate, and lay it back on the pan to set up. I found it easier to dip these with my fingers. (They don’t freeze completely solid, so when I used a fork the pattie drooped over the edge of the fork while I was tapping off the excess chocolate.) It’s messy doing it with your fingers, which is why I didn’t get any photos of this step. I had no one else home with me to snap them!

The patties soften to room temperature quickly, so I could only dip about 6 at a time before I had to return the pan to the freezer and switch to another pan. During that time the chocolate coated ones hardened and could be removed to the fridge (or to my mouth).

The dipping was long and aggravating, but TRUST ME, I realized it was worth it once I bit into that first one!

Store in the fridge or freezer. And be sure to share, this recipe makes a ton of these!

6 Comments

Filed under Candy

Tagged as chocolate, peppermint, pink

December 24, 2012 · 9:50 pm

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Merry Christmas (Eve) friends!

Bringing this to my parents’ house for our Christmas Eve dinner. Needed something decadent because my family loves rich, heavy desserts.

I guess I am into chocolate chip cookie dough lately. I can’t help it, the stuff is so addicting! And way too easy to slap together.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Cookie Dough Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

scant 1/3 cup milk (little less than 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used reg size but mini would work!)

Chocolate Cheesecake Ingredients: (adapted recipe from taste of home)

-For the crust-

1 1/3 cups crushed chocolate chip cookies (I used crunchy Chips Ahoy)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter, melted

-For the filling-

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 (8oz) packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla

whipped cream and/or chocolate drizzle for serving (optional)

Cookie Dough Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugars until combined. Add vanilla and milk and beat, scraping if necessary. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add flour to wet mixture until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

2. Chill dough for about an hour to make dough easier to handle. Roll into 1″ sized dough balls, and place on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Place the whole pan in the freezer until balls are frozen solid.

**At this point the balls can be moved to a zip top bag and saved for later use. I actually used dough balls that had been in my freezer waiting for something spectacular to become a part of. Just make sure your roommates know not to eat them!**

3. You will only need about 25-30 cookie dough balls for this cheesecake. Cut frozen cookie dough balls into quarters, and place back in the freezer until ready for use. (Keeping the dough absolutely frozen until baking will ensure it doesn’t bake into cookies instead of staying cookie dough.)

Cheesecake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 9″ springform pan with non-stick spray if necessary.

2. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press into bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Set aside.

3. Microwave chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly.

4. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and flour in a large bowl until smooth. Add eggs and beat until just combined. Stir in vanilla then melted chocolate by hand. Be careful not to overbeat – overbeating will cause the cheesecake to crack while cooking.

5. Carefully fold frozen cookie dough chunks into cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust and smooth out the top as best as possible.

(Sorry, forgot to take a photo here, I was anxious to get it in the oven!)

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top looks dry and center is almost set.

7. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen from the pan. Let cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

8. Remove from fridge 1-2 hours before serving. Remove springform ring and place on a cake plate or large platter. Top with whipped cream or chocolate drizzle if desired.

This dessert was SO rich that most of us couldn’t finish a slice. I should have cut it into smaller slices! It’s super moist and creamy, and the cookie dough is just heavenly tucked away in the rich chocolate.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

2 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as cheesecake, chocolate, cookie dough

December 20, 2012 · 8:00 am

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

That might be my longest titled treat yet.

Don’t worry, it’s worth it.

Just as a disclaimer, the cookie dough frosting does not have eggs in it – so while it tastes just like raw cookie dough, it won’t kill you. At least not from salmonella. I can’t promise it won’t if you eat the entire bowl of it with a spoon. That’d be a good way to go though, I must say…

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Brownie Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups)

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 3/4 cups cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

scant 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

about 2 tbsp milk

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Spray 13×9 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Melt butter, then beat with sugar until mixed well. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

4. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as much as possible.

5. Bake for 30 minutes (toothpick inserted into center should be mostly clean). Let cool at least 20 minutes.

**While brownies are baking, make the frosting.**

6. Beat together sugars and butter. Add vanilla, then salt and baking soda. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with a little of the milk to keep it from getting too thick. Add more milk at the end if necessary to bring it to a thin enough consistency. Mix in the mini chocolate chips by hand.

7. When the brownies are cooled, spread the cookie dough frosting evenly across the top with an offset spatula.

8. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

9. The next morning, cut the brownies into small pieces. It was easier for me to cut one whole row, then move it to my cutting board to cut into small pieces.

10. Try not to eat the entire pan.

This is basically the same brownie recipe I used for my Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. It’s fudgey and dense, and just rich enough to hold up the cookie dough well.

From the words of one of my coworkers, these are “amazeballs.” For the record, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say that word.

6 Comments

Filed under Misc

Tagged as brownies, chocolate, cookie dough

December 12, 2012 · 8:00 am

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Growing up, I got to decorate a gingerbread house ever single year. My grandmother spent hours and hours baking the house pieces so that my cousins, my brother, and I could enjoy the tradition. She made real gingerbread and real royal icing with egg whites. We took pictures with our houses every year and it’s so fun to flip through them all!

Now that I am grown up, I knew it was my turn to start my own tradition. I found Wilton gingerbread house cutters at Michaels. I baked chocolate cookies (my friends and I are not fans of actual gingerbread) and I made royal icing for the first time. We all brought lots of candy and went to town!

Here is my finished house:

Here are the houses my girlfriends made…

I just love the way Chelsea did her roof!

Michelle got so creative with her Santa and elves on one side, and a snowman on the other side.

Here is my brother’s girlfriends’ house. Her grinch is so cute!!

The chocolate cookies held up perfectly against the weight of the rest of the house plus all the frosting and candy. And my first time making royal icing was a success, woo hoo! I do think I overbeat it, but it still hardened well and held up against the weight. Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

6 Comments

Filed under Cookies, Misc

Tagged as chocolate, gingerbread house, royal icing

December 5, 2012 · 8:00 am

Chocolate Snowflakes

These chocolate peanut butter cookies are decorated with all white vanilla buttercream. I just love the way the designs pop against the dark cookie!

I decorated each snowflake with a unique design.

I thought I would run out of ideas, but I just kept making them up as I went along.. my husband helped design a couple. (The bottom left snowflake in the pic above was partly his design.)

These are my personal favorites:

They even look cute all together…

Here is my buttercream recipe. It’s very easy and adaptable and perfect to top any cookie!

14 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as buttercream, chocolate, peanut butter, snowflake, white

November 23, 2012 · 11:56 am

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

Happy Christmas season everyone!!!

I have been itching to make Christmas desserts for a while now, and I have been listening to Christmas music for weeks. It is my firm belief that Thanksgiving is about food and family (and football if you ask my husband), and about being thankful for all that we have. To me, Christmas means much the same, with the addition of giving and sharing. It is just another step in the holiday season and there’s nothing wrong with Christmas decor/excitement/music/shopping coming before Thanksgiving. (I know Jennifer agrees with me!) My husband definitely does NOT agree, but he did bring in my decoration boxes last night, so I can officially get going into the holiday spirit properly.

To celebrate, I made brownies! Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. Because nothing screams Christmas like the classic combo of chocolate and peppermint.

I found these gems at Cost Plus World Market right before Halloween. Snatched them up with the thoughts of brownies immediately!

I saw the Andes chips at Walmart last night so I know you can get them there too. (Yes I was at Walmart on Black ~~Friday~~ Thursday at 9pm. I survived. But for the record, I didn’t buy a thing – I will not give Walmart my money. I was with others who needed to get things there.)

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies – adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) + 2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp special dark cocoa powder

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp of salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/2 package peppermint baking chips

Directions:

1. Spray 8×8 (or 9×9) pan with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 325*.

2. Melt butter in microwave. Beat with sugar until it becomes a grainy paste.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

5. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

6. Mix in peppermint chips by hand. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as best as possible. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy if desired. I desired.

7. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

8. Let cool completely to set before cutting.

I thought the chips would completely melt into these, but you can see some of them peeking through in my taste tester below. The peppermint flavor and smell magically soaked into the brownie itself too. It was just the perfect punch of peppermint without being overpowering.

The brownies themselves were dense but not super fudgy. Not cakey either. Almost like a dense, thick, rich cookie. Unlike any brownie I’ve ever had. They’re pretty spectacular.

Make these and get into the Christmas spirit with me!

5 Comments

Filed under Misc

Tagged as brownies, chocolate, peppermint

Tag Archives: chocolate

Reese’s Cupcakes

Minty Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

16th Birthday Cookies & Cake Balls

Homemade Peppermint Patties

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Chocolate Snowflakes

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

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