I’ve been so giddy this week — our summer heat has finally broken and I’ve fired up the oven several times already to make some warm, yummy comfort food for my family, which includes cookies and brownies, of course!

During the summer I try to stick with treats that don’t require baking because the oven is just one more thing to heat up the house, but when fall hits the combination of baking chocolate and a warm kitchen can’t be beat.
~ Upside-down Pear Chocolate Cake at Project Foodie
~ Self-Saucing Chocolate Coffee Puddings with Vanilla Custard Cream from Mowielicious
~ Pumpkin and …read more

Scharffen Berger chocolate is teaming up with Tuttifoodie.com for their third annual Chocolate Adventure Contest.

Anyone can enter the contest, which encourages creative recipe creations for both sweet or savory dishes. The recipes must include Scharffen Berger Chocolate and at least one suggested ingredient from the “Adventure Ingredients” list, which includes fresh mint, crystallized ginger, pandan leaf, banana leaf, sumac, raw honey, cacao nibs, fresh or whole dried chili pepper, malbec, peanut butter, black-eyed peas, rice flour, papaya, cumin, paprika, and smoked sea salt.
Two grand prizes of $10,000 each will be awarded, one for a sweet dish and one for …read more

Tomorrow, September 27th, is National Chocolate Milk Day!
Chocolate milk has recently been in the spotlight due to the healthy benefits it can provide to athletes and sports enthusiasts. Of course, there are those of us who will continue to drink it for what it is — a delicious chocolaty treat you don’t need to feel guilty indulging in!
Spiced Hot Chocolate Milk Mix
from Big Oven
4 c Chocolate milk
1/4 tsp Crushed cardamom
1/4 tsp Ground mace
1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
2 sticks cinnamon
~ Combine all ingredients; heat to serving temperature over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon sticks. Pour into mugs and garnish …read more

This week’s link roundup finds a lot of my usual blog reads getting into gear for autumn.
Lots of brownies, cookies and cupcakes means a lot of oven time and a sweet-smelling house! And make sure you check out the chocolate recipes involving avocado, blueberries and the vegan cookies and cake.
~ Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Brownies at Culinary Travels of a Culinary Goddess
~ Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from Novel Eats
~ Blueberry Nutella Tiramisu at Let’s Get Stupid Together
~ Olive Oil Pancakes with Chocolate Chips from Croce and Delizia
~ Homemade Granola Bars with Chocolate Chips at For the Love of Cooking
~ No …read more

I’m kind of intrigued by the creation of a chocolate cake made without flour. I did a little searching and come to find out, a flourless chocolate cake is really more of a torte than it is a cake.

So why do we persist in calling it a cake? I have no idea. But I do seem to have everything on hand to make one, so I may just have to give it a shot this weekend, in the name of research, of course!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
from AllRecipes
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
1 cup …read more

Today marks the last day of summer break for my kids. I’m going to miss their help making yummy treats throughout the day, like s’mores or chocolate zucchini cake, but that just means that I can have something waiting for them when they get home from school!
~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Reeses Cake at Good Things Catered
~ Baileys Cheesecake Brownies from Domestic Goddess in Trianing
~ End of the Search Chocolate Chip Cookies at Rachel Hearts Food
~ Superood Fudgesicles from Bitter Sweet
~ Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles at Katiecakes
~ Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares from Annie’s Eats
~ Chocolate Zucchini Bread at 6 Bittersweets
~ …read more

I don’t know why there is a whole month dedicated to having brownies at brunch or why anyone would have felt so strongly about it in the first place, but it exists so let’s have fun with it!

What are your favorite kind of brownies? Do you like them light and cakey, or dense and fudgy? Do you prefer the crispier edge pieces or the gooier middle pieces? Do you like anything added to them, like nuts or chocolate chips, or do you prefer them plain, just a big pan of chocolate yumminess?
Over the last two years I’ve done several posts …read more

There are many ways to make a cheesecake! My favorites, of course, are those that involve chocolate. To take it even further than that, the cheescakes that include chocolate and fruits or peanut butter are even better.

With Cheesecake Day tomorrow, it’s the perfect excuse to whip up a rich cheesy dessert today, or at least go shopping for it.
I especially like cheesecake with chocolate cookies used for the crust, which I’ll be making tonight for dessert night!
~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cheesecake
~ Mini Chocolate Pudding Oreo Cheesecakes
~ Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Cheesecake
~ All Chocolate Cheesecake
~ German Chocolate Cheesecake
~ Gluten-Free Chocolate …read more

July 21st is National Junk Food Day, and while I don’t necessarily consider chocolate on its own to be junk food, if I had a choice it’d be what I’d go for first!

Junk food is defined by Wikipedia as foods that have little to no nutritional value, or foods that do have nutritional value but contain other ingredients that can be thought of as unhealthy.
If you don’t feel like indulging (or maybe you already have!) you can check out a few fun junk food-related games online:
~ Name That Candybar
~ Ben & Jerry’s Cow-a-bunga
~ Cup-n-cake
~ How to Bake a Chocolate Cake
~ …read more

I’m really itching to make something new and fun this weekend. I’ve got a whole new list full of possibilities — which ones look good to you?
~ Double Chocolate Muffins at Oh So Tasty!
~ Chocolate and Bacon Pancakes from Peace Love & Chocolate
~ Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies at My Baking Addiction
~ Chocolate Violet Fudge from Not Quite Nigella
~ Peanut Butter Marshmallow Crispy Brownies at The Cooking Photographer
~ After-Preschool Brownies from Sweet Amandine
~ Dutch Cocoa Cookies at The Sensitive Pantry
~ Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream from Comfy Belly
~ Chocolate And Raspberry Strudel at Gel’s Kitchen
~ Spaghetti and Meatballs For Dessert …read more