Chocolate Eclair

Make this dessert one time, share it with your friends and be prepared to make it again and again and again! That's how good this dessert is! People will either want you to make it for every get together or will want the recipe from you so they can make it themselves. The great part is...it's really easy to prepare and you already probably have most of the ingredients needed to make it.

What You'll Need:

(Chocolate Sauce)

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

(Pudding Mixture)

2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk

8 oz cool whip

Graham Crackers

What You'll Do:

Put all chocolate sauce ingredients into a small, heavy pot on stove. Melt over medium heat, stirring often. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Make sure not to scortch the chocolate. Remove from heat and allow to stand for a few minutes. It will thicken slightly as it cools.

In a very large bowl, mix together the instant pudding and milk with a whisk. Fold in the cool whip with a spatula.

In a 9 x 13 pan, put a layer of graham crackers on bottom. Next, add a layer of pudding mixture. Top pudding with layer of chocolate sauce. Repeat layers so that you end up with 3 layers. You should end up with chocolate on top.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pumkin Spice Muffins w/Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my very favorite things about the arrival of Fall is cooking with Pumpkin. I lurve me some punkin' flavored desserts!!! Pie, cake, pancakes, muffins...bring it on! I got this recipe from Ree Drummond who writes my favorite food blog, The Pioneer Woman Cooks at http://thepioneerwoman.com/ You have GOT to check out her blog. It is incredible! Everything I've made of hers is fab so I was not suprised when these muffins came out great too. Of course, the cream cheese frosting takes them over the top and makes them out of this world good, but the muffins would be great for breakfast/brunch if you leave it off. Now all I need to go with them is a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. Yum!

What You'll Need:

(For the muffins)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

1 heaping cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup golden raisins (optional!...I omitted these)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

(For the Frosting)

1/4 cup softened butter

4 ounces cream cheese

1/2 pound powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

What You'll Do:

(For the Muffins)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until all incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla.

Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full.

Sprinkle generous amounts of cinnamon-sugar over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

(Frosting)

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy!
Store in fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Torte

If you like cheesecake and peanut butter, you will love this dessert! The crust is really just refrigerated cookie dough which makes it super yummy and fairly easy. This is a very rich dessert...you only need a very small piece to satisfy your sweet tooth. It's also really pretty once you slice it! I got this recipe from Pillsbury.com.

What You'll Need:
1 roll Pillsbury refrigerated choc. chip cookie dough
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup semisweet mini choc chips
1 cup chopped honey roasted peanuts
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

What You'll Do:
Heat oven to 350. In ungreased 9 or 10 inch springform pan, break up cookie dough. Press dough evenly into bottom of pan to form crust. Bake 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and egg until well blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of choc chips and 1/2 cup of peanuts. Poor over cooled crust, spread evenly.

Microwave butterscotch chips on high for 1 minute, stirring twice, until melted and smooth. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Drizzle over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with remaining choc chips and peanuts.

Bake 30-40 minutes longer until edge is set but center is still slightly jiggly. Cool on cooling rack 10 minutes. Run knife around side of pan to loosen torte. Carefully remove side of pan. Cool 1 hour and then refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

To serve, cut torte into wedges. Store in refrigerator.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

Sorry that there is no picture of this! We dug into it before I thought about it. This is great for parties...a sweet little ending. You can roll it in chopped pecans at the very end if you wish, but I chose not to. Goes great with graham crackers (plain, cinnamon or chocolate) or those little graham cracker sticks would be perfect too.

What You'll Need:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened (not margerine)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. brown sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

What You'll Do:
Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugars. Stir in chocolate chips.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Place mixture in plastic wrap and form into a ball. Refrigerate for 1 more hour.

Gourmet Mint Brownies

These brownies are some of the best I've ever had! My friend, Amy---check out her great blog--- (http://abeginnercook.blogspot.com/), made these for a baby shower that we hosted and everyone loved them. We couldn't stop eating them! They are so moist and flavorful...and you can tint the mint filling any color you want to go with different themes. Be careful...they are addictive!




What You'll Need:

Filling
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp mint extract
4 drops green food color**

Brownies
1 cup margarine or butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, cut into pieces
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour

Frosting
2 tbsp margarine or butter
2 tbsp corn syrup
2 tbsp water
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, cut into pieces
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

What You'll Do:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13x9 inch pan.
In small bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add 1 egg, mint extract and food color; mix well. Set aside.
In large saucepan, melt 1 cup butter and 4 oz chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sugar and 2 tsp vanilla. Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour; mix well. Spread in greased and floured pan. Carefully spoon filling over brownie mixture. Lightly swirl filling into brownie mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool completely.
In heavy saucepan, bring 2 tbsp butter, corn syrup and water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat. Add 2 oz chocolate; stir until melted. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Frost cooled bars. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

My husband's all-time favorite sweet treat is chocolate covered strawberries. In fact, he loves them so much that we had a tower of them at our wedding rather than having a groom's cake! I made them for him last Valentine's Day and thought I would continue on the tradition this year. They are super easy to make and taste so yummy. It's a nice ending to a romantic dinner. Sure, my white chocolate drizzle may look more like blobs than the professional drizzle you see in the Godiva shop....but, I don't think my husband will mind once he tastes them!

What You'll Need:

Strawberries (ripe and large...stem on looks even nicer)

Milk Chocolate (I use the chocolate that you buy by the pound from Fresh Market, but you can use chips, squares, bars...whatever you like best.)

White Chocolate

What you'll Do:

Gently rinse the strawberries and dry them very well. They should not be even the slightest bit damp. I like to leave the green leaves on.

Melt the milk chocolate. (I just use the microwave on 50% power for a minute at a time, stirring in between. You can use a double boiler if you prefer.)

Dunk the strawberries into the milk chocolate. Put into refrigerator to cool and harden for a few minutes.

In the meantime, melt the white chocolate.

Take the strawberries out of the fridge and, using a fork, drizzle the white chocolate on. This will work best if you lay your strawberries on some wax paper before drizzling so that you can make long, sweeping motions with your drizzle. Then, transfer them to your serving dish.

Double Chocolate Mocha Brownie Trifle

Man oh Man! This dessert is so yummy! If you like brownies and coffee...you will love this! This recipe comes from Pampered Chef. It is very simple to whip together and tastes great the next day too. Also, it serves alot of people which is always a good thing for parties!

What You'll Need:

1 package brownie mix

1 3/4 cups cold milk

2 packages white chocolate instant pudding

1/4 cup warm water

4 teaspoons instant coffee granules

2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping

3 toffee bars (or buy toffee bits)

What You'll Do:

Lightly spray 9" X 13" pan with vegetable oil. Prep and bake brownie mix according to cake-like package directions. (This usually means adding an extra egg.) Cool completely.

Whisk pudding mix into milk until mixture begins to thicken. Dissolve coffee granules in warm water; add to pudding mixture, mixing well. Fold in whipped topping.

Cut brownies into 1-inch cubes. Chop toffee bars. Layer 1/3 of brownie cubes onto bottom of trifle bowl. Top with 1/3 of pudding mixture, pressing lightly, and 1/3 of shopped toffee. Repeat layers two more times. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

This recipe was given to me by Bridellie on TheNest.com. It comes from Allrecipes.com. She described these cookies as the best and easiest she had ever made, and I think I must agree! I had all of the ingredients needed, so no special trip to the store was necessary. I undercooked them just a bit because I like cookies to be a little gooey inside and chewy on the outside. This recipe makes over 50 cookies...so I only baked half and left the other half of the dough in the fridge to bake later. Anyway, is there really anything better than a spoonful of cookie dough? I think not!

What You'll Need:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups white chocolate chips

What You'll Do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture.

Fold in the white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Squares

This recipe was suggested to me by Katie http://www.goodthingscatered.blogspot.com/
on the What's Cooking Board on TheNest.com. It comes from the Williams Sonoma Collection Series, Dessert. These are probably the most declicious lemon bars I've ever eaten! They are very lemony and tart. One bar is the perfect ending to any dinner!

What You'll Need:
For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For the filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs. heavy cream

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

What You'll Do:
To make the crust, preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish, preferably glass. In a food processor, combine the flour, granulated sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pulse briefly until blended. Add the butter and pulse until the dough forms moist crumbs and sticks together when pinched, about 1 minute. There should be no trace of dryness. Press the dough into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared baking dish, lightly flouring your fingertips if necessary to prevent them from sticking. Bake the crust until pale golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the crust cool completely.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the filling, in a bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, salt and lemon zest. Add the eggs, lemon juice and cream and whisk until just blended. Carefully pour the mixture over the baked crust.

Bake until the filling is set but still jiggles slightly when the dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan. Transfer the pan to the wire rack and let cool for about 30 minutes.

Run the tip of a small knife along the inside of the dish to loosen the crust from the sides, then let cool completely.

Cut into 12 small rectangles. Using a spatula, carefully remove the bars from the dish. Just before serving, sift a dusting of confectioners sugar over the bars. Makes 12 bar cookies.

Double Layer Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Wow! This pie is a winner! It tastes just like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup! If you love peanut butter and chocolate...this pie is a must-try. I'll warn you though...it is so rich, I couldn't even finish my entire piece. And that never happens! (Tip: I used the larger sized graham cracker crust that holds more filling. I think the regular size would have been too small.) This recipe came from AllRecipes.com.

What You'll Need:

1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon cold milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
2 (3.9 ounce) packages instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
4 peanut butter cups, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

What You'll Do:
In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and peanut butter until smooth. Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups of whipped topping.

Spread mixture on bottom of pie crust.
In a second bowl, stir pudding mix with 2 cups milk until thick.

Immediately stir in remaining whipped topping.

Spread mixture over peanut butter layer.
Scatter peanut butter cups over top of pie.

Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake Bars

These bars are similar to Turtle Cheesecake. I got the recipe out of Kraft Foods magazine and everyone loved them! They do take some advance planning because they have to cool before adding the topping and then they need to refrigerate at least 4 hours before eating, but they are worth it! Tip: Make sure that you let them cool completely before adding the caramel. I did not do this, and the caramel ended up liquifying a bit a some of the bars got soggy.



What You'll Need:
1 cup Pecan pieces, divided
1 1/2 cups crushed Nilla Wafers (about 50 wafers)
1/2 stick butter, melted
4 (8 oz.) packages Cream cheese, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Sour Cream
3 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
4 Eggs
24 Kraft Caramels, unwrapped
1 Tbsp. Water
3 squares Baker's Semi-sweet baking chocolate

What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 325.
Line 9 X 13 baking dish with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of dish.
Remove 1/2 the pecans and set aside. Finely chop remaining pecans.
Mix wafer crumbs, chopped pecans and butter. Press firmly onto bottom of prepared dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Beat cream cheese and sugar in mixer on medium speed until well blended.
Add sour cream, flour, and vanilla. Mix well.
Add eggs one at a time on low speed just until blended.
Pour into crust.
Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool competely.
Place caramels and water into microwaveable bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute or until completely melted when stirred.
Pour over cooled cheesecake.
Top with reserved pecans.
Melt chocolate as directed on package and drizzle over cheesecake.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Use foil handles to remove from dish before cutting into pieces.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Smooches

I saw Giada make these on "Everyday Italian" and I just had to try them! I wanted something Halloween-ish to take to a get together, and these cookies reminded me of little witches hats. They were perfect! I am a Nutella freak...I adore that stuff! However, these cookies didn't really end up tasting like Nutella to me. It just made them chocolatey. This recipe makes 36-40 cookies (I ended up with 34).

What You'll Need:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup orange sugar

1 (9-ounce) package of Hershey's kisses, unwrapped

What You'll Do:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, place the chocolate hazelnut spread, butter, and both sugars. Using a hand mixer, cream the ingredients together, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla and blend until incorporated.

Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated.
Shape the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls.

Roll the balls in the orange sugar, pressing to adhere.

Place the cookies on a heavy cookie sheet about 4 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven. Quickly place a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 3 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Bars

I always crave desserts with Pumpkin in them once Fall rolls around and this year was no exception! This recipe come from Paula Dean...I just LOVE her! Not sure why they are called "bars" because it's really more like a cake, but very good nonetheless. It is very moist and the cream cheese icing is so delicious.

What You'll Need:

For the Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

15-ounce can pumpkin

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

For the icing:

8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

What You'll Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined.

Stir in the vanilla and mix again.

Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Black Forest Pie

This pie was a favorite of mine as a kid. My neighbor's mom used to make it for us all the time. I haven't had it in probably 20 years! It popped in my head recently and I knew that I just had to make it. I found this recipe on KraftFoods.com and it is exactly as delicious as I remember it to be. If you like chocolate and cherries, you will love this pie! And, it's even better the day after!

This is what you'll need:

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 Tbsp. flour1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling, divided

1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell

1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, coarsely grated

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

This is what you'll do:

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

Combine sugar, cocoa and flour in medium saucepan. Add butter and milk. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Stir small amount of hot mixture into eggs; return to hot mixture.

Add half of the cherry pie filling; stir until well blended. Pour into crust.

BAKE 35 to 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Then:

ADD grated chocolate to 2 cups of the whipped topping; stir gently until well blended.

Spread over pie; top with remaining cherry pie filling and the remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate at least 30 min. before serving. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.