Chocolate Pecan Pie

I have been wanting to make this pie since last Thanksgiving after picking up a cooking magazine that featured this recipe on the front page.  So this was one of the pies I made this year.  I actually messed up on baking it, not realizing I was suppose to cover with foil half way through.  I ended up taking it out about 10 minutes sooner because the top was getting so dark, and in doing this it caused the inside of pie to be kinda runny.  It was still pretty good!  I definitely will be making this again and look forward to it tasting better when I follow the instructions correctly.

Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust
2 4oz. bars bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped pecans

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2)  Lightly flour both sides of pie crust and place in pie dish.  Crimp edges if desired.  Line crust with parchment or wax paper and cover bottom with pie weights (I used rice).  Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove paper and weights.
3)  In a small saucepan, combine chocolate and cream.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.  Pour into prepared pie crust and chill for 30 minutes.
4)  In a medium bowl, combine corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and butter mixing until smooth.  Stir in pecans.  Spoon batter over chocolate layer in pie crust.
5)  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cover top with foil to prevent excess burning, and continue baking another 30 minutes.  Cool completely before serving.
 

Double Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this Triple Chocolate Cooke recipe at For The Love of Cooking blog about a year ago.  I fell in love with these cookies, believing they are the best chocolate cookies ever.  The recipe has been listed in my shared favorites all along, but I decided to go ahead and post it to my blog giving the link and credit to the original recipe.  I title mine as only double chocolate because I only use two kinds of chips, but everything else is the same.  Also, I truly believe it makes a difference using the Ghiradelli chips!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies: 

• 1 cup of butter, softned
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat mat.

Beat together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla and one egg at a time until well beaten.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt then mix thoroughly. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and gently stir until evenly mixed. Drop a heaping spoonful of the cookie dough on the baking sheet, two inches apart.

 

Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, it will depend on how big you make them. Cool on baking trays before moving to a rack to finish cooling. Enjoy.

I also bake these for Christmas goodies to give away as gifts!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Last night I had a want to bake moment again!  I have so many things in my favorites on foodgawker that it's hard not to bake when I have a few minutes.  These bars were something I knew I had all the ingredients on hand to make and I did.  They were super easy to make, and so amazingly good!  My husband has a huge love for peanut butter and chocolate together.  Me on the other hand thinks those two ingredients are very rich together and can only eat a little of any dessert containing these two things.  I will say I love the taste though.  Peanut butter and chocolate just seem to melt in your mouth!  You can find the original recipe here at the pinch of yum blog.

Prep time:  20 mins, Cook time:  40 mins, Total time:  1 hour, Serves: 20 (I got 9 bars)

• 1 stick butter, unsalted (1/2 cup), softened
• ½ cup white sugar
• ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (less if you don’t like salty/sweet)
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven 325 degrees

Make the cookie dough by creaming the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture in with the butter and sugar, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Make the cheesecake filling: Cream the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

Press half to two-thirds of the cookie dough in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Pour the cheesecake filling over the dough. Crumble the remaining dough and sprinkle over the top, OR roll it into a flat layer and place it over the cheesecake layer.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes; remove foil and bake for another 15-25 minutes, or until tops is lightly browned and cheesecake layer is set. Serve warm or cold and store leftover bars in refrigerator.

Dark Chocolate Banana Bread

I love baking anytime, but especially in Fall and at Christmas time.  Breads are wonderful to bake, and I love eating them for breakfast with a cup of coffee.  This is the first time I've ever made a chocolate bread and I really like what I did here with the dark cocoa.  Of course I love dark chocolate so I really like this bread.  I got the original recipe from Becky Bakes, and made a few changes and had to substitute the buttermilk. It still turned out delicious!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup substitute buttermilk (1 cup milk, 1 Tbsp vinegar)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with Bakers Joy and place it on an insulated baking sheet when baking,  this extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from overbaking.
 
Mix milk & vinegar, and let stand until needed, at least 5 minutes.
 
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute  until soft.

Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas.  Add the dry ingredients in a little at a time, mixing until they disappear into the batter.  Still on low, add the buttermilk slowly a little at a time. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.  Pour batter into pan.  (you could make two thinner loafs by using 2 pans, this makes a lot of batter)

Bake for 3o minutes.  Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 50-60 minutes (total baking time is between 80 and 90 minutes, this is for one pan, bake time would have to be less if batter is split to two pans), or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before flipping out of pan.  Let cool to room temperature.

Oreo Pudding

This is really dirt pudding, but I never make it to look like dirt so we can just say it's Oreo Pudding.

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 stick butter at room temperature
1 cup powder sugar
1 pkg sm box instant vanilla pudding
1 pkg sm box instant french vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cup milk
2 pkg oreos
12 oz or larger cool whip

Preperation
In gallon zip lock bag crush 1 pkg oreos.
In mixing bowl beat cream cheese, butter and sugar until completely combined.
In separate bowl mix pudding and milk.
Add pudding to butter mixture and blend together.
Stir in cool whip and then add the crushed oreos. 
Line glass bowl with whole oreos in different layers around the edge, adding pudding after each layer.  Stick remaining oreos on top of pudding.
Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Layering oreos around edge

Here is a photo of this pudding I made for my daughters birthday!  This is what she wanted for her party and the colors made it fun. 

Triple Chocolate Cake

This is a moist chocolate cake that my whole family loves!  I got the idea from a cake my husbands mother makes, with her using a yellow cake mix.  Well one time I wanted to make her cake and I only had a chocolate cake mix, so it was fixed up on a whim and we loved all the chocolate in it.  Then I started using Ghirardelli chips in all my baking and it really is so much better with these.

Ingredients
1 devils or fudge chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup water
1 small box instant fudge pudding
1 bag Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

Preparation
Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Spray bundt pan with bakers joy, or nonstick spray.
Combine all ingredients (excluding chocolate chips) in large mixing bowl.  Beat on low for 30 seconds.  Turn mixer to high and beat 2 minutes or until completely combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour into bundt pan, bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick insert comes out clean.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

1 box Devils Cake Mix	1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 stick softened butter	1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs	desired amount frozen Reeses, chopped
3/4 cup Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chips

 

Preparation

Preheat oven 350 degrees
Line 13x9 baking dish with foil and spray generously with nonstick spray.
In bowl mix cake, butter, & eggs until combined well and a dough forms. Spoon dough into baking dish. With clean hands press and spread evenly into baking dish. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. In small bowl mix peanut butter and sweetened condensed, then spoon as evenly as possible over cake. Use spoon to spread somewhat evenly. In bowl, use fork to chop Reeses, and sprinkle over top.
Bake 27-31 minutes until set. Let cool completely to assure it is totally set.

Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Ingredients

2 cups sugar	1/2 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups All purpose flour	2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4 cups Hersheys Unsweet Cocoa	1 cup Brewed Starbucks Dark Espresso Coffee
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder	2 sticks salted butter room temperature
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda	7 cups Confectioners Sugar
1 tsp salt	1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs	2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup milk

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine first 6 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Stir in the hot coffee and mix well with a spoon (batter will be thin).
Pour 1/4 cup batter into each cupcake paper.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and then remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.

*Icing
In bowl combine butter, 4 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 3 to 5 minutes.
Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating for about 2 minutes after each addition, until icing reaches desired consistency; you may not need to add all the sugar.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.