Tag Archives: chocolate

Hostess cupcakes (complete with the squiggle!)

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Hostess cupcakes with marshmallow fluff filling, chocolate frosting and a squiggle!

These dear friends are hostess cupcakes, complete with the fluff filling and magical squiggle. I made these using a chocolate cake mix, but I fancied it up a bit, using an instant pudding mix, fat free Greek yogurt, along with water, oil and eggs. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, you can always use sour cream. My squiggle isn’t so much a squiggle, but a blob of a line. ☺. You can use whatever cake flavor you want, but just use a corresponding flavor pudding mix. I used jumbo cupcake liners here too! a reminder to preheat your oven to 350 degrees before baking.

  • Cupcake ingredients
  • 1 cake mix
  • 3.4 oz instant pudding mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Cupcake Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a jumbo cupcake pan with jumbo cupcake liners. In a bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs and water. Blend in Greek yogurt, then chocolate chips. Scoop put 1/2 cups of batter into each cupcake liner. Bake 13 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely

  • Filling ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • Milk

Filling Directions – combine butter, fluff and powdered sugar. Add milk, a tsp at a time, if you want to thin it out a bit.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 2/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs milk

Frosting Directions – combine all ingredients

  • Squiggle ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2-3 tsp milk

Squiggle Directions – blend well. Put in a small Ziploc baggie and cut off a small corner

Cut out a cone from the cup of each cupcake.

Set cone aside.

Fill the hole with fluff filling.

Replace cone, gently pushing in.

Frost.

Top with squiggle.

Store in covered container.

Chocolate cutout cookies (they are decorated as basketballs, which you probably can’t tell)

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This, is a basketball

The NBA playoffs are in full swing.  I thought I would try to make some basketball cutout cookies.  The chocolate cookies,  buttercream frosting and chocolate stripes all taste great

My decorating is a disaster!  But you will like these cookies.

It still tastes good!

Next time, I may try chocolate mini m&ms as the stripes!

  • Cookie ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract (or vanilla)
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Directions – cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg and extract. Fols,in,dry ingredients. On a floured surface, roll out to desired thickness and cut with a round cookie cutter. I chilled the dough for a few hours so the cookies would not spread. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. On a cookie tin lined with nonstick baking liners, stagger cookies.

Bake 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1tbs heavy cream,or milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Red and yellow food coloring

Directions – cream butter and powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla. Using directions for orange on food coloring box, add food coloring. Frost cookies.

  • Chocolate icing ingredients and directions
  • 4 tbs butter, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs baking cocoa
  • Milk
  • Blend butter, powdered sugar and cocoa. Add enough milk, 1 tsp at a time to get the right consistency to pipe on stripes. (I cut off the end of a sandwich baggied and piped it, disastrously, as you can see). Store in covered container.

Monster size chocolate chip cookies

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Now,that’s a cookie!

You may want to schedule an extra workout session, run or walk before eating one of THESE chocolate chip cookies to burn off the extra calories. To say they are large is an understatement! Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies, so instead of having two or 3, just have one of these and call it a day! These use a mix of cake flour and all purpose flour. If you don’t have cake flour, you can make it by sifting 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour with 1 1/2 tbs cornstarch. Also, I was in a rush and only had cold butter to work with, so I used a cheese grater to shred it so I could work with it quickly.

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, cold, grated with a cheese grater
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 yolks
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – cream grated cold butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and yolks. Fold in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. Divide dough evenly into thirds. Then divide each third in half. Then, divide each remaining dough pieces in half. There are your 12 cookies., pile dough into mounds. Chill at least a few hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fpr 20 minutes. On a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners, bake 10 to 12 minutes. There will be light golden spots on top. Cool on sheets completely. Do not be like my husband and grab one while it is still hot. 😳 store in covered container.

When it comes to cookies, the bigger, the better!

Brownie cookies stuffed with Hershey Kisses and topped with melted milk chocolate and mini m&ms

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Welcome home NHL!

With the news that ESPN is getting back the NHL, I felt I needed to celebrate with an extra special treat. So I decided on chocolate brownie cookies. Stuffed with Hershey Kisses. Topped with melted milk chocolate AND mini M&Ms. Does that give you an indication about how happy I am the NHL is back?😁😁

Chocolate chocolate chocolate!
  • Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract (opt)
  • 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Directions – cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and extract. Mix in melted chocolate chips. Fold in,dry ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Divide in half. Slightly flatten each half.

On one half of dough, place a Hershey kiss.

Top with second flattened half.

Seal edges.

Chill cookies a few hours. Preheat an oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies. Bake 9 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Topping ingredients and instructions – in a microwave safe bowl melt 2 cups of milk chocolate chips in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Add 1 tbs vegetable oil. Spoon on top on cookies. Sprinkle with m&ms. Store in covered container.

M&M’s make everything better!

Big wheels/Ding Dongs/Ring Dings

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Another hostess challenge answered!

These treats were a request from my husband, Rob. They have different names – big wheels/Ding dongs/Ring dings, but seem to be basically the same thing, made by Hostess. He asked if I could make “Big Wheels.” Honestly, I never heard of them. The only Big Wheels I knew of where the bike we all had as little kids! Anyways, I learned Big Wheels by Hostess, were a bigger version of Ding Dongs, which seem to be remarkably like ring dings. Just an individual chocolate cake, filled with a fluff filling and covered In melted chocolate. In my hometown, I remember Stroehmanns seemed to be the king in stores, and they had a lot of the same type of treats as Hostess. My favorites were the Sno balls, especially the pink ones. Anyways, here is the recipe for Big Wheels. I made them with a homemade chocolate cake recipe, but next time I would use a cake mix because it would be easier and faster..and frankly, cake is cake. They are a little messy in the pictures, but my ESPN Radio work family will like them on Monday. (And I didn’t waste the leftover cake after the cutouts! I smooshed it all together and formed whoopie pies! )

  • Ingredients
  • 1 chocolate cake mix, baked in round pans and cooled completely
  • 1/4 cup butter softened
  • 3/4 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • Heavy cream/milk

Directions – invert cooled cakes onto parchment paper. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles. In a bowl, mix butter, fluff and powdered sugar. Add enough heavy cream or milk to get thr consistency you want.

Cut out a cone of each individual cake and save it.

Fill the hole with a spoon of filling

Replace the cone of cake over the hole,and gently press in.

Cover with melted chocolate and store in covered container.

As you can see, I struggle decorating with melted chocolate

Brownies topped with homemade Reese’s

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Stepping up my brownie game

I didn’t want to bring in “just brownies” for work… I just saw a commercial for Reese’s eggs (which, honestly, are the best candy ever)… So I decided to make a homemade version of them and put them on top of the brownies. You can use any brownie recipe you want (even a mix is fine). You can also search my website for ideas. Rob would advise that you add a cup of chocolate chips, to make them even better.

  • Ingredients
  • 1 8×8 pan of brownies, baked and cooled completely
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions – in a saucepan, combine butter, peanut butter and brown sugar. Cook and stir over low/medium heat just until it bubbles. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar. (You way want to add more powdered sugar, depending on the texture you want. If you can too much powdered sugar, you can add milk, 1 tsp at a time, to fix that). Cool 15 to 20 minutes or until you find it cool enough to handle. Scoop out tbs and place on top of brownies. Melt chips in a microwave safe bowl, in 30 second increments until you cam stir smooth. Mix in oil. Spoon on top of brownies. Store in coveres container.

Throwing down the reese’s gauntlet with a homemade version!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Happy Valentine’s day!

Happy Valentine’s day! This is a heart shaped fudgy brownie topped with milk chocolate ganache. I know, my decorating skills are not good, but I tried. 😁

This recipe is super simple. You can add cut up candy in the batter or in top,of the ganache or frostinf if you want as well. If ganache (which honestly, is just a fancy word for melted chocolate with heavy cream), is not your thing, you can leave the brownies plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar or use whatever frosting you want. I used one my two heart shaped cake pans, but you can them in an 8 or 9 inch Square cake pan. Remember to spoon your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup to get the correct amount. Also preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking, to get your oven to the right temperature.

  • Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp chocolate or vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. Combine butter and sugar. Add cocoa. Blend in eggs, beating one at a time. Mix in extract. Fold in flour and salt. Blend in chips. Spread into pan. Mixture will be thick. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted,in center comes out with a few crumbs. Cool completley.

  • Ganache ingedients
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Directions – heat cream in a microwave safe bowl for 45 seconds. Pour over chips. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir smooth. Pour over brownies. let ganache set. Store in covered container.

❤❤❤❤

Celebration Monday treats

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Fudge topped devil dogs!

This could not be just any great for THIS victory Monday. The Buffalo Bills are back in the AFC Championship game for the first time since 1993. So this calls for something spectacular. Rob asked what I was planning (despite having 2 treats in the freezer bc I forgot to bring them in to work). I told him to pick something, so he chose devil dogs with fudge topping. Done. These use a cake mix. I added baking cocoa to make them extra chocolatey, but you can sub in 1/2 cup flour if you prefer.

  • Devil dog cake ingredients
  • 1 chocolate cake mix
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa (or flour)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 3 eggs

Directions – preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners. In a bowl, combine cake mix, cocoa, water, oil and eggs. Scoop out 1/4 cup batter and place on sheet. Spread into a rectangle. Bake 6 to 8 minutes. Cool completely.

  • Filling ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, soft
  • 1 1/2 cups fluff
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • Heavy cream or milk

Directions – cream butter and fluff. Slowly add powdered sugar. Add enough milk or cream to get the consistency you want. Spread between 2 devil dogs. set aside

  • Fudge frosting ingredients
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions – over low -medium heat, bring butter, evaporated milk, and sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add chips. Stir until melted. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Spoon over devil dogs. Store in covered container.

Go Bills!