Nutella Cheesecake

I feel like I don't need to write anything about this recipe, because I doubt anyone will read it. There's a giant piece of nutella cheesecake just taunting you, begging to be eaten! Not to worry, if you can mix cream cheese and nutella together, you can make this recipe. Quick, easy, and oh-so satisfying. 

Also, toasted hazelnuts? Heaven. 

Mini Chocolate Chip Double Doozies

So, I have a confession to make--I am absolutely obsessed with sandwich cookie recipes! These cute little cookies are sandwiched with homemade buttercream icing (leftover from my valentine's cupcakes) and they are easily in the top five list of recipes I've made thus far! 

Sandwich cookies are, by nature, a little labor intensive. These can be made easier by using store-bought icing, but they're sooo good like this! The key is to make these a day before hand and let the cookies sit for a day in a tupperware container, then they absorb the moisture from the icing and get irresistibly soft!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

I'll be the first to admit that cupcakes aren't my favorite baked good. I love the idea of them--it's a bite-sized cake, it's perfect for easy transportation, distribution, and consumption. I just haven't masted these little guys like I have the cookie. But I continue to try. 

These are made with pudding mix, which makes the cupcakes themselves a little bit moister than regular cupcakes. I've included a recipe for a delicious homemade buttercream frosting. I know frosting often seems rather intimidating to make at home, but this recipe (like most) is really simple! You just have to be patient.

And as I side note, can I say I love this first picture, because it looks like a whole bunch of cupcakes from another gang has come to beat up this little guy..

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Nutella chocolate chip cookies are some of my favorite I've ever made! They've got a nice crunchy first bite, but they practically melt in your mouth--I'd consider them a cross between a shortbread and a regular brown-sugar based chocolate chip cookie. What's better is that they are super easy to make! I think these would go nicely with hot chocolate, too.. or coffee!

Valentine's Chocolate M&M Cookies

Full disclosure: these were supposed to be red velvet cookies in honor of Valentine's day. But, I'm adaptable. I didn't put enough red food dye in these, so they turned into simple chocolate cookies. I think they're still plenty festive and they still tasted good! So here you have it: Valentine's M&M chocolate cookies!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I used to love making banana bread when I was back in high school. My dad has the old 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook sitting in our kitchen, and I'd always whip it out gleefully whenever we'd have super-ripe bananas. As I've grown up, however, I've constantly tried to pretend that I could make healthy banana bread (my earlier Banana Nut Bread, for instance), and it turns out good, but not Betty Crocker good. 

So, what I'm trying to say is, when I found this recipe--made with greek yogurt, that's the important part--and I saw that it had a whole cup of sugar in it, my first inclination was to try something else. But I didn't. It's the first week of classes so I figured a moist, sweet, delicious banana bread was what we all needed. And then I decided, what the hell, let's throw in some chocolate while we're at it! The result was the best banana bread I've ever made. So I learned a valuable lesson this week--some sugar splurging is good for you. 

Cookies 'n' Cream Brownie Cookies

So once more I find myself almost a month between posts! I'm not going to lie, the end of the semester takes a lot out of you. I'm in an odd place where I've been craving less super-sweet baked goods and more savory, oatmeal, honey, nut, etc. based goods. That being said, these cookies are not like that at all. Which is wonderful. I brought these into work and they disappeared in about two hours, all two dozen of them! You really cannot go wrong with a brownie cookie, it's the perfect mix of textures!

S'mores Truffles

Here is another incredibly easy, but oh-so-delicious baked good! I don't know if you can technically call it "baked", however, because no oven is required! These store and ship quite well, and they get better the longer they sit! 

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies

My experience with this recipe covered the entire spectrum of my life as the haphazard baker. The first time I tried to make these, I added too much sugar because I was distracted and the jelly oozed out over the sides and it was a sad, sad, mess. However, my second attempt created one of the best looking (and best tasting) cookies I've ever made! These are shortbread cookies, so they practically melt in your mouth when you take a bite, and the almond-raspberry combination is divine. I know they look a little complicated, but really, they are quite simple to make!

Red Velvet Cake Balls

So I'm back home for Christmas and my father is on a big cake ball kick. For good reason, mind you. They are quick and easy to make, they look adorable, and they taste wonderful. These are quite festive, I think, and perfect for Christmas.

Which, by the way, I should mention that my Christmas baking is going to stretch well into January. Making up for lost time!

Toffee Logs

As you can probably tell if you follow this blog, I have a serious love of heath bar. I know, I know, what am I, 64? I fell in love with the candy back during my Dairy Queen days (have a heath bar sundae with hot fudge, seriously) and I just can't get enough. I found these special Hershey's Nuggets candy bars in Price Chopper one day and knew they needed to be stuffed into a nice, dark brown sugar-butter cookie. And so they were. 

Peanut Butter Snowflake Blossoms

I made these cookies for my students the last week of classes and they disappeared pretty fast--but when are peanut butter blossoms ever neglected? 

I'd like to drawn attention to the fact that I made these the last week of classes, which means they came from a mix, and I'm totally not ashamed. They're adorable. But this also means I took pictures on my kitchen counter as I was rushing out of the door, so my apologies. 

Peppermint S'mores Cookies

It has officially been one month since my last post--this is what happens when you try to keep up a baking blog during the last four weeks of the semester. Good news, though, I'm one semester closer to getting my MA! I've spent the day finishing up some grading and now I finally have enough time to update the blog (and not feel exceedingly guilty about it). 

However, you know that I was not ever too busy to bake. I made these delicious cookies a couple weeks back and I love how they turned out. You can't go wrong with a s'mores variant in my opinion. I adapted my graham cracker cookie recipe from my Reese's cheesecake cookies (remember those?) and used my favorite Wilton candy melts to make these extra festive!

Turkey Blossoms

I love peanut butter blossom cookies (who doesn't) and I've always liked to experiment with the cookie-hershey's combination. In honor of Thanksgiving, these cinnamon cookies are rolled in pecans and topped with a festive turkey-feather-esque design. Aren't they adorable? :)

Pumpkin Spice Sandwich Cookies

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving which pretty much means that fall is over in two days.. and I'm trying to get as much fall baking as I can in before then! I bought these adorable fall leaf sprinkles two months ago at Michael's and I am so excited that I finally got to use them! These cookies look like regular sugar cookies, but I assure you they have a lovely spiced flavor. I can't get enough of sandwich cookies, there's something that makes a regular cookie so much better when you smother it with cream cheese icing. 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

It's the week of Thanksgiving Break and I'm at the cusp of an intense baking binge. Grad school? All I see ahead of me are dozens and dozens of cookies piled up, waiting to be shipped to my lucky contacts all across the country! As you know, I'm a sucker for oatmeal cookies, and I made these a little bit snazzy by adding some dark brown sugar. 

A point of caution: they'll bake up darker than a regular light brown sugar cookie so you might think that you burned them, but do no be alarmed. The trick is to squeeze the sides of the cookie, if it's really gooey, the cookie isn't quite done. If it's starting to firm up, it's time to come out of the oven!

Hershey's Pretzel Bites

I'm going to warn you: if you have no self-control, you probably shouldn't make these. I am a big fan of the salty-sweet combination and these pretty much fit the bill. What's more, they're little and super easy! That means it takes a whopping ten minutes to make them and all that time you've got left can be for consuming them! 

Heath Bar Cookies

I've been on a big cookie kick lately. Well, to clarify, I'm always on a cookie kick, but I've been in the mood for big, fat, flat cookies lately. I'd had a bag of Heath Bar pieces in my baking cabinet for a couple of months now, and I figured why not? Be careful not to over-bake these. They spread out pretty flat in the last three minutes and you want to take them out so they'll stay nice and gooey even after cooling!

And, I know... Heath Bar isn't that popular of a flavor for those of us born after 1950, but I'm going to just pretend that everyone loves the toffee-chocolate combo as much as I do. 

P.S. These need milk, or ice cream, or both.  

Triple Mint Cookies

There are very few things that I find as refreshing as the flavor of mint chocolate chip. These cookies are a bit of a mint overload--a pleasant one, I hope--stuffed with mint M&Ms, mint chocolate chips, and mint chocolate hot chocolate. I made them big and fat, too, just to add to the indulgence. If you can't find mint M&Ms I'm sure you can forgo them without any great culinary tragedy! 

Election Day Pie

So given that I am a history graduate student, you know that election day is a pretty exciting day for me. There's been hundreds of election-day traditions that have cropped up since the first American election, and I'd argue that most of them involve food in some way, shape, or form. This Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Brownie Pie is my contribution to this culinary tradition. Happy Voting! And please ignore how lop-sided my icing job is..