Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies

You remember my last post? Yeah, well these are the Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Brownie's uglier cousin: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies. They are as ugly as they are delicious. So pretty delicious=)
These pictures embarass me. They really do. I know a lot of people refuse to put subpar photos on their blog, but obviously I have low standards. Love me anyways? But honestly, I wouldn't have had any pictures to share with you. And who likes a food post with no pictures in it? Exactly: no one.

As I said with the other brownies, I brought these to a bakesale and they were gobbled up in just a few minutes! It was crazyyy. Also, like the last brownies, these were soooooo under baked (I didn't bring the really bad ones to the sale. Those were put in a much better place... my mouth). So definitely watch for doneness when you pull these out.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies
Smitten Kitchen
Makes 16 2-inch square, thick brownies
Brownie batter
 1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
 1 cup sugar
 2 large eggs
 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
 1/3 cup sugar
 1 large egg yolk
 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Plus
 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used minis and it worked fine!)

Make brownie batter: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Microwave chocolate and butter together in a safe dish and mix until they combine. Whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Make cheesecake batter: Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Add in chocolate schips. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Slicing tip: Chill the brownies until they’re almost frozen before cutting them. It makes it much easierto get a clean slice.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Brownies

Wow. Where have I been? Busy=/ And I just haven't been too inspired to blog. It's probably because of these subpar photos. Usually if I take pretty decent photos I'm more willing to blog. And why not? If I have great pictures I'm much more willing to show it off in a blog post. But taking pictures of my food often frustrates me=( I don't enjoy wasting time setting up a perfect light reflective area to take optimum pictures while my food grows cold.

And these pictures are pretty bad. These bars aren't very well cut and have poor backgrounds. The photos were taken late at night so the lighting is messed up. But I just hope they don't scare you too badly.

Because they are delicious! If you've been reading my blog, you'll know I'm not a big fan of chocolate desserts. Just look through my post history. But, when chocolate is balanced with another flavor, it gets a thumnbs-up. So we have a brownie base then a cheesecake layer SWIRLED WITH RASPBERRY JAM. I brought these in for a bake sale, and they sold in literally 5 minutes. So, even though they don't look so hot in these photos, they were certainly enjoyed by all!

*My only comment: they were super gooey in the middle. Normally I'm all for underbaked goodies, but I would suggest triple checking for doneness when baking these.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies
from Baking Bites

 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
 2-oz dark chocolate, chopped
 1 cup sugar
 2 large eggs
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 2/3 cup flour
 2 tbsp cocoa powder
 1/4 tsp salt

 8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
 1/3 cup sugar
 1 large egg
 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
 1/3 cup raspberry preserves/jam
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
 In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir with a fork until very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

 In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisking steadily, pour chocolate mixture into sugar mixture. Stir until smooth. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt into the bowl and stir until just combined.
 Pour into prepared pan and prepare cheesecake mixture.
 In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Drop in dollops onto prepared brownie batter. Drop dollops of raspberry preserves into the cheesecake batter. Gently swirl batters with a butter knife, giving the brownies a swirly look.

 Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
 Cool in the pan completely before slicing and serving, either at room temperature or chilled.
 Brownies can be refrigerated, covered, for several days.

Makes 16 brownies

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Sour Cream/Cottage Cheese Coffeecake

Yes it is necessary to put sour cream/cottage cheese in the lengthy title because that is the whole reason I made this! I had a bunch of fun baking substitutes in my fridge that I wanted to use up before the went bad. Things like buttermilk, sour cream, and cottage cheese. How fun would it be to substitute theese in a recipe and see how it turns out?

I would love to start tweaking recipes and even creating my own. As a young blogger, I have always followed recipes to a tee and hardly ever stray from the beaten path. But as I'm growing in my skills I want to start getting creative! This was a small small start, but hey it's something!

It was a great texture, and it didn't even contain the signature streusel that coffee cakes usually do. I loved the chocolate chips throughout; they definitely made this cake. Of course I can never leave well enough alone, so I made myself a cinnamon confectioners sugar glaze, but you honestly don't even need it.

Nom Nom!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Sour Cream/Cottage Cheese Coffeecake
inspired by The Food Librarian

Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt

Filling and Topping
2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan. If not nonstick coated, cover the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Set pan aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl. Alternately mix in sour cream and cottage cheese and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick. In a medium bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter.
In a small dish, whisk together sugar and cinnamon for filling and topping.
Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a rubber or offset spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips. With the palm of your hand, ever-so-gently press the chocolate chips a bit into the batter. No need to submerge them, you just want to make sure they adhere bit.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cupcakes and a New Look

Thank you for being patient while I make some changes around here. I definitely noticed a need for an upgrade to my blog, and I finally found that inspiration that pushed me to update my blog and renew my spirit. And it came from these cupcakes. Let me start at the beginning...


I love baking, but most of all I love baking cupcakes. Even better is when I see people try my cupcakes and they enjoy them. Because of this, it only made sense for me to want to bake cupcakes for others. At the same time, I'd like to make a profit from it too since ingredients aren't cheap.


Time passed where I was still trying to work everything out in my head and figure out what this could mean for me. Eventually I realized if I wanted to turn this into a business of any kind, I needed a name and logo. After some thought I choose a name and my sister hooked me up with a friend of hers who designs logos. We worked together and created something pretty cool. I'll share it with you soon!

After seeing this, an idea that had floated in my head finally put to paper or an abstract idea becoming concrete... well it was a great feeling. At this point, I had my name and logo, I knew what I wanted to do, and I was fairly good at it, but I got stuck. Then school took over and my business ideas took a back burner to life.


Here's where these recent cupcakes come in. Up until this point I didn't care what my cupcakes looked like. It was how they tasted that mattered, right? Wrong. So so wrong. People want to buy and eat pretty cupcakes. Otherwise my "homely" cupcakes would be overlooked like my favorite discontinued television show (R.I.P Pushing Daisies). After winning a giveaway on Ingrid's blog, I acquired a Williams-Sonoma gift card. And I had just the thing in mind to buy. I got myself a brand new mechanical pastry bag. Kind of a weird name, but you know what I mean. This was the fresh start I needed to start making cupcakes that not only tasted great, but looked great.




And these my friends were the cupcakes that did it. They inspired me to break out this new toy and make some dang good (and good looking cupcakes). At first, these cupcakes were just for me and family and friends to enjoy, but my sister asked if I would give some to her so she could bring them into her work. Of course I said yes! I gave her two dozen and she came home empty handed. Her first words, "You should have given me business cards to hand out because everyone loved them!"




I still had some cupcakes left and so I gave they out to neighbors and my boyfriends family. After delivering them to each home, I received phone calls from each telling me they were the best cupcakes they have ever had! In fact, two of them asked me to make cupcakes for them next week and they would pay me! With this one cupcake recipe, I was back on the map. I found my love for starting my own small business again, and I don't ever want to forget it. I'm heading into college next year planning on studying entrepreneurship. Although many people change their minds, this is where I feel drawn so I'm going to go with it.




If I wasn't clear earlier, this cupcakes were out of this world. The cookie dough center is like a soft cookie and the cookie dough frosting makes the cupcake what it is. I spent a lot of time making my presentation of them perfect, but I still have a ways to go in perfecting my piping skills.



Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Buttercream

frosting and cookie dough from Kevin and Amanda
cupcakes from Martha Stewart

For the cookie dough:
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

For the cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:
3 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

To make the cookie dough, combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 mins. Beat in milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a 1.5 tbsp scoop, shape the dough into balls or tubes. Freeze on a parchment lined baking sheet overnight.

To make the cupcakes:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2) With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

3) Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 mins.

To make the frosting, combine the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips!

With Martha's Vanilla Cupcake recipe I got 4 dozen cupcakes! It makes a lot but you'll sure want them all!

7-layers Bar (minus 1 layer)

Snow day! Woohoo! We've had some delays, and that only means one thing: baking day! Duhhhh. I had a ton of items on my "to-bake" list. But what do I go and do, I bake something not even on it! Oh well, it was something I've wanted to try. These were so fun to make too=)


I had a bunch of random bags of chips I had started but never finished using, so I figured this was a good way to get rid of them. And, we FINALLY had some sweetened condensed milk in the house and I was dying to use it. I LOVE sweetened condensed milk!


Anyway, as I started making this beginning with layer one, I didn't think the graham cracker base was enough to fill a 13 x 9 pan. It looked like just enough for a square 8 x 8 pan. So that's what I used. Which meant that by decreasing the surface area I would have a lot more of my filling items squeezed into a smaller space. Problem? I think not. Just more to love in each bite!


I omitted the coconut. Hence the title. And I love all the flavors going on in this. Nuts, Honestly this bars were mmm, mmm, good! There were super rich and ooey gooey! I'm so glad I made them. They're something I won't make often because of how decadent they are, but when I do it will be a great treat to have!


(The recipe I'm posting is including all seven layers.)


7-Layers Bars
from Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
9 graham crackers (5 ounces), crushed
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup butterscotch chips
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Line the pan with two overlapping pieces of foil or parchment paper, leaving overhang to act as handles for lifting the bars out of the pan. Spray with non-stick spray.

2. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake until the outer flakes just begin to brown, about 4 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it – coconut can go from slightly browned to burnt in a matter of seconds.) Set aside.

3. Melt the butter and combine with graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl. Toss with your fingers until the butter is evenly distributed. Press the crumbs evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.

4. In order, sprinkle the walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut over the graham crumbs. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish.

5. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.

6. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil or parchment handles and transfer to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife or bench cutter, cut into 2 by 3-inch bars.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cups, or Bars

These honestly taste like the real deal. The peanut butter part tastes EXACTLY like the filling of a Reese's peanut better cup. I thought I would be creative and use white chocolate instead of regular, but by then adding some marshmallow fluff to it, I just got a really stiff mixture that was unspreadable. Not cool. So I ended up molding it on like fondant. But worse. It looked pretty bad, but tasted beautiful. It was dead on. I think regular chocolate would have been fabulous too, though I am partial to white. And it would have spread nicer.


So for those of you who love Reese's cups and want to try and make them yourself, look no further! You could make them into cups by using cupcake liners to get the ridges like a real Reese's cup. But I just thought this method was easier and you got the same great taste.



No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
found at The Sweetest Kitchen
Makes 12-16 squares, depending on how you want to cut it

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
6oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used white chocolate)
2 teaspoons Nutella (or peanut butter) (I used marshmallow fluff)

In a large mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter and beat until combined. Press into a parchment-lined 8×8-inch pan, making sure top is smooth and level.

Melt chocolate and Nutella in a double boiler. Pour chocolate over peanut butter layer and spread out evenly (I tilted the pan around to get a smooth top, instead of spreading it out with a knife). Place pan in refrigerator just until chocolate is set and then cut into bars. Best served at room temperature.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

So obviously I haven't posted in a while. Thanksgiving hit, and it all went downhill. I went to New York with my Honors Chorus at school, and I had an amazing time! Now, I'm back into school and getting back to the way things were. The long break was so very lovely though=) I have been baking, though. It just seems whenever it comes time for me to post about it, I am unmotivated and something else grabs my interest. This must be a sign. I'm frustrated with Blogger sometimes, too, and just need a more relaxed blog style for a bit. That being said, I still want to post recipes and my creations.


However, I want to go back to the basics and blog for myself in more of a recipe book style. I might just post the pictures and recipe and say whether I liked the dish or not. This will just be a simple way of blogging for me since I still want to document my baking adventures. Hopefully this is acceptable and works out for me. By doing this I should be able to blog more often without any pressure. Of course one day I will feel the need to actually blog about things and when that day comes I will certainly return refreshed and better than ever! The post seems highly hypocritical since I am writing quite a lengthy post as it is.


This was called a chocolate "cream" pie, but I would say "pudding". It's crazy that I would make this kind of dessert if you knew me. I am by no means a chocolate fan, and this is a pretty concentrated amount of chocolate! But, balanced out well by a heaping amount of fresh whipped cream, this was quite tasty. My whole family enjoyed it and I have to admit I did too.

(Gotta make some chocolate things to make the family happy, amirite?)

Chocolate Pudding Pie
found at The Kitchen Sink

For crust
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For filling
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, for dusting

Make crust:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together crumbs, butter, sugar and cinnamon and press on bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate (1-quart capacity). Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes, and cool on a rack.

Make filling:
Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and yolks in a 3-quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute (filling will be thick).

Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter, and vanilla, stirring until the chocolate and butter is melted. Cover surface of filling with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 2 hours.

Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream with sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, then spoon on top of pie.

Place cocoa powder into a fine mesh strainer and sift the powder over the whipped cream. Serve chilled.

Cooks’ note:
Pie (without topping) can be chilled up to 1 day.

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt (Yes, that is the word chocolate)

So for those of you new to my blog, I must confess I am not a chocoholic by any means. For those of you who have been with me a while, you already knew this. You may notice I don't really have any chocolate-y items on my blog. Though there are rare instances. But sometimes you really need to go out of your comfort zone, right? Often (always) members of my family complain to me about never making chocolate items. (*cough my dad and sister cough*) So, I decided to appease them.


I just love browsing through The Food Librarian's countless numbers of bundts. If you haven't already heard about her obsession with them, go check it out asap! She's so crazy (about them) that she's, for the second time, making 30 straight days of bundts leading up to National Bundt Day. How cool! I think it's super amazing and so I've realized I haven't made a bundt in quite a while. In honor of her, I am making 2 bundts for National Bundt Day this Monday. The first I chose was of the chocolate variety and one she called her absolute favorite. If I was going to pick a chocolate cake to make, why not the best?


I guess my dislike/fear of chocolate, among many other aspects, is the fact that it will be too dry and crumbly. Eww. This cake, however, was so far in the other direction. With the aspect of cinnamon involved, I knew it couldn't be too bad! And let me tell you, this cake was delicious. Yes, I just called a chocolate something delicious and I swear I'm in my right state of mind. I loved how the cinnamon worked with the chocolate and the glaze I made was a perfect pair. I honestly must have glazes or frostings with most of the cake type things I make.


This cake was gone in 24 hours, no lie. I think it turned out beautifully and held up well. I was really pleased with the taste and... I may be a slight chocolate convert. I can't say I've fallen in love with chocolate, but I definitely may be willing to give it a chance more often. This means you may be seeing more chocolate items popping up, but let's not get too eager;)


Ps-This recipe is SOOO easy. One pan and one bowl. It's real fast too.


Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt
found on The Food Librarian

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/4 c plus 1 T (or 5 T) cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c buttermilk
1 t baking soda
2 eggs
1 t vanilla

Instructions:
1. Bring to a boil in a pot: Water, oil, butter and cocoa
2. In a large bowl, combine together with a whisk: flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon
3. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour and mix until combined.
4. Add the buttermilk and baking soda and mix.
5. In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla. Add to the batter and combine.
6. Pour batter into greased 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan (I prefer to use Pam with Flour or Bakers Joy) and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes, so start checking then).
7. Cool in pan.
8. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar or a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk or water.

Okay, so for this lush glaze I was mentioning... I didn't have any powdered sugar in the house, so I had to look up a very strange recipe for a type of glaze that didn't use any. This is what I ended up doing:

Ingredients:
6 tbsp butter
3 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp or so cinnamon

Melt butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla and cinnamon. (I had a minuscule amount of powdered sugar left that I threw in as well.)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made these super fast one day to use up the obnoxious amount of bananas we had. I didn't try too many of them as I was making them for a friend, but I liked this recipe. I'm not too sure, but I don't think I'm a huge banana fan. I don't bake with them too often, but when I do, the items aren't always amazing to me compared to other things. I really wish I baked with apple more, but the task of chopping and slicing apples always seems so time consuming or difficult. I really need to get over that and do it anyways.


A side note: I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time. Anyone out there read it? Love it or hate it? I actually surprised myself. I really like it. I started reading with a mindset that I wasn't going to like it, but surprisingly I really do!

Also, For the past week or so I have been having a really hard time with applying to colleges and it has been very frustrating for me. With all the other activities I am involved in I have very little time to do much else and unfortunately college apps are pushed to the back. But I did managed to finish one application to the University of Pittsburgh. And I just got my letter from them today and.................. I GOT IN!!! It is really such a relief after the unbelievably emotionally stressful week I have been having. Pitt is my almost number 1 choice. It's slightly behind the University of Dayton, at the moment. SO, I can't rejoice just yet, as I still need to send some apps to a few more places. But, YAY!!!!


Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
found at Sugarcrafter

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 ounces chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar.
3. In another medium bowl, combine the oil, egg, and milk.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients gradually until combined.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling each one about 3/4 of the way full.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean .

White Chocolate Halloween Bark: 2 Ways

So far it's 1:15 and I'm still at my family party. We're going around the room playing a game we created.

Celebrity Name Game

Rules:

1) You must use the first letter of the last name of the previous player's answer.

2) If the first letter of the first name corresponds with the first letter of the last name, it will reverse to the previous player's turn (i.e.- Bob Barker). (Doing the Kardashian family made this pretty fun)

3) If the player is unable to come up with a name, they will receive an X. Three X's will result in expulsion from the game.

4) One name celebrities are allowed and result in skipping the next player's turn.

5) If the player needs help thinking of a name, they can ask for help and the other player will now be in possession of the game.

6) No fictional characters.

Oh man, we get wild.

This is our annual Halloween party and that means creative food for sure. I already knew my aunt was making a cheesecake and someone else was making cookies, so where do I go? Halloween is a great time of year for candy making, so I went with something I've never tried.

Of course I went with white chocolate bark as opposed to pure chocolate. It's still hard to imagine that I made a almost purely chocolate treat. A nd you know what? Bark is awesome. Just melt some chocolate and throw whatever the heck you want in it. It's classy meets sassy. It's such a ghetto dessert too. I guess bark is really anything you want it to be. Which is great. That's not to say bark easily conforms; far from it. Bark is a class all it's own. Okay, enough talk about bark and it's personality. Just go eat it.

White Chocolate Halloween Bark

Variation #1:

14 ounces white chocolate

Chopped up Oreos

Chopped up Kit Kats

Reese's Pieces

Variation #2:
14 ounces white chocolate
Chopped up Snickers
Toffee Bits
Nonpareil beads

Milk chocolate- for drizzling

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the white chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave the bowl in 30 second increments. Start with 1/4 the batch of white chocolate and add 1/4 after each 30 second "nuke". Stir until creamy.

3. Let the white chocolate cool for a minute or two. Stir to make sure it doesn’t harden. Pour the chocolate onto the baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread it with a spatula until it is about 3/8 inch thick.

4. Sprinkle your candy choices over the white chocolate.

5. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave and drizzle over top.

6. Let the chocolate cool and harden. (Place in the refrigerator if necessary)
7. Once the chocolate is set and hard, break bark into pieces.


Which one did I like better... hmmm... It's so hard to pick! I really liked the oreo one, (because I'm OBSESSED with oreos), but the snickers toffee was soooo good too. It's a tie to be honest!


Oh, and this is me and the boyfff. Zeus and Hera anyone? I made him wear that smelly old beard and wig I found in a box in my attic. He''ll do anything to please me=) I didn't make him wear it the whole time. I'm nice like that hehe.

Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins

When I saw this recipe I immediately fell in love with it. You may or may not know about my love of coffee desserts (and if you don't I'll be showing you more of it soon enough!). But coffee flavor in desserts is incredible. It has to be my favorite flavoring in desserts at the moment. It's not even like I'm a heavy coffee drinker or anything, I just love the sweet coffee taste. So, like many others, I need coffee in the morning, just not in the liquid form. That's why this recipe is so perfect!


I couldn't believe how easy they were to make, as well. It took no effort and no time at all. I did make two changes in the recipe, though, which I've added below. I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon into the recipe, not enough to overwhelm it, but enough so I know it's there;) I also upped the amount of chocolate chips. They just seemed so scattered and sparse that I had to double it! Anywhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup, depending on your preference.


I ate these warm out of the oven, or frozen solid the next day. Yes, I ate frozen muffins. It helps me use self control. This way, I don't finish the muffin in three bites. I can, instead, savor the muffin with tiny little bites. Plus, I think it tastes good. Kind of like that thing where people freeze their candy bars? Personally I've never been a fan, but I guess I'm sort of like them by doing this.


I would say these muffins were light and spongy, definitely not on the dry or crumbly side. I tried very hard not to over mix, so I think I did a good job! Because I'm usually not a chocolate fan, the whole "chocolate chip muffin" has never been something I'd eat. I'd have to say, though, that the chocolate chunks in here were awesome. Okay, I really shouldn't have to convince you anymore. It's chocolate and coffee. Get to baking!


Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins
from Buttercream Barbie

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp instant coffee
1/2- 1 cup chocolate chunks (the original recipe called for a half cup, but I ended up dumping a TON more in, so maybe closer to a whole cup)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 12 muffin tins. Mix coffee into melted butter. Whisk well.

2. Whisk eggs lightly into the buttermilk with the vanilla extract. In a big bowl mix together both flours, sugar, baking powder & salt. Now pour in the buttermilk mixture & the butter mixture, and mix in gently. Do not over mix or muffins won't be soft. Fold in chocolate gently just to combine.

3. Fill prepared muffin tins and bake in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes.

Easy right? It's a super quick muffin for those of you who love the coffee/chocolate combination!