Ultimate S'more Cake

Behold the Ultimate S'more Cake! I made this for this month's dessert club. Absolutely the tallest most fantastic off the wall cake I've ever had...not to mention delicious, layers and layers of delicious! Check out the recipe, it's definitely worth a try!: Ultimate S'more Cake

- Cherry Chocolate Chip Cheesecake -

Cheesecakes are the bomb. Really, a cheesecake is probably the only dessert that can satisfy me without having a lick of chocolate in it. But come on, if you add chocolate, doesn't it just make everyone MORE satisfied? So today I present to you my Cherry Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. It was family approved, so I can share it with ya'll. ;) Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

For the crust:

1 pkg. of Graham Crackers (I used about 8 graham crackers)

2 T. Granulated Sugar

1 1/2 T. Cocoa Powder

pinch of Salt

5 T. Butter, melted

For The cheesecake:

2 eight oz. pkgs. Cream Cheese, at room temperature.

1 c. Granulated Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 c. Sour Cream

1/4 c. Flour + 2 tsp. of Flour

pinch of Salt

1 2/3 c. of pitted and halved Sweet Cherries

1 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor grind up the graham cracker. Add the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt and pulse till combined. Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in the melted butter. Scoop out the mixture and press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring-form pan. Bake in the oven fro 10 minutes. Set aside to cool a bit.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile in a electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese. Add the sugar and mix together on medium speed till well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and scraping down the side of the bowl after each addition, then add the vanilla and the sour cream, mixing well. On medium speed mix in the flour and salt till combined and there are no lumps, then scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again till everything is well combined. In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chips with the 2 tsp. of flour. With a spatula, fold the cherries and chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture. Pour the batter into the crust in the spring-form pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then, without opening the oven, turn the temperature down to 300 degrees and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the sides of the cheesecake are set up and the center still jiggles slightly. A butter knife should come out clean if inserted in the middle. Let cool completely and then refrigerate overnight. Will be perfect the next day!

Enjoy!

- Frozen Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream Cake -

Hmmm...what to eat on a hot 4th of July... ice cream of course! My mom, who isn't a big fan or oreos, decided to make us happy by making this delicious Frozen Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream Cake for dessert. It was delicious! Oreos, chocolate pound cake, vanilla ice cream.... it is IMPOSSIBLE to go wrong with all that, right!? Try it, I guarantee you'll be happy.

- Chocolate Fudge Cookies -

Yeah, so if you haven't noticed, I've been kind of obsessed with chocolate this month. Not that I'm ever not obsessed with chocolate! I think it might have something to do with the fact that my mom brought home a 1 lb bar of amazing dark chocolate from the grocery store, and I've been going wild with ideas on how to use it. I just have a problem saying "no" to the little voice in my head that says "what do you think would happen if you put chocolate in this? Let's find out!" It's true, I'm weak and helpless at the hands of chocolate. 

So, what would you say to the idea of a delicious chocolate fudge cookie? I can't stop smelling the cookie jar because all it smells like is a jar full of melted chocolate...scout's honor!

Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, room tempurature
1 c. Brown Sugar
3/4 c. Granulated Sugar
5 oz. Dark Chocolate, melted
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/4 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 c. Cake Flour
1/4 c. Cocoa
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
2 c. Chocolate Chips

Directions:

In an electric mixing bowl cream together butter and both sugars on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla. Once this is all mixed together, add the flours, cocoa, baking powder, and salt until everything is all mixed in. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough, covered, for a couple hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough onto a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes. Makes 12-18 cookies.

Enjoy!

- Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies -

After piles upon piles of unsuccessful attempts at making up my own brownie recipe, I've got one that worked. Apparently you just add peanut butter and everything is fine. Well, it was a little more than that, but I just like to praise the PB. This is the brownie for all you peanut butter and chocolate lovers out there. The brownie is chewy and the peanut butter swirl sits on top in all it's delicious density and intense flavor. Certainly worth a try (and worth breaking your diet over, but you don't have to follow my bad example). =)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies.

Ingredients:

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
3 oz. dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T. canola oil
3/4 c. + 1 1/2 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray. 

In a large bowl over a saucepan of water over a medium-high heat, acting as a double boiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate and the dark chocolate together. Remove from heat and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Then add the sugar and mix well together with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined. Then add the vanilla and canola oil and mix well. Sift in all the flour, salt, and baking soda, and stir all together with a wooden spoon.

In a small saucepan over a low heat, start melting the peanut butter. Take one tablespoon of the brownie batter and add to the saucepan. Whisk together the peanut butter mixture till smooth. Remove from heat.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan. With a spoon, drop the peanut butter mixture in dollops all over the top of the brownie batter. Then take a knife and swirl it on the top. Put into the oven and let bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out pretty much clean.

Makes 16 brownies (or less, depending on your preferred size, go wild...come on...it suits you)

Enjoy!

- The Dessert Club -

Recently I formed a dessert club for some of the young women at my church, and yesterday we had the first meeting, or "eating", as we call it! It was so much fun, just a bunch of ladies bringing dessert and eating it! Fattening, but we only meet once a month, so we can justify that! ;) There were amazing desserts from S'more Bars, to Lemonade Blackberry Cupcakes, to Key Lime Cheesecake, and more! We had a great time, and I heartily recommend you form a dessert club for you and your friends, it's just an awesome event! Here are some photos from the evening.

I made the Cheesecake.

- Delicious Glazed Doughnuts -

For the first time ever I made real fried doughnuts! I'm so excited about them! I found a great and really easy looking recipe on pinterest and decided to test it out! The difference was that I just glazed them then dipped some of them in chocolate ganache instead of doing the whole coffee glaze with bacon. These are very easy to do and I highly recommend them: Coffee-Biscoff-Bacon Doughnuts
 

 

 

- Celebrating Dad's Birthday -

I think heaven visited me the other day, and I ate it. I'm feeling really guilty right now...

Yes, around here on birthdays the only cake to be had is chocolate with chocolate and extra chocolate. This time I decided to go overboard and make six layers of chocolate. Everyone was happy and stuffed and said they wouldn't be able to eat anymore... It was gone the next day. I think it goes without saying that this cake was a hit. For the cake part and all its dense, moist, chocolaty goodness, I used this recipe: Six Layer Chocolate Cake with Marshmallow Filling and Malted Chocolate Frosting. But for the filling I used ganache (About 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2-3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, the cream is heated till it boils and then add the chocolate, let sit five minutes, whisk together. Put in fridge to chill for about 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes until it is spreadable). And for the frosting I used Duncan Hines chocolate frosting 2 1/2 containers. On the first layer of cake, spread ganache, add another cake layer, spread Duncan Hines frosting, add another cake layer, spread more ganache, another cake layer, more frosting, another cake layer, more ganache, add the last cake layer, and then frost the whole cake with more Duncan Hines frosting. The end result is that you will have three ganache layers and two frosting layers plus the outer frosting, and not to mention six layers of chocolate cake! Pretty rich and delicious! I hope you guys have a chance to make this some time, pretty yum!

- Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart -

Okay, so creating this was a bit of a crazy process for me. I had to make caramel! From scratch...make up the recipe...on my own...it was terrifying! Now I'm real into pastry making, but not making the recipes up! It was scary knowing that I had to deal with sugar, and boiling hot sugar at that! Well it all worked out, and needless to say I was dancing around the house like an idiot with excitement. It was just too much fun! So, don't be afraid of making this caramel from scratch, it is really very simple!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

For the Pastry:

1 1/2 c. All-Purpose Flour, plus more for flouring the counter
1/4 c. Cocoa Powder
3 T. Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 sticks chilled Butter, cubed
1/4 cup cold Water

For the Caramel:

1 1/2 c. Granulated Sugar
1/2 c. Water
1 T. Light Corn syrup
1 stick cubed Butter
1/2 c. Heavy Cream
1/4 tsp. Course Salt

Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 c. Heavy Cream
3/4 c. semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Dash of Vanilla
Fleur de sel for sprinkling

Directions for Pastry:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In food processor fitted with blade, blend together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt. Add the butter, a couple of cubes at a time, blending the whole time. Slowly add the cold water till the dough come away from the sides and forms a ball. Liberally cover the counter with flour and knead the dough, adding more flour to the counter till the dough is no longer sticky, about 3 minutes of kneading. Then, with a rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle, about an 1/8-1/4 of an inch thick. Place the dough in the a 9'' tart pan, and cut away any excess dough. Line the dough with foil and evenly weight with pie weights or beans. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely on wire rack. 

Directions for Caramel:

In medium saucepan heat the sugar, water, and corn syrup  over a medium-high heat, boiling till it turns a caramel color (not too dark, once it starts to turn it will turn quickly), around 15-20 minutes it took for me. Once ready, turn the heat down to low, and immediately add the butter and heavy cream. It will bubble, and that's good. Mix with wooden spoon for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat and pour into the cooled tart crust. Let sit and cool until set up, a 3 or more hours is best.

IMPORTANT NOTE!: I've made a hard caramel before with just the sugar and water boiled to a caramel color, and I was told, whatever is left in the bottom of the pan, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RINSE WATER INTO IT!  It WILL explode in your face, no joke! I'm not sure with the butter and cream and all if it acts the same, but I wasn't about to test it, so here's a tip: Let whatever is left in the bottom of the saucepan cool and harden. Then fill the saucepan with water and put it on the stove over a high heat till it boils, then you can just pour it all down the drain. Safety first, always!

Directions for Ganache:

Heat heavy cream in a bowl in microwave until it starts to boil. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and let sit for a couple of minutes in the cream. Then mix together with fork until smooth. Cover and put in refrigerator for half an hour, stirring every ten minutes. Pour over the cool, set caramel. Sprinkle with a little fleur de sel. Let set completely before serving. I think it tastes better the next day, just be sure to sprinkle on the fleur de sel the day you are going to serve it.

Serves about 8

Enjoy!

- Three Chocolate Hot Chocolate -

Why hello Spring, when did you get here? Because according to our radar, it snowed on your first day. That's why I'm still pretending you don't exist and sipping hot chocolate!

True, in other areas of the States it might feel like Spring...maybe even Summer. But here in preppy little New England, we still have snow and temperatures in the 30s. Not that I'm complaining, though while I love warmer weather and shorts, it's not easy to pull off a convincing excuse for drinking hot chocolate in the Summer. So for all you looking to hold on to hot chocolate weather just a little bit longer, check out my three chocolate hot chocolate and try it out before the flip-flops come back!

Three Chocolate Hot Chocolate

2 c. Milk 2%
1/4 c. Whole Milk
2 Tbls. Heavy Cream
1/3 c. Milk Chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 c. Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 c. Semisweet Chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp. Vanilla
Whipped Cream

Directions:
In medium saucepan, whisk all ingredients, except the whipped cream, together over a medium heat, stirring most of the time, until the the chocolate is dissolved (this includes the chocolate flecks which hang around on the top for a while even after the chocolate has melted in), it takes about 10 minutes or so. Pour into mugs and finish off with a dollop of whipped cream. Serves 2. Enjoy!