I tried a chocolate banana bread recipe last month, and since I had overripe bananas on my counter again this week I decided to see if I could dig up another recipe to try.

This one is from Daydreamer Desserts, and while the recipes are somewhat similar, this new one included the addition of sour cream. I have to admit that I couldn’t really taste the sour cream when the bread was finished, but it did help make for a light and fluffy batter when I was mixing it up!
Though this recipe was good, I did end up having to keep …read more

Cookie exchange parties have become pretty popular over the last few years. Party guests are typically instructed to make their favorite batch of cookies (making sure there are enough for each of the other guests invited to have at least one), and then everyone meets up at the host’s place to exchange cookies and have a fun time.

This holiday season, Hershey’s Kisses is inviting 1,000 holiday bakers and entertainers to celebrate by hosting a Hershey’s Kisses Cookie Exchange Party!
But it gets even sweeter: now through November 15, party hosts can even apply to have their cookie exchange sponsored by Hershey’s …read more

One of my favorite fall treats are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. When I saw this recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip squares, I knew I’d be giving it a try!

I’ll admit, these sound so great that I almost second-guessed myself with the brownie buttons I made yesterday for my sister’s visit today. But, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to have two desserts on hand, right? Especially with a couple of extra kids and some sweets-loving adults!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares
from TheStar.com
2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
1 tsp each: cinnamon, baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each: ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground …read more

My sister and her family and heading down my way tomorrow for an overnight stay as they pass through on their way to California. We haven’t seen each other in over two years and I was so excited about the visit that I nearly forgot to plan out my end of their trip!

After a few exchanges back and forth about what she and her husband and their daughters would like for dinner and breakfast, she requested that I also make these brownie buttons, a picture of which I had posted in a private family blog several months back.
I got …read more

I tend to over-buy bananas. Actually — scratch that. I buy bananas that my kids say they’ll eat, but which are then forgotten as they head out the door for school. Either way, I usually end up with a few bananas on the counter that are going to go bad really quick if I don’t put them to good use, and that usually involves making banana bread.

I had never thought about adding chocolate chips before, though. I don’t know why, we all know that chocolate and bananas go well together! So, I found a recipe for a basic banana bread …read more

I love Cadbury Creme Eggs though I do understand why some people don’t. One egg is about my limit at any given time since the creme filling can get to be a bit much.

Despite that I’m very curious about the following links I’ve dug up. People actually bake with the creme eggs and some of them don’t look half bad! The creme filling in some of the pictures looks pretty gross but I don’t imagine it can hold up too well to heat

Cadbury Creme Egg Muffins
Cadbury Egg Cupcakes
Homemade Marshmallow Creme Egg Cupcakes
Cadbury Creme Stuffed Vanilla Cupcakes
Deep-fried Cadbury Egg

Would you try …read more

This week’s chocolate links have a ton of yummy holiday treats and desserts. Did you get all of your holiday goodies made in time?

Chocolate Mint Bûche de Noël at Apple, Pie, Patis & Pate

French Yule Log at Use Real Butter

Easy Christmas Truffles at Shaved Ice Sundays

Red Velvet Yule Log at Big Red Kitchen

Martha’s chocolate chip cookies at Slow Like Honey

French Yule Log at Lemonpi

Dark Chocolate and Orange Tart at Kiss My Artichoke

Chocolate Banana Cake at Chowtimes

Chocolate Crackle Cookies at Butter and Sugar

Graham Cracker Toffee at Eat Boutique

Cookie Dough and Oreo Truffles at Good Eats ‘N Sweet Treats

Chocolate Covered …read more

I came across a very fun project a few weeks ago called Tuesdays With Dorie. A very large group of people basically make the same thing once a week and post their results in their blogs, with all the recipes coming from the (very awesome) cookbook “Baking” by Dorie Greenspan.
I’m not going to be able to participate in all of them every week because I’m going to stick with the ones that have chocolate in them (or that can have chocolate added to them!) so I can post them here, but I can’t post the recipes anyway – you’ll need …read more

Lots of yummy chocolate creations this week! Check out:
~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes at Miss Cupcake Face
~ Mocha Chocolate Cookies at Baked Alaska
~ Bittersweet Chocolate and Cardamom Cupcakes at Tartlette
~ Chocolate Thumbprints at The Food Librarian
~ Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spice Cream Cheese Frosting at Pinch My Salt
~ Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies at Cinemon Girl
~ Fall Chocolate Cookies at Priscilla’s Baking Adventures
~ S’more-dillas at Chaos in the Kitchen
~ Mini Brioches Filled With Chocolate Truffle at Baking for the Cure
~ Quintuple Chocolate Brownies at Dreamy Desserts
~ M&M Studded Fudgy Oreo-Chunk Brownies at The Recipe Girl

We were given a large bag of mini candy bars last weekend and instead of letting them sit on the counter for the next month (it was a big bag and Halloween’s just a week away!) I decided to dig around and see what else I could do with them.
I came upon the recipe below and found a hit! It calls for Mini Snickers but I also tried a few with Mini Milky Ways.

This makes a lot of dough, so I ended up doing a couple of batches of regular peanut butter cookies while I was at it. I …read more