I was trying to find a treat to bring into work this Saturday and wanted to bake something fall-like (pumpkin perhaps)… I was really was leaning toward non-chocolate. Then, I found,these chocolate layer bars on verybestbaking.com (the nestle website). So another day for the pumpkin treat. These bars have a Graham cracker crust and a chocolate layer. They looked like they were missing something when I took them out of the oven,so I made chocolate ganache to put on top. Because why not more chocolate? It just makes life better. And with all the garbage going on in the world, we need that. Anyways, Ganache sounds so fancy, but it is just melted chocolate mixed with heavy cream.

Oh, and I really need to figure put how to take better pix with my phone. I have been told this Lg g7 thinq has this great camera, but my pictures are only ok. Flash on? Hdr on? Super bright on? Auto or manual? For the love of God.. I want simple. 😳

Bottom layer Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

Combine and press in ungreased 9×13 pan. Set aside

Middle layer ingredients

• 14 oz can condensed milk
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup ground nuts (opt)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Combine ingredients and pour over bottom Graham cracker later. Sprinkle 2 cups chocolate chips on top. Bake 25 minutes. Cool completely.

Ganache ingredients

• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions – combine in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Pour over cooled bars.

Store in covered container.

Rob requested Ring Dings, a throwback sort of treat. I am not sure if they are made by Hostess or Drake’s. They are a chocolate cake round with marshmallow creme filling and topped with a chocolate coating. Rob asked if I could do a peanut butter filling as well, so I did both. Instead of filling the treats, I split them horizontally, filled them and then topped them with melted chocolate. I made quite a mess, with the chocolate cake recipe I used for the marshmallow filled ones, but think people at work will stillfind them delicious! IbI used the king arthur flour flourless cake recipe for the peanut butter filled ones. That actually worked much better with slicing and filling. Next time, I will just bake a cake or cupcakes.😊

Cake ingredients

• 1cup semi sweet choc chips
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a rpund cake pan with baking spray. Melt chocolate and butter. Add sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Stir in flour. Bake 25 minutes. Cool. Put in fridge 1 hour.

Marshmallow filling

Mix together –

• 1 cup crisco or buttee
• 7 oz marshmallow creme
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup

Peanut butter filling

Mix together –

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6-8 tbs milk

Remove cake from pan. Use a wine glass to cup out rounds. Slice horizontally. Spread filling between two rounds. Top with melted chocolate.

Store in fridge in covered container.

I am bringing not one, not two,but three types of cookies into work tomorrow. I did not originally plan on three. I made brownie hot fudge cookies, but that recipe only made 8 cookies. Not enough. So I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (I am in at 5 am, so oatmeal makes them appropriate for breakfast, right? ) Then Rob asked for toll house bars, so I made them again, but with browned butter. So that is the story of my cookie hat trick. I think my weekend work people will be pleased.

Hot fudge brownie cookies

Ingredients

• 19.5 oz brownie mix
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup oil
• 5 tbs water
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup hot fudge (room temp)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Combine brownie mix, flour, oil, water, egg and hot fudge. Fold in chips. Using an ice cream scoop, stagger cookies onto sheet lined with nonstick baking liners or parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes. They will seem a little mushy, but will firm up as they cool. Store in covered container.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups oats (I used instant, but you can use old fashioned)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 bag milk chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients. Using an ice cream scoop, stagger cookies on a cookie sheet lined w non stick baking liners or parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes. They will be lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool on sheet 10 minutes. Cool completely and store in covered cobrainer.

Brown butter choc chip brownies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1egg
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – brown butter (cook over low medium, stirring occasionally unti you see little brown specks in it. Cool 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Add egg, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add chips. Line an 8×8 inch pan with foil and spray with baking spray. Spread dough in. Bake 20 minutes exactly (no longer).

I was perusing recipes on line and came across one called blobbs, a specialty of Ina Pinkney. They are basically a super chocolately fudgy cookie with chocolate chips. I used Ghirardelli 60 percent chocolate chips, but you can use regular semisweet ones if you prefer. The darker the chocolate, the fudgier the cookie. I also put semisweet chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips in the batter, but feel free to use what you want. You could also melt various chips and pour them on top of cooled cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 10 ounce bag dark chocolate chips
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions -melt butter, dark chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in microwave safe bowl in 45 second increments until you can stir it smooth. Cool 10 minutes.

Beat eggs on medium high speed for 2 minutes.

Add sugar and beat on medium high speed 2 more minutes.

Fold in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. Chill dough at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350. Scoop out dough using an ice cream scoop or cookie dough scoop (1/4 cup dough).

Stagger on cookie sheets lined with nonstick baking liners.

Bake 14-20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on sheet. Remove from sheets. Cool completely .

Store in covered container.



This is one of our first really hot days, near 90 degrees. Gracie is not a huge fan of the heat. It wipes her out a bit so that she rests a little more. And with a nine months old lab puppy, that is never a bad thing. She has come a long way in the three months we have had here and continues to go through training. She works on that and I need to work on being more patient.never my strong point.

Today’s treat is a no bake one, and you can vary what you put in. I used the vanilla/chocolate Oreo combo.

, but you can use Graham crackers, Ritz crackers, any flavor of Oreos, nutter butters, etc. As long as you crush them up and get 2 cups worth, do whatever you want. I also used margarine this time. It doesn’t take as long to soften up and the bars are a little softer as well. And I used semisweet chocolate chips on top.

One note – my friend Helen’s mom, used Graham crackers for these bars and they were amazing. No one can make these like Mrs Cianciosi could.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups Oreo or Graham cracker, crushed (I used a food processor, but you can use a rolling pin).
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Mix butter and peanut butter. Fold in cookie crumbs. Slowly fold in powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Press into 8×8 pan for thick bars, 9×13 for thinner bars. Chill

Topping

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tbs shortening or butter

Melt chips and butter/shortenjng in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth. Pour on top of bars and spread. Chill.

Someone is wondering if I am going to share this pb treat.

You can cut bars before chocolate sets if you want, so topping does not break.

As you can see, I struggle cutting theough hardened chocolate 😃

Store in covered container in fridge.

I made some chocolate chip cookies the other day, when it was humid, I did not have a chance to refrigerate them long enough and they came out flat.

I am sure they tasted fine, but they did not look presentable. So I decided to make them into a truffle filling and put it between two chocolate cake layers and frost with chocolate buttercream frosting. You can use Oreos, nutter butters, nilla wafers or whatever kind of cookie you want. And you can leave the marshmallows out of the filling if you want as well.

Cake ingredients

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Spray two round cake pans with baking spray
• Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, water, pudding mix, and Greek yogurt. Mix with a spoon until just combined
• Divide evenly between cake pans.
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean.

Cookie truffle filling ingredients

• Cookies, 2 cups ground
• 1 stick butter,melted
• 6 large marshmallows (microwaved for 40 seconds in microwave safe bowl)

Directions – grind cookies fine in food processor.

Add butter and melted marshmallows.

Frosting ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions

Cream butter. Mix in melted chocolate. Slowly, blend in powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Blend in heavy cream. You can add more cream if you want a thinner frosting.

Place one cake, top side down, on cake plate

Spread filling on top

Place second cake round, flat side down, on top of filling.

Frost with buttercream

Sprinkle with extra truffle topping

Store in covered container.

I have an issue with frosting. With all my recipes, I end up with too much or too little frosting. (But I guess it is better to have too much than not enough). So I always feel the need to make a second treat to use up the frosting (which is never a bad thing). I usually do some sort of sandwich cookie, but this time, I optes for brownies. Flourless, dark chocolate brownies. Frosted with buttercream frosting and mini M&Ms.

Brownies ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Spray and 8×8 square pan with baking spray. melt butter and chocolate chips in 45 second increments until you can stir mixture melted. Add remaining ingredients . Spread brownie batter into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean. Cool completely. Forst with frosting of your choice and sprinkle with candy of your choice.

Store in refrigerator.

I wanted to make my mother in law a cake for mother’s day, but when I asked her what she wanted, she said anything would be fine. So Rob, never at a loss for a treat suggestion, asked me to make a white cake with vanilla frosting and M&Ms. So I tweaked a white cake mix, made a buttercream frosting and sprinkles it with mini m&Ms. I have no decorating skills. It is the best I could do.

Cake ingredients

• 1 white cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 instant white chocolate pudding mix
• 1 1/4 cups water

Directions – preheat oven to 350. combine ingredients and mix well by hand. Spray 2 round cake pans with Pam. Divide batter evenly in each. Bake 20-25 minutes until you see light golden patches on top. Cool completely

Frosting

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions – cream butter and powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla and beat well. You may need to add another tablespoon or two of milk to make this easier to frost the cake.

Assembly

• Place one cake round, flat side up, onto cake plate
• Frost with a thin layer of frosting
• Place second cake layer, flat side down on top of frosting
• Frost top and sides of cake
• Sprinkle with M&Ms

Store covered in covered container.

I decided to bake a smores cake because it is a summer treat and I am tired of cold weather and want it to be sunny and warm. I have also put out our patio furniture, hoping to hurry nice weather! So if it rains the next ten days, it is my fault! 😉

Cake ingredients

• Chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. (325 if using non stick coated pans)
• Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and Greek yogurt. Add cake mix and chocolate chips. Blend well.
• Spray two cake pans with baking spray
• Divide batter evenly into each (I used a one cup measuring cup to do so)
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean
• Cool completely

Toasted marshmallows

• Place marshmallows on a tray lined with toin foil and sprayed with Pam. Broil on high for a few minutes. Set aside.

Chocolate buttercream ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups butter (softened)
• Heaping half cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbs Greek yogurt
• 3 cups powdered yogurt

Directions

• Beat butter 2 minutes
• Beat in cocoa, vanilla and Greek yogurt
• Slowly blend in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.

Assembly

• Place one cake layer, flat side down, on cake plate



• Spread a thin layer of buttercream on top



• Gently press down a few toasted marshmallows



• Place second cake layer, flat side down on top of buttercream/marshmallows



• Frost with remainder of frosting
• Gently press remaining toasted marshmallows on top.



• Store in covered container

Rob and I are going to see a middle school production of the “Lion King”. My goddaughter Lyndsey is working on the set design and we are looking forward to seeing her work. I never come empty handed to anything, so I am making two kinds of cookies – chocolate chip and chocolate cookies with Reese’s pieces and peanut butter chips. The chocolate ones are for Lyndsey, who loves peanut butter and the regular chocolate chip are for Sara, her sister and my other goddaughter, who hates peanut butter. So here are the Lyndsey cookies. Sara’s cookies are on another blog entry.

Ingredients

1 cup of butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup baking cocoa

3/4 cup cake flour (you can add 3/4 tbs cornstarch and 3/4 cup all purpose flour if you don’t have cake flour)

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbs cornstarch

1 cup Reese’s pieces

1 cup peanut butter chips

Direction- cream sugar, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Fold in Reese’s and chips. Scoop into 1/4 cup dough. Chill. Preheat oven to 410 degrees. Line cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger mounds of dough, eight to a sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool on sheet 5 minutes. Cool completely.

Store in covered container.