Who doesn’t love a chewy chocolate chip cookie? This recipe is adapted from the original recipe you’ll find on the back of any bag of Chipits, but with less sugar. We also use margarine, instead of the optional butter as it produces the chewiest results. This recipe is an oldie, but a goodie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup margarine

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 2 cups flour (you can easily use whole wheat in this recipe with the same great results)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1 cup walnuts, broken into small pieces

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cream together the butter and sugars with a mixer. Add the eggs and continue mixing until smooth. Add the flour and baking soda and mix fully, scraping the edges of the bowl as you go. When the mixture is fully combined, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts so they are evenly distributed.

Place batter by teaspoonful on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake for about 9-10 minutes or until just starting to brown. Let them cool a bit before removing them and placing them on a cooling rack, or they’ll fall apart.

If you’ve ever noticed that not all icings are created equally, you’re definitely right. Many icings are so sweet, they take away from the deliciousness of your cake or cupcakes.

Well, this recipe is different. It’s creamy and has just the right sweetness.

The frosting keeps well in the fridge for about 1 week. Just make sure to mix it well before using, so it will have a creamy texture again.

This makes enough frosting to ice an 8” cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk

• ¼ cup flour

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup butter

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 tablespoons cacao

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk the flour and milk until thickened. Once it is thickened, set it aside and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the flour and milk mixture and continue to beat with the mixer until the icing is light and fluffy. Add the cacao or a food coloring of your choice part way through the mixing process.

Who doesn’t love a slice (or two) of fresh banana bread, particularly when chocolate is involved?

Here’s a surefire chocolate banana bread recipe that will keep everyone coming back for more.

This recipe makes 2 loaves, but you may want to double the recipe and freeze the extra loaves because they’re so good!

Ingredients:

• 6 ripe and mashed bananas

• 1 cup soft margarine

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 3 cups whole wheat flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• ¼ cup cacao powder

• ¾ cup chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Lightly oil regular sized loaf pan or 2  9” x 5 “ loaf pans.

After you have mashed the bananas, place them in a large bowl with the margarine, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Whisk or use an electric mixer until the ingredients are creamy. Add the butter buttermilk and whisk until smooth.

Add the flour, baking soda and cacao powder. Whisk until combined fully, but don’t over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into your loaf pan(s) and bake on the middle rack for about 50-60 minutes. Your banana bread is done when a toothpick is inserted in the middle and comes out clean.

If you like chocolate covered strawberries, you’ll love this recipe. The fact that it’s a no-bake pie means preparation is minimal.

We’ve used a chocolate graham cracker crust and strawberries this time, however, we’ve made this recipe using fresh Bing cherries with chocolate (think chocolate covered cherries – Mmm…). We also do a version for the 4th of July using a regular graham cracker crust, fresh blueberries, strawberries and white chocolate.

The recipe calls for chilling the pie for 4 hours but we often times will freeze it. Freezing doesn’t make as pretty of a pie but it’s a delicious frozen treat.

While you can use frozen berries, it’s best to let them fully thaw and drain off all the juice before using. Otherwise, your pie may not set up well.

Ingredients:

6 ounces of cream cheese

1 teaspoon of vanilla

¾ cup of heavy whipping cream

½ cup of sugar

2 cups of fresh strawberries (whole or sliced, your choice)

1 chocolate graham cracker crust

4 squares of chocolate

Directions:

Before you begin, set out the heavy cream so that it reaches room temperature. Put a medium bowl (glass or stainless steel) in the refrigerator to chill. We’ll use this for whipping the cream.

Hull and wash the strawberries and let drain.

Using your hand mixer, blend the cream cheese and the vanilla. Set aside.

In the chilled bowl, pour the heavy cream and whip until it doubles in size. Continue beating while slowly adding the sugar.

 Add the cream cheese mixture and blend just until incorporated.

Pour into the graham cracker crust.

Place the strawberries on top of the cream cheese spreading from edge to edge. Using whole berries will make a prettier pie, but will be harder to eat than if you slice them. I’ll leave that to you!

Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the berries.

Place the pie, uncovered, in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving. Here’s a picture of a frozen slice. As you can see, it isn’t as pretty but it is still delicious.

Brownies are a great way to satisfy a chocolate fix. These dense pastries give a full chocolate taste and can also be complemented by different toppings, frostings and additional flavors. There are different kinds of brownies but most of them start with a good chocolate brownie recipe. A simple brownie recipe can give you a great base to work with if you want to get creative and try something new.  You can check the simple brownie recipe below as a guide and use the different suggestions that follow to make a great brownie dessert.

Ingredients

• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 teaspoons water
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup fine sugar
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350oF. Grease an 8 inch square cake pan.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. In a medium saucepan put the butter, water, and sugar and place over low heat; stir to melt the butter and then remove it from the heat. Beat eggs in a bowl and beat into the butter mixture. Put in the flour mixture and beat until the batter is smooth and shiny.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 20 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Slice the brownie with a knife into the desired amount of servings. Serve at room temperature or warm.

Must Have Bakeware: Baker’s Edge Nonstick Edge Brownie Pan

Notes

This simple brownie recipe will yield about a dozen small brownies. Brownies are moist and dense so you do feel the richness of the chocolate with every bite. If you wish to complement your brownies you can add the following:

• Add sweetened cherries to the mix or on top of the brownies
• Make a frosting by melting semisweet chocolate with hot cream and allowing this mixture to cool before spreading over the brownies
• Add chopped nuts for some crunch to the brownies
• Chocolate chips can also be added, white chocolate is suitable as well
• Marshmallow crème can be used to top the brownies, mini marshmallows can also be used

This simple brownie recipe can also be enhanced by warming the brownies first and then serving it with ice cream. Storing the brownies in the refrigerator can lengthen the shelf life for several days.

Enjoy this simple brownie recipe and the many ways you can add to it to make it an even tastier dessert.