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Drizzled Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake
I am thrilled to share one of my favorite recipes for a decadent easy dark chocolate sheet cake. This recipe uses a dark chocolate fudge cake mix and fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with melted unsweetened chocolate drizzle to complement the sweetness of the cake. Best served chilled, the cake is great for a party because it can be cut into small or medium-sized squares and served as finger food. Best of all, with it’s geometric drizzled chocolate pattern, the Drizzled Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake is a beautiful work of art… 🙂 Check out the recipe here…
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Decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake
My fiancé and I invited our families over for dinner last weekend, so I decided to bake one of my favorite desserts, a Decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake. Many die-hard chocolate-lovers out there are familiar with this fudgy type of cake baked with only chocolate, eggs, sugar, and butter, and not a trace of flour. The combination results in a souffle-like cake, with a moist inside and flaky cracked top. As with many desserts, the quality of ingredients you choose to put into this recipe is crucial to getting the result you want. In this case, the most important ingredient is the chocolate, so I used none other than Callebaut chocolate – a favorite of professional bakers around the world. It’s imported from Switzerland and of the finest quality. You can find this special type of chocolate at Whole Foods or search for other stores near you on their website.
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Chocolate Chip Banana Bites
If you are looking for the perfect home-baked, bite-sized, sweet snack, you are in luck with these adorable Chocolate Chip Banana Bites. This is actually a Weight Watchers recipe that I tweaked and modified just a bit. Made in mini muffin pans, these banana bites are low in fat since they do not contain any oil or butter. The mashed ripe bananas provide moistness and bind the muffins together along with vanilla yogurt and oats for texture. The addition of mini chocolate chips makes you really feel like you are indulging, but without the guilt. Enjoy!
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A Chocolate Chip Cookie Shake-up: Toll House Marble Squares
If you love chocolate chip cookies, you will go crazy for Nestle’s Toll House Marble Squares. With all the same ingredients you love in chocolate chip cookies –rich brown sugar and fudgy chocolate chips– these squares are essentially cookie batter baked in the form of a cake in a sheet pan. The squares are a bit thicker and chewier than their cookie form, but share the same chocolate chip cookie taste we have all grown to love. Once the “cake” is baked, you cut it into small squares for bite-sized treats. This recipe makes for a great gift – simply package up the squares in small boxes with decorative bows and you have a guaranteed hit. Keep reading for the full recipe!
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The Best Homemade Granola Bars Ever
Warning: these bars are addictive!! I finally found the perfect, healthy Granola Bar recipe and I am thrilled to share it with you here. Most granola bar recipes contain loads of butter to obtain their distinct crunchiness, but this recipe only has a couple tablespoons of oil and is loaded with texture and flavor. -
Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Ever since I saw pictures of Martha Stewart’s scrumptious Chocolate Crackle Cookies, I had to make them. As any chocolate-lover would agree, the flaky texture and beautiful cracked tops, oozing with light-as-air powdered sugar, is irresistible. This recipe uses high quality bittersweet chocolate, melted over a double boiler, in addition to dutch cocoa powder to create a rich, chocolate flavor in the form of light, flaky cookies. Dutch Cocoa powder is different than regular unsweetened cocoa powder. You can find it in many gourmet shops or high-end supermarkets such as Whole Foods. I used Whole Foods’ luxurious Valrhona cocoa powder, imported from France. Valrhona is actually the name of a manufacturer based in the small town of Tain-l’Hermitage in Hermitage, a region near Lyon, France, that produces arguably the finest chocolate in the world. Chocolate Crackles make for a delicious chocolate treat during the Holidays or anytime of year!
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Saltine Toffee
One of my favorite holidays treats is homemade Saltine Toffee. This recipe uses Saltine crackers as a base to make a delicious and easy candy that’s crunchy, salty, sweet and full of rich chocolate. You can be as creative or gourmet as you wish by adding chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, colored sprinkles, dried fruit or drizzled white chocolate to decorate and embellish your toffee. Saltine toffee makes for an impressive holiday gift that any candy lover is sure to enjoy.
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Peanut Butter Balls
My Mom’s recipe for Peanut Butter Balls is huge hit every Christmas. Of all of the desserts and candies baked for the holidays, these delicious creamy Peanut Butter Balls really stand out for their exceptional flavor and fun, bite-sized shape. The filling is made of butter, peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar and Rice Krispies for crunch. Once rolled and chilled, the balls are dipped in an irresistible combination of melted dark and milk chocolate, creating a silky and glossy chocolate finish. These Peanut Butter Balls taste like a homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup — but better. I highly recommend this recipe for all the peanut butter-lovers in your life. Enjoy!
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Chocolate Cream Pie
If you are looking for the perfect chocolate pie to bake this holiday season, look no further than my Chocolate Cream Pie. A family-favorite, this deliciously creamy and chocolately pie is a guaranteed hit. Start out by baking a homemade pie crust made with Wondra for a more tender, flakier crust than regular flour. Then, prepare 3 boxes of cook & serve chocolate pudding for the pie filling. Top with fluffy homemade whipped cream and you have a delicious, beautiful and easy pie. A Chocolate Cream Pie is a welcome treat during the holidays when tables are usually full of the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies. Enjoy!
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Low Fat Fudgy Ghost Cupcakes
If you are looking for a spooky, fun dessert for Halloween, look no further than my Low Fat Fudgy Ghost Cupcakes. With low-fat cake batter (recipe courtesy of Skinny Taste), made with Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix, canned pumpkin and water (that’s it!) and my very own recipe for homemade whipped vanilla meringue frosting, these cupcakes are a festive way to celebrate Halloween. The cupcakes come out so moist and fudgy that they taste like a just-out-of-the-oven dark chocolate brownie. I finish them off with a traditional vanilla meringue frosting, generously piped into the shape of tall, fluffy white ghosts on the top of each cupcake. The shiny, airy white meringue shapes up a perfect ghost and 2 mini chocolate chip eyes finish off these spooky treats. Enjoy!
