Chocolate

Valentine’s Day is synonymous with love and sweetness, and what better way to express your affection than by crafting delicious chocolate hearts? In this blog post, I’ll explain the process of making chocolate hearts using a candy mold, melting chocolates, and adding a sprinkle of creativity.

I just recently joined Pinterest. The thing I like most about Pinterest is the rush of creative ideas, interesting recipes and DIY projects I have at my fingertips. When I saw a ‘Phish Food’ brownie recipe, I immediately thought about my sister’s upcoming birthday. She isn’t much for sweets, and usually opts for carrot cake on her birthday, but she has always had a thing for Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food frozen yogurt. I can recall our early twenties when we lived together in Minnesota, every now and then a pint would spend a few days in our freezer as she’d savor a spoonful at a time. I thought home-made Phish Food-inspired brownies would be a perfect little something for her birthday.

It was my husband’s birthday this week. I had high hopes of making him a layer cake of his favorite German chocolate cake, but with a new baby in the house, time slipped away from me. Since cookies are my husband’s favorite baked-good, I opted to turn his favorite cake into cookies instead.

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so I got to thinking about my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookies. My favorite happens to be from La Grande Orange in Phoenix, Arizona. They make the tastiest, giant, chocolate chip cookies with sea salt. I emailed them to ask if they would share their recipe with me. They politely said no, stating it is a signature recipe that they will not publish. I get it, but I was a bit disappointed.

Over the holidays, along with sugar cookies, I made some of my childhood favorites — puppy chow and special k bars. If you haven’t tried these no-oven-required recipes before, you should. They are ridiculously easy to make and really yummy. The perfect chocolate and peanut butter desserts recipes ring in the new year and a new year of life.

My new office gives us unlimited hot drinks. Most days, I stick with my favorite earl gray, but the past couple afternoons, I’ve indulged by sipping a couple pre-packaged hot chocolates. Those little packets bring back memories of building snow forts and giant snowmen in my front yard.

I’ve had these mini marshmallows in my pantry for at least 6 months. For some reason, anytime I have a bunch of random ingredients like that, I feel compelled to create something. Mostly, because it seems wasteful not to use them before they get all stale.

Today is National Peanut Butter Day! To celebrate, I adapted a peanut butter balls recipe to create chocolate covered peanut butter hearts.

How are you spending this Valentine’s day? We are planning a simple date-night at home. I will make my hubby a nice homemade meal and dessert so we can enjoy some time together over a nice meal. When it comes to desserts, I like them sweet, but I also like a little salty flavor thrown in. It’s so hard to choose just one flavor, so I combined them and made these chocolate chip cookie popcorn bars.

One of my absolute favorite parts about the holiday season is having more excuses to bake. I love to bake for a couple reasons. First, I find it very therapeutic and relaxing. Second, I love making things to share with the people I love.

After a workout, I often enjoy a simple protein shake. Usually, I’ll just use almond milk (light, unsweetened vanilla flavor, btw), and a scoop of whey. If I’m feeling extra hungry, I might throw in a tablespoon of peanut butter. Most of the time, this protein shake just serves to tide me over until it’s meal time.

What do you do when you have a whole bunch of ripe bananas and kids who are so ‘over’ eating them? Well, I usually make some version of banana bread – muffins or a loaf of bread are my standard go-tos. I recently made this recipe, and it was a winner. But I get so bored with regular banana bread, so this time I decided to try making double chocolate banana bread mini muffins.

Have you ever eaten a chocolate semifreddo, or any semifreddo for that matter? I haven’t, up until I made one. It is shocking that I lived so much of my life without ever trying one. My family heritage is Italian.

Do you have any recipes that remind you of your childhood? This Special K Bars recipe definitely does. This was one of my very favorite treats my mom would make when I was a kid. There’s something about the peanut butter and chocolate combination that I (still) can’t get enough of. It is by far my favorite flavor combination.

I love cookie bars. Literally, anything that resembles a cookie in bar form (brownies included), I’m here for it. I received a bunch of random ingredients in one of my press boxes, so I had this giant bag of toffee. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I decided to start searching for recipes. After a lot of searching, I chose to make shortbread toffee bars and I’m so glad I did. Let me tell you, these didn’t last more than a day or two in my house! They are that good.

I was talking with a friend about the holidays and he mentioned the best dessert he’d ever eaten was a homemade chocolate rum cake. Sure, the baker was actually a professional chef. But, I’ve never even heard of, let alone, had a chocolate rum cake, so I had to try. There are so many different chocolate rum cakes out there, but after searching through lots of recipes, this one seemed to have the most stellar reviews. I changed a few things up to make this my own, but I can definitely tell you it’s really delicious.

For my true chocolate lovers, I have the perfect flourless chocolate torte recipe is for you. This recipe is definitely for those people who love rich and extra dark chocolate. If you don’t love chocolate, this is going to be too rich for you. For some people, this recipe might not be sweet enough.

During the holidays, certain sweet treats always come to mind for me. Panettone is one of them. Although I’ve only made homemade panettone a few times, it’s a holiday tradition I always have at my table, even if that means buying it at the local store.

If you’re a fan of the irresistible combination of chocolate and mint, these Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies are a must-try! With a buttery, peppermint-flavored base, a rich chocolate ganache filling, and a final touch of an Andes Mints garnish, these cookies are as beautiful as they are delicious. Whether you’re making them for the holidays, a special occasion, or just because, they’re guaranteed to be a hit.

If you’ve ever found yourself torn between a brownie and a classic chocolate chip cookie, then chocolate chocolate chip cookie bars are your new dessert obsession. These bars are everything you love about cookies — rich, buttery, gooey centers — baked in a single pan and loaded with double the chocolate. No need to scoop out dough or wait for batch after batch to bake. One pan, one delicious mess of fudgy, chewy goodness.

A quintessential Christmas cookie is the peanut butter kiss cookie. This year, I wanted to try something new, so when I found this crinkle recipe, I thought it might make a good base for chocolate peppermint kiss cookies.

I love chocolate in almost anything, but not that many Christmas cookies are chocolate-based. I’m always on the hunt for a Christmas cookie recipe I haven’t tried, so I was excited to find these Chocolate Snowcap cookies that combine chocolate and a wintry look.

Halloween is just a week away. I searched Pinterest to find totally fun Halloween desserts that I think both kids and adults would love. There are so many cute desserts out there. I’m always so impressed with other bloggers’ creativity and craftsmanship when it comes to fun desserts.

My husband and I don’t eat very much candy. Our kids don’t eat much candy either — not just because we limit it, but mostly because they don’t like it. Crazy, right? This lack of candy-eating means that trick-or-treating yields a ton of leftover Halloween candy that we don’t really want around the house.

During the holidays, I always search for Italian-inspired recipes to try, as a way to connect to my heritage. Last year, it was Italian wedding cookies and Florentine lace cookies. This year, it’s homemade chocolate peppermint biscotti.

I’m so glad it’s Halloween season! It’s definitely one of my favorite holidays. Who doesn’t like dressing up in fun costumes and getting free candy? Next to Christmas, Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday. To get in the spirit, I decided to try making these fun Halloween spider cookies and I’m SO excited how they turned out.

My favorite candy bar, by far, is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. But, I actually love the holiday-shaped Reese’s even more. I don’t play favorites, I equally love the eggs, trees, pumpkins, and hearts. But there is something that I just love about the holiday-shaped Reese’s even more than the originals. That’s why I decided to make this copycat Reese’s eggs recipe. These homemade peanut butter eggs are so easy to make and almost as good as the original.

Halloween is a time for creativity, fun, and, of course, treats! One of the most delightful ways to celebrate the season is by making your own chocolate Halloween lollipop recipe. These edible masterpieces not only satisfy your sweet tooth but also serve as fantastic decorations for Halloween gatherings. Whether you’re a seasoned chocolatier or a beginner, making chocolate lollipops is a fun and engaging activity. In this post, we’ll walk through a simple chocolate Halloween lollipop recipe that will have your friends and family enchanted by your skills.