This idea for a dessert was inspired partially by my anticipated lack of time to make it (it was supposed to be for a holiday party, but I ended up just making more of these), and partially because I came across the pre-baked shortbread tartlets in the baking aisle at Ralph’s. Since I remembered everyone loving this filling when I made it last year for the chocolate whoopie pies, I thought a variation on it would make for another great treat.

CHOCOLATE CREAM TARTLETS

• 2 boxes of pre-baked shortbread tartlets – mine had 16 in a box
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 – 1 cup whole milk
• 1 – 3.9 oz package of chocolate pudding mix

To make the whipped cream filling, please follow the directions from this post (there are step by step photos). My friend, who gave me the original recipe, noted that the chocolate filling doesn’t have as strong a flavor when using the same proportions as we used for the vanilla. I used 3/4 of the packet of chocolate powder, but you could safely use the entire thing for a richer flavor. Just make sure to up the amount of milk you use to get the consistency you’re looking for.

Once your filling is ready, pop it into a piping bag with a wide tip. I used Wilton tip 195, but you can use a round one as well. Just like you would to frost a cupcake, pipe the chocolate whipped cream into the tartlet shell, and voila!

Since I thought the chocolate flavor would be slightly weak, I decided to garnish (enhance) it with chocolate curls from semisweet chocolate. Just use a veggie peeler on a block of chocolate to create them. I peeled the chocolate into a bowl, then popped it into the freezer for a bit so the curls wouldn’t smush when I went to sprinkle it onto the tartlets.

You’ll have plenty of leftover filling, so you can just pipe that directly in your gullet. Otherwise these tartlets, and the filling, will last a few days in the fridge. Just make sure to keep them covered. These are a light and not-too-sweet dessert. And of course, since they’re only 2 bites each, quite addictive! They got rave reviews from everyone who sampled one.

Enjoy!

You may recognize them, despite their red and blue gear, as the Best Damn Sugar Cookies I have ever made. I tried my best to make these festive, and learned some things about food gel that I will pass along to you! **Update – totally realized too late that the label said Food Paste… so, yeah.**

Food gel is similar to food coloring, but it’s more concentrated and in a thicker form, rather than liquid. What does that mean for you? Certain recipes can be drastically affected if you upset the proportion of dry ingredients to wet, so the more viscous gel coloring is often a better alternative. Whereas some recipes, like Red Velvet Cake, allow for the addition of liquid food coloring, this sugar cookie recipe doesn’t. I would also like to take this opportunity to tell you that Icing Color is not the same as Food Gel. You can use food gel to color frosting, but icing color will not have the same vibrant look in baked products .

As you can see from the picture above, my cookies didn’t turn out blue so much as aqua. Since this was my first experiment with food gel, it was a game of trial and error. Here are some tips I will pass along to you so your cookie color fares bolder. (Then again, the Giants did win – so I could safely say Mission Accomplished.)

Add your food gel in with your liquid ingredients. In some cases this will be milk or water, but in the case of the sugar cookies I added it with the eggs and vanilla. I’m pretty sure the greenish tint is because the eggs added the only other color (yellow) to this dough. (Butter – if whipped properly – will turn white-ish once creamed with sugar.)

Once I started adding the flour, the color wasn’t as vibrant, so I tried adding more gel. It was more difficult blending it in at this phase, and I ended up with sort of tie-dyed dough. The problem with that was I was inclined to keep stirring the dough to get the color evened out, and that can easily lead to over-mixing and tough cookies (haha).

In summation – I would recommend you add more food gel than you think is necessary at the earlier stages of your recipe, since it will fade a bit with the addition of the flour which is lighter in color. I only added about 5 drops pre-flour, and another 2 after that didn’t mix in quite so well, since I didn’t realize how desaturated the flour would make it.

Working with food gel isn’t too difficult, but hopefully you fare better than I did in this, my first attempt. And great news is you have time to perfect your cookie coloring before the next Giants game on Sunday!

Melanie over at Mel Runs is hosting a “Stronger than Chocolate” challenge. The idea is to substitute fruit for chocolate for 7 days (or as long as you can last/handle/stomach/tolerate, you get the idea). For some reason, I have agreed to do this. (I’m starting tomorrow… already had hot chocolate with breakfast today.) Anyways – for those of you interested in a challenge, and who enjoy the support system of strangers on the internets, head on over to her page to be counted and held accountable.

Moving on. Have you ever wondered what makes those little fruit tarts in the bakery case so shiny? Do you get frustrated trying to dissolve sugar in cold drinks and wish there were an easier way? Sometimes referred to as ‘liquid sugar,’ simple syrup is the solution to both those questions! To make your fruit shiny, just brush some simple syrup on it, and if you’re a real sugar user (like myself), just pour a little syrup into your iced coffee and it will mix in with no hassle!

This syrup is super easy to make, and also really easy to change up if you wanted to make flavor shots like you see at your favorite coffee shop. I did take step by step photos of this, but they don’t really do anything for me, so I’m not posting them. Let me know if you think they’ll help you in this endeavor and I’ll put them up. (Or see my link below to caramel syrup for a similar example.)

SIMPLE SYRUP

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water (or liquid)

While you don’t have to make the entire recipe (I used about half and didn’t even need as much), the key thing to remember here is the 1:1 ratio. You will always be using equal parts liquid and sugar. Why did I say “liquid” instead of water? Well, in this case, I used pear juice. It was on sale at the store and I thought I’d try it out. I put the juice in everything, and once I made the simple syrup I started drizzling it on desserts and adding it to my tea to amp up the flavor. If you use water, you’ll have a wonderful, basic, sugary syrup – nothing wrong with that.

Put your sugar and water/liquid into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves. Then, remove the saucepan from heat and allow to cool. One thing I kept expecting was for was the liquid to thicken a bit, but it didn’t happen. So… once the sugar is dissolved in water and it’s boiled down and reduced slightly, you’re all set! How much easier can a recipe get?

Now, I can’t speak as an authority – but I’m pretty sure you could use almost any kind of juice to make this syrup. I’m not sure what something like orange juice would yield as opposed to clearer juices like apple or cranberry, but it’s worth a shot, right? How much yummier would a Cosmo be if you used cranberry syrup in there instead of just the juice?  Wouldn’t your apple spiced tea taste that much better with a little apple syrup mixed in? And wouldn’t it be easier to stir in a liquid syrup if your drink were cold?

In addition – you could make caramel syrup (I’ve done that, recipe here), probably can add some vanilla extract to make vanilla syrup, and so on. I feel like the possibilities are endless. Let me know if you come up with any other combinations! There are no doubt recipes all over the web, but this also seems like a harmless time for good ol’ trial and error.

Oh – and storage recommendations. I’ve read that you should store it in glass in the fridge, covered, so that’s what I did. I just used a spare drinking glass with some plastic wrap over it – super fancy. Just make sure the syrup cools before you put it in the glass and in the fridge, so it doesn’t crack!

This recipe is quite fitting for the occasion, considering I kind of just made it up (not without inspiration, of course). All I wanted, 2 years ago, was to be able to “wing it” with a recipe – and here I am. Or, rather, here I did. These cheesecake bites were kind of a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. I didn’t even know until last year that white chocolate and peppermint were such a popular holiday combination, so this year I wanted in on the action.

Experience has shown me that mini cupcakes, and other individual desserts, work better for things like pot-luck holiday parties than full-sized cakes. I found a bunch of complimentary recipes from Tollhouse while food shopping this week, and among them was a no-bake chocolate cheesecake. It was kismet. Inspired by that recipe, and  my salted caramel cheesecake cupcakes, I came up with the concoction below.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES - makes 5 dozen minis

For the crust:

• 4oz graham crackers – crushed into crumbs
• 4 Tbsp butter (I used salted, that’s up to you – I also accidentally used 4oz, but it worked out well)

for the cheesecake filling:

• 2 – 8oz packages of cream cheese
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, melted and stirred smooth

PEPPERMINT GANACHE

• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 crushed candy cane/peppermint candies for garnish

I decided to make these into mini cupcakes rather than regular ones, but this recipe can also be used for one 9″ cheesecake. You’ll find out as you go along if you might need more ganache (I did), so just mix up any extra using the proportions above.

Start off by crushing your graham crackers, unless you were smart enough to buy them pre-pulverized. I find it easiest, and most therapeutic, to use a meat tenderizer to do this. Then, melt your butter in the microwave, or in a saucepan if you like. Pour the butter over the graham crumbs, and mix until it’s all covered evenly.

For mini cupcakes, line as many cupcake tins as you have with liners. I made 5 dozen with this recipe, but you will get about 16 regular-sized cupcakes. Use roughly one teaspoon of graham crumbs for each mini liner, then use something flat to smooth it down. I used the handle of my tenderizer.

You don’t want too much crust in the liner, because you need to leave room for the filling and the ganache on top of that. You can either bake the crust at this point, pssssht, or you can pop the tray into the fridge to set for a bit. I lined and grahamed one tin at a time, popping it into the freezer to set faster before starting on the next. The crust should set before you fill because otherwise it’ll crumble into the cheesecake. It will already be hard enough to spread it evenly, you’ll see.

While your crusts are setting, start mixing up your filling. Melt your white chocolate in a double boiler, or a microwaveable bowl at 20 second intervals (stir in between until melted and smooth). Cream together your cream cheese and sugar. Once it starts smoothing out, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add your heavy cream, and keep mixing until incorporated. Then, add in your melted white chocolate and mix until smooth. Make sure to scrape the side of the bowl to get everything mixed in evenly.

Take one cupcake tin out of the freezer at a time to start filling. Use about a tablespoon-sized dollop for the mini cupcakes. You want to make sure there’s a bit of space in the top of the liner to pour your ganache later. Spread the cheesecake in the liner so it’s smooth. I won’t lie, this was a pain. One of those “this is good enough” kind of deals. Truthfully, the ganache will cover most imperfections, so you don’t have to worry if it’s not smooth.

I used a spoon in one hand and my fingers of the other to spread it out as best I could. Please keep in mind that these will taste great no matter what they look like. Once you finish each tray, pop it back into the fridge or freezer to set while you fill the rest.

Once your cupcakes are filled and setting again, crush your candy cane inside a plastic bag using a tenderizer or your tool of choice. I put them in a sandwich bag which was silly – you should use something more durable. Then it’s time to make the ganache. Using a double boiler, or the microwave, heat up your heavy cream until boiling. Then add your peppermint extract and stir until combined. Add your white chocolate chips, and mix until smooth.

If the ganache doesn’t seem smooth enough, add a few more drops of cream, if it seems too runny add more chips. Not too delicate a science. You can try pouring, but I found it best to ladle the ganache over the tops of the cupcakes and use the spoon to smooth it out. Finish it off by sprinkling some crushed candy cane on top to decorate. (I’d recommend doing this after every couple of cupcakes instead of waiting until the end because the ganache starts setting pretty quickly atop the chilled cheesecake.) Also, if the ganache starts hardening in the bowl, you can pop it back into the microwave to help smooth it back out.

Pop the cupcakes back in the fridge, yet again, to set for a bit before serving. If you made regular cupcakes, or a cake, you’ll need to let it set a bit longer, but for the minis just half an hour should be fine.

Then it’s time to spread the holiday cheer and serve these bad boys up.

If you want a merry holiday season, these will certainly help set the tone. I’ll give them an evil rating of 3, because once you pop one, you really can’t stop.

After reading a bunch of posts on Pinterest - a site I will have to explore further in the future – and finding this one from The Whimsical Cupcake as well as others, I determined all the recipes were the same, and seemed to generate from one blog: 17 and Baking. (Just to be clear – all the recipes really are the same, I just wanted to give credit where it was due, even if I’m the one who led myself on a wild goose chase.)

This is going to be a long post because we’re dealing with yeast here – not my strong suit. Or maybe it just seemed long because it takes a while to make (what with letting the dough rise twice and all). Either way, if you actually make this recipe, you’re in for a well-earned, lemony scented treat. The bread was kind of interesting to make actually, seeing how it all came together and whatnot. It was a PITA, but that’s why you wake up extra early on a Sunday to make it. (yeah, I know.) It tasted like challah with some lemon/sugar/butter. There is a recipe for lemon cream-cheese frosting to accompany it, though I ran out of time to make it. Next time for sure, and there will be a next time.

LEMON-SCENTED MONKEY BREAD – makes one loaf

For the dough:

• 2+3/4 cups AP flour (not bread flour)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2+1/4 tsp instant yeast (one packet)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 oz unsalted butter (1/4 cup or 1/2 a stick)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1+1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs at room temp

For the lemon sugar filling:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 oz (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted (I accidentally did 2 Tbsp of this)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 3 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

To make the dough, first combine all your dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer – 2 cups of the flour (you’ll add more later), salt, yeast, and sugar.

Either in a saucepan, or the microwave – I chose the latter – heat your milk and butter until the butter is melted. Remove from heat, if using your stove, and add the 1/4 cup water. Let the liquid sit until it cools to warm. (120-130F… my thermometer is busted so I guessed.) Then add in your vanilla extract and stir until combined.

Pour your liquid mixture over the dry ingredients, and use a spatula to stir until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. This gave the dough the consistency of flaky biscuit dough.

Then, put the bowl into the mixer and use the paddle attachment to beat in the eggs one at a time on low speed. Next, add in an additional 1/2 cup of the AP flour. Resume mixing on low speed until the dough is smooth – about 45 seconds. Add 2 more Tablespoons of flour and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, soft, and slightly sticky – about a minute.

This is where things got hairy for me. Rather than hand-kneading the dough, I popped in my dough hook and let ‘er (the mixer) rip. Even after kneading thoroughly, the dough was still tacky and didn’t pass the windowpane test. I wasn’t trying to be perfect, I just wanted this bread to have a fighting chance. I reiterate, yeast is not my strong suit. I added the remaining 2 Tbsp of flour to help ease it out of its tackiness. In the end, you should end up with smooth and un-sticky dough. I settled for smooth and a lot less sticky.

I then proceeded to rip the dough out of the mixer bowl and, so it wouldn’t stick after the rise, ever-so-lightly patted a bit of flour around the outside to make my life easier later on. The one thing I was unsure about, with this recipe, is that usually when I make dough, I grease the bowl it rises in, and this recipe had no such direction, so for you I am adding one. I recommend you grease the bowl with butter before you place your dough in it to rise.

Anyways – move the dough into the large bowl, where it will have enough room to double in size, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour. One trick I use is to place the bowl in the oven along with a saucepan of boiling water. The heat and moisture should speed up the process. Unfortunately, I had some problems with rise time for my dough – they both took a lot longer than expected. (Yes, there are two rises.) I will for sure make this recipe again and get the rise it needs. The bread turned out well, but it could be better, I just know it!

While the dough is rising, mix together your lemon-sugar. No need to melt the butter until the dough has doubled. Just use your fingertips to massage the zest into the sugar, then cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Once the dough has risen, you’re going to gently deflate it with your hand. Before you do that, however, is the time to grease a 9×5″ loaf pan, and melt your butter for the filling. Then, lightly flour a work surface, punch down your dough, and roll it out to 12 x 20.” Make sure you flour the rolling pin too, so the dough doesn’t stick.

Liberally brush the butter evenly over the dough using a pastry brush. Then, using a pizza cutter, slice it into 5 even strips of 12 x 4.” Next step is to use about 1.5 Tbsp of lemon sugar, spread it evenly over the top of one section, then place another section on top of it, until you have a stack of all 5 strips. I ended up having some lemon sugar left over, so I used it as a topping later on.

Take this stack of dough strips, and cut it into 6 more sections – about 4 x 2″ each.  You’ll be transferring these stacks into your greased loaf pan. I found the easiest way to do this was turning the pan on its end and stacking the layers on top of each other – rather than trying to fit them in sideways and keep them from falling over.

Next step is the second rise. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap, and let it rise for another 30-50 minutes, until the dough has nearly doubled in size. (I left mine for close to an hour and it didn’t really rise much, in case you’re wondering why the pix look similar before and after.) This is the point where I sprinkled my remaining lemon sugar on the top. Then it’s time to bake!

Preheat your oven to 350F, and pop the loaf pan in for about 30-35 minutes. You want the top to be golden brown, but you don’t want it to be raw in the middle. If the top is browning too quickly, cover it with aluminum foil. Make sure to test the bread with a toothpick to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. I might have over-baked mine a bit out of paranoia, but it wasn’t too dry in the middle.

Let the bread cool in the pan for a bit. Getting it out was a bit tricky. I ran a knife around it, flipped it upside down onto a plate, and it wouldn’t come out. Turns out all the butter and sugar caramelized at the bottom and it was literally stuck in there. I just went back with my butter knife and wedged it in until I felt the loaf lift from the bottom of the pan. Then I flipped it back onto the plate and tapped the bottom to get it out. Reverse it back onto your cooling rack.

At this point, you can make your frosting by creaming your cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, then adding in the lemon juice and milk.

Top with the frosting and serve!

I’d say this bread tastes best while it’s still warm, but I also sampled it once it had cooled and it was still pretty tasty. I got good reviews on this, though I know I have to get a better rise for next time. The bread came out a bit dense, but not really in a bad way according to my friends. I had just expected it to be a little fluffier. As for the pull-apart part… with all the sugar and butter binding these layers together, we had to pry with fingernails to get the layers separated, but it was kind of fun. And why dirty up a knife if you don’t have to

As for evilness, I’ll give this bread a rating of 3 – and that’s more because it’ll drive you crazy while making it, though you might be fiending for another slice. Enjoy!

There is a bit of prep work involved, but the timing worked out surprisingly well and they were ready to eat just after people arrived. Unfortunately, I was a little stressed while making them, which is never a good thing. The only reason I mention it is because since I was already a little aggravated, frustrations like the dough sticking to the cutting board and not staying stretched out long enough to put pepperoni on it were amplified. Generally speaking, however, this was not too difficult a recipe – especially if you buy pre-made pizza dough, as I did.

The original post includes a recipe to make 2lbs of dough, which you’ll need for this, but I went out and bought some pre-made from a local food store. I bought one pound each of regular dough and whole wheat because I wanted to do half pepperoni bites and half plain cheese and be able to tell them apart. There was no difference in baking time, which was lovely since they were all going into one big loaf.

PEPPERONI PIZZA MONKEY BREAD - makes about 48 bites

• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 4 Tbsp butter – I used salted, doesn’t matter
• 2 lbs pizza dough
• 6 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into about 48 small cubes – I used shredded because it was on sale
• 48 slices of pepperoni (the package I bought was around 30 slices, so just check)
• 2-3 cups marinara sauce, warmed for serving
• optional – ranch dressing for dipping as well

You don’t need to preheat the oven just yet because there will be rest time for the bites before you have to bake them.

Heat butter over medium heat until it starts melting. Add the garlic and let it cook until it starts to brown. Remove the saucepan from heat.

Using a pastry brush – lightly brush the inside of a bundt pan with garlic butter.

Breaking off about 2/3 oz of dough, about the size of a large marble, flatten it in your palm or on a lightly floured surface. If you’re so inclined, a kitchen scale will make this a lot easier. Keep in mind, though, that once the dough is torn/separated, it’s hard to patch it back up.

I used my palm to flatten the dough because it kept sticking to the wooden cutting board I was using. My hand became the easier option, but do what works for you. Flatten the dough, stretch it apart gently with your fingers, just enough so that you can fit a piece of the pepperoni on there as well as a cube, or pinch, of mozzarella.  (For the plain cheese ones, I just used double the cheese – about a teaspoon.)

Wrap the dough around the pepperoni and pinch it to seal it shut. Then, using the pastry brush or your fingers, lightly brush the ball of dough with the garlic butter. This will become increasingly more difficult as your fingers become slick with butter, so I found it easiest to wipe them on a paper towel in between making every few. (This whole process took me about 45 minutes.) Throw the finished ones into the bundt pan.

Once they’re all made, cover and let the dough rest for half an hour. This is a good time to preheat your oven to 400F.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is very brown. (If only making half a batch in a pie dish, bake for about 20 minutes.)

Remove from the oven and let your bread cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing it to a plate and serving to hungry friends with your choice of dipping sauce.

These bad boys will get an evil rating of 4, because they were super addictive, though not really unhealthy

I’ve started getting recipes emailed to me from AllRecipes.com (no they’re not paying me, I’ve just found tons of awesome recipes on their site), and this one came in via email one day. I didn’t search for it or seek it out in any way, I know better than to make chocolate cakes in my house. (There’s one cake and one of me, the math should add up but it doesn’t.) So what better day to experiment than on a Sunday?

Here is the warning that it took me a couple of reads through to realize – this cake will take 2 days to make. Once it’s baked, you need to let it set in the fridge overnight. Okay? So you have to make it a day before you want to eat it. You still have plenty of time before dinner on Thursday, so don’t freak out.

It’s a fairly simple recipe with really minimal ingredients, only 7 – and 3 of those are chocolate, mostly stuff I already had on hand! That being said, this recipe is for a [Brand Name] Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake but I didn’t use [Brand Name] chocolate. I’ll let you tell me if it made a difference. (The people who ate it didn’t think so.)

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE – Recipe says serves 8, I think you can serve 12

For the cake – Day 1:

• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup unsalted butter – room temp
• 8 large eggs – chilled
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the topping – day 2:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 2 ounces white chocolate – chopped or shaved for garnish

This recipe called for the cake to be baked in a 9 x 2″ round cake pan. (9″ diameter, 2″ high) As it turns out, I do not own one of those, so I baked mine in an 8 x 3″ round cake pan. You could also use a 9″ square. This DID affect my bake time, so I will tell you the adjustments I made below – please refer to the original recipe if you’re using a 9 x 2″ pan.

Preheat your oven to 300F. Butter the bottom and sides of your cake tin, then line the bottom with parchment paper. The easiest way to do this is to trace the outside of your pan onto the parchment before cutting it.

In a double boiler over barely simmering water, melt your butter and semisweet chips. I layered mine so there was half of the butter on the bottom (because it melts quicker) then chocolate, then the other half of the butter on top. Another tip is to make sure you cut your butter up so it melts more quickly – same thing with chocolate, the smaller the pieces the quicker they melt. Also make sure to keep the heat low so you don’t burn the chocolate. Once it’s smooth and melted, leave it to cool off slightly. (But not completely!)

While that’s going, you can start whipping your eggs. Into the bowl of a mixer, crack your eggs and add the salt. Whip them on medium speed until they double in volume, which takes about 5 minutes. (Set a timer so you don’t have to think about it.) It’s hard to tell volume in the pictures below, but you’ll see how the eggs  froth up after being whipped.

One thing I noticed was there were some un-frothed eggs still at the bottom of the mixer, and I’m not quite sure how to remedy that because I don’t think scraping the bowl will work. My cake turned out fine, so it shouldn’t be cause for alarm. Anyway, next you’ll add your egg mixture, one-third at a time, into your chocolate. Make sure to fold it gently. It took a while for me to feel like it was smoothly incorporated because I was trying so hard to be gentle. (The irony.) Once its combined, pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

You’ll be baking the cake using a water bath. This means you’ll need a larger pan (I used a 9 x 13″ glass dish) as well. Place the cake tin inside the larger pan, and you’re going to fill it with hot-but-not-boiling water until it’s about halfway up the sides of the cake pan. *TIP* - it is much easier to add the water once your pan is on the oven rack rather than struggling with placing it down while it’s all heavy and splashy.

Bake for 35 minutes on 300F (remember I’m adjusting for using a smaller cake pan), and then turn up the temp to 325F for another 15 minutes or so until the cake is set in the middle and pulling away from the sides of the pan. You want to start the temperature off low so the outside of the cake doesn’t cook faster than the inside and get over-baked or tough. Once it’s mostly cooked through, you can speed up the process by raising the temp.

My cake did not appear to pull away from the sides of the pan, though I was trying to check while hot oven air was blowing in my eyes, so I did actually jiggle the pan to see if the middle was set. Just be sure to do this carefully as it’s sitting in water which can splash when displaced! I did also use a toothpick to test it and make sure the inside was cooked through once I pulled it from the oven.

When your cake is set, let it cool completely on a rack, but leave it in the pan. Once it’s cooled, you’ll be covering it with plastic wrap (the directions didn’t specify, so I put it on the surface of the cake, not just over the top of the pan), and putting it in the fridge overnight (for 8 hours – longer is fine).

Day 2:

To remove the cake from its pan, place the pan about halfway in some lukewarm water. Run a thin spatula, or butter knife, around the edge of the cake and then turn it over onto your serving dish. Be careful that you wipe off any excess water from the pan before turning it over onto a plate so it doesn’t get on the to the cake. Then make sure to peel away the parchment paper. (The first pic below  is of the cake pan sitting in a plastic container with warm water – super hard to see in a white sink…)

Pour your milk chocolate chips into a soup bowl, or any medium bowl that can handle heat. (Not the measuring cup that I used, very hard to stir…) Then, in a small saucepan, heat up your heavy cream. Once it’s hot, but not steaming, pour it over the chocolate chips. Let them sit for a bit, then use a spoon or spatula to smooth out the mixture.

While it’s warm, pour the ganache over your cake, and smooth it out with a spatula. The original recipe says there will be some left over, but I just poured it all on and let it drip down the sides. While that’s cooling a bit, you can chop up or grate your white chocolate topping, then sprinkle it over the top of your cake.

Place the cake in the fridge to set, then serve and enjoy! I couldn’t eat more than one slice because this is probably the richest dessert I’ve ever had, let alone made, but in a good way. This gets the highest rank on the Evil Rating Scale of a 5. No question.

Also, in case you’re wondering, I did take lots of pix of the whole cake, but they don’t look good since I also chose to use a red plate and my cherry wood table to display it. Silly girl. Anyways, it looked like a chocolate cake with white chocolate sprinkled on top. Here’s the part that matters… the first bite:

And, as I’m fond of saying, “you’re welcome.”

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES WITH CARAMEL CHUNKS – makes about 5 dozen

• 2 +1/4 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1.5 cups semi-sweet chips
• 1 cup chopped caramel candies
• 1 Tbsp sea salt – for garnish

Please refer to this link for the directions on making these bad boys, and to the steps below for the caramel candy addition.

To prepare the caramels, unwrap about 15 candies and, using a sharp knife, chop them into chunks. I cut each one into about 6 pieces, but it doesn’t really matter. I wanted them small enough to distribute evenly, but not so small that it became a pain. The caramels didn’t stick to the knife, but if you find that they do you can grease it beforehand with some shortening or butter.

Add the caramels into the dough at the same time as your chocolate chips and stir to incorporate evenly. One thing to look out for is the caramel stuck to itself, so try to break it up a bit for more even distribution.

Once you form the cookies on the sheet, sprinkle some sea salt on top to help contrast the super sweetness of the cookie. This is, of course, completely optional, but you might want to give it a go if you have sea salt on hand.

Bake per the directions in the link, and you’ll notice the caramel oozes out of the cookie in places. These came out superbly, what’s not to love? I’d recommend giving them a try when you’re tired of your regular ol’ chocolate chip cookies (and you happen to have half a bag of caramels leftover from some frosting you made).

What drew me to this recipe on Allrecipes.com was the description that said, “I love sugar cookies that are crisp on the outside and very chewy on the inside…” That is what I look for in a perfect sugar cookie. I used to buy some in my high school cafeteria, Otis Spunkmeyers to be exact, and I always remembered the nommy chewiness that could have possibly been misconstrued as not quite being baked all the way. (Maybe they weren’t actually baked all the way, but still – they’re a lot better than I’m making them sound.)

Anyway, I really have searched for that same flavor and texture in a cookie for ages, and now I’ve found it. Do yourself a favor and make these immediately. You will win friends and influence people for sure.

The original recipe called for more sugar than I used, but I figure when you roll a cookie in sugar to decorate it, you don’t need as much in the dough itself. Another thing I noted was the original recipe said it made 30 cookies, so I would imagine they were some pretty ginormous cookies since I ended up with about twice as many good-sized cookies.

SUGAR COOKIES – makes about 5 dozen

• 2+3/4 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1+1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temp
• 1+1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cups white, coarse, or colored sugar for decorating

Preheat your oven to 350F and line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix together your dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, and salt.

Cream together your butter and white sugar until they’re light and fluffy. Then, add the eggs one at a time and beat until just combined. Add in your vanilla with the 2nd egg. Make sure you scrape down the side of the bowl.

Adding a little at a time, stir in your dry ingredients. Make sure you don’t over-mix, but make sure to get all the flour incorporated.

Next, using a spoon or cookie scoop, dig out enough dough to roll into a ball about the size of a quarter. The original recipe says walnut, but I decided to go slightly smaller to amass more cookies. Roll the ball in your hands to get it rounded, then roll it in your decorative sugar (I used raw cane sugar).

The dough is tacky, so it’s a little easier to drop the ball into the ball and shake and shimmy it a bit to cover it more before rolling it around with your fingers. Basically, coat it in sugar without using your fingers at first because the dough will stick to you. Maybe a spoon will work too, but why would I use something logical like that?

Place your cookies a couple of inches apart on the sheet as they will spread while baking. On my larger sheets I was able to fit 4×4, but I’m a daredevil like that.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a light golden color at the edges. Pull the sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool a bit before removing them to a rack to cool completely. You’ll notice, as I did, that your cookies puff up while baking and slowly deflate while cooling. This might look really drastic as it’s happening, but it’s perfectly normal. I tried to capture it on camera, but it doesn’t look as obvious in the photos as it will in your kitchen.

I cannot stress enough how insanely good these cookies were. I had my first slew of insults in a while; being called the devil, evil, a dirty whore, you name it. It felt good to be back in business, ya know? Our director got home from the shoot that evening and said his wife laughed at him when he asked if there were any cookies left.

Guess what, these have for sure earned a 5 on the Evil Rating Scale. No one could have just one, including yours truly, and they’re slap-your-mama good!

Don’t make me beg, just make these.