Brownies baked with love...and an extra layer of yum!!

I'm back!!! After "baking" a beautiful new baby, I decided my first venture back to blogging should feature something baked! I've got a nasty sweet tooth lately, and really don't need all the extra calories...so I made something to send to work with my hubby :)

This recipe was super easy- and totally delicious. I had to cut the brownies to send with him to work, so I decided to try one :) This recipe belongs to "Keni" and I found it on grouprecipes.com http://www.grouprecipes.com/86455/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-brownies.html

Start with you favorite brownie mix- "Family size". Prepare according to Cake-Like instructions (add an extra egg). Bake until it just starts to set...about 5 minutes less than total recommended cook time.

While the brownies baked, prepare the cookie dough. I'm not a huge fan of sour cream- but it was great in this recipe!

Cream together the butter an sugars. Something about chocolate chip cookie dough makes me need to use a wooden spoon!

Add in sour cream, vanilla, baking powder and flour. I also mixed the chocolate chips into the dough instead of putting them on top- I thought they would be less messy to transport.

When brownies are just set, smash cookie dough between your hands and piece together on top of the brownies.

Cover the whole pan with a thick layer of the cookie dough and put back in the oven. The recipe says to bake for another 10 minutes...I had to bake mine about 15 minutes.

Oh my yum!! It was hard to let them cool before I cut them!!

The end result- ooey gooey chocolate bliss! A totally wonderful recipe I will make again for sure!

I love making cute food!

I've been craving chocolate cake like no other lately. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, just chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I decided my best option, was to make cupcakes...good portion control! I also decided to give half of them away so I wouldn't eat them all!!!

First off, I bought mini vanilla wafers and regular. The Wal-Mart brand "regular" size were smaller than the mini. I ended up using just one size after that! These supplies were used to make Monkey Cupcakes for my little Monkey :)

You need 2 vanilla wafers for each cupcake. I microwaved mine for about 30 sec so I could cut them without having them crumble. Cut 1 wafer in half to make 2 ears, and take just the very edge off one to make the monkey mouth.

I just used boxed cake mix and made 24 Devil's Food cupcakes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Frost cooled cupcakes with the chocolate frosting of your choice. I love the Whipped frostings!

Next, build your monkey. Place one vanilla wafer with the cut edge up. Place the halved wafers on either side to make the ears.

Using tubed frosting (I was too lazy to make homemade), draw 4 dots of blacks and a smile of red to form the face. Pretty simple!

A festive platter on Monkey Cupcakes! They were super easy to make, totally adorable and cured me of my need for Chocolate Cake...at least for today :)

How can you NOT love cookie dough?!!

I will admit it, I have a weakness for cookie dough. However, I think my husband actually prefers cookie dough to baked cookies!! When I saw this recipe, I knew it was perfect. I decided to make Frozen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls for Valentine's Day...and I dipped them in chocolate :)

For all you cookie dough lovers out there...these will indulge your need for dough safely. No eggs!!

In a large bowl, cream softened butter with sugar. Stir in flour, vanilla, and water. I also added a 1/2 tsp of salt to the dough, because I love a little salt with chocolate. Mix in semi-sweet mini chips.

I used a scoop to get all the dough balls the same size and then rolled to give them a nice shape. I froze for about 1 hour at this point.

In a narrow, but deep bowl...melt your chocolate coating. I use chocolate Almond Bark.

I like to use a two fork method to remove the chocolate dipped dough balls.

About every five balls, I stopped to top them with sprinkles. Act quickly, before the chocolate dries.

A total of 50 delicious cookie dough balls. They are a little difficult to eat right out of the freezer. I actually like them better after they come to room temp. Store in the freezer and if you are really a dough fan, make some mini dough balls to add to ice cream!!

I love these so much, I wish I hadn't made them!!!

I saw this recipe the other day when I was browsing the Kraft Foods website. I've been hooked on Yoplait Light- Boston Cream Pie Yogurt the last couple of weeks, so when I saw an easy recipe for Boston Cream Pie Minis...I had to make them!!!!

You need a standard yellow cake mix (prepare as directed on box), a box of vanilla pudding (I used Sugar Free), a container of Cool Whip (I used Fat Free) and 4 oz of Semi-Sweet Chocolate.

The mini in the recipe refers to using a standard muffin pan, but I went even more mini by using my mini muffin pan :)

I also got these adorable aluminum hearts (Reynolds) and decided to try a couple heart shaped pies. The mini muffins took about 14 minutes at 350- the hearts took closer to 20 minutes.

Robyn mixed together the pudding mix with one cup of skim milk. Then I let her fold in the Cool Whip :)

I put the pudding mixture into a piping bag to make filling the pies a little less messy.

Use a serrated knife and cut all the cupcakes in half. Fill with the pudding mixture and replace the tops.

Top with a mixture of melted Cool Whip and semi-sweet baking chocolate (about 1 minute in the microwave and cooled for 15 minutes before frosting). I had no idea what the texture would be like and I was so excited when I tasted them! The frosting gets thick and fudge-like...so good!

And just for fun, we topped them with some adorable Valentine Sprinkles. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy cold :) I'm glad I froze half of my cupcakes before making these...I can't stop eating them!!

I love salt with chocolate!

A new food blog was recommended to me last week- after reading through the entries, I knew right away that I had to try the Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! The recipe made a TON of cookies, so I sent the bulk of them to work with my hubby :)

First, allow 3 sticks of butter and 2 eggs to come to room temperature- don't apply any heat to soften the butter. Gather your ingredients- I used 1 bag of semi-sweet and 1 bag of dark chocolate chips because I couldn't find chips the cookie author used.

Cream butter and sugar by hand- an excited 2 year is a great help for this part :)

Mix in eggs and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add salt, baking soda and flour- the mixture seemed dry, so it took a while to come together...don't add anything!

After mixing in all the chocolate chips, have someone taste test your dough :)

Refrigerate dough for at least one hour!

Scoop 1-2 tsp sized balls onto parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I quickly realized that making miniature cookies was going to take me all night, so I switched to my super cool cookie scoop! You can buy them at Bed Bath and Beyond...simply scoop the dough and push the top to release perfect sized cookie balls in record speed! These had to bake for 10-12 minutes.

I got over 100 cookies from this recipe...and they were super delicious!! Will make again for sure :)

a little love for some ripe bananas :)

My husband takes a banana to work EVERY day...and I did not take into account that he would have extra time off with the holiday this week, so I purchased my regular bunch of bananas. Friday morning came and I realized I had two bananas that really needed to be used, so I set out in search of the perfect recipe- perfect because I would already have everything on hand that I needed :)  I decided on Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.

I used the ingredients called for in this recipe, with three changes. I added a little orange zest, just for fun...and I subbed 1/4 cup of sour cream in place of 1/4 cup of the oil to make them a little healthier. I also used vanilla yogurt instead of plain, because that's what we had on hand.

Start by mashing the bananas. Two bananas gave me almost exactly 1 cup... I went ahead and just used all of it :)

I mixed together all the ingredients by hand and then added in about 1/2 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I have some large cupcake liners left from holiday baking- so I made 12 generous sized muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.

I like to eat mine warm! These were very yummy, but next time...I'll use even more chocolate chips!

I love the versatility of cake mix!

In college, I first discovered the recipe for cookies made out of cake mix on the side of the box. I've been a BIG fan ever since! I love how fast they are to make, and how easy they are to change up!

The first step is the most important...line up a good helper :)

For these cookies you will need: 1 box of your favorite cake mix, 1 stick of butter (melted), and 1 or 2 eggs...depending on the consistency you are going for. If I add in chocolate chips, I use two eggs. If I make them plain to use as sandwich cookies, I only use one egg.

In a mixing bowl, melt your butter. Add in cake mix and eggs. Stir until combined and cake mix is thoroughly moistened.

Mix in chocolate chips- this was my first time using the Hershey's Mint Chocolate Chips. They are AMAZING!

Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and scoop out dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Allow to cool at least five minutes before removing from the baking sheet. My favorite things about these cookies....they stay soft for as long as they last, they take less than 15 minutes start to finish and they perfectly fill 2 cookie sheets so you only have to bake 1 batch!!