chocolate chips

Easy 3-Ingredient Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream

Homemade chocolate sauce is so much easier to make than you might think, and with just three ingredients (plus a pinch of salt) your ice cream, cheesecake, fruit fondue, or even chocolate cake will be dripping in chocolatey goodness in no time.

This recipe is brought to you by Kroger and Tillamook, which is heading East ya’ll!

My husband is an ice cream lover through and through. He’s just like my dad who nearly every night has a scoop or two while we binge watch our favorite TV shows. But when I was a kid, my dad never ate the ice cream naked on its own, and neither does my husband. These boys always have their ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce — or as my husband calls it in his best British accent that sends our daughter into a reels of laughter “a bit of CHOCK-OH-lut taaaahhh-ping.”

“Really dad? Chocolate TOPPING??,” she fights to dispute. “It’s called chocolate SAUCE, dad!”

Personally, I’d rather have chocolate sauce or hot fudge rather than a mysteriously labeled “topping” on my ice cream because what the heck is in “topping” anyway? That’s why this super easy, 3-ingredient sauce is now a standard at our house.

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German Chocolate Banana Bread

My favorite banana bread recipe gets a nutty chocolate chunk upgrade, making this quick bread a dessert lovers dream.

To say I have a fetish with German Chocolate anything and everything is a severe understatement. Proof in the chocolate pudding is right here.

I could try and blame it on my German heritage, but let’s just say it like it is: I am a load-it-up-with-all-the-nuts-chocolate lover and I have no willpower when this flavor-bomb combo is in sight. I mean, have you ever had Baskin Robbins German Chocolate Cake ice cream?

Has chocolate ever been considered a part of our DNA? Apparently so! Who-da thunk that someone (not me) was likely to investigate?

My favorite part of this banana bread is all the additional fixins, but the secret is what lies under the toppings, and proof that beauty is more than skin deep.

continue to the recipe… about German Chocolate Banana Bread

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Nut Cookies

These easy, wonderfully chewy cookies are loaded with chunks of macadamia nuts, white chocolate chips and dried cranberries in an oatmeal batter good enough for breakfast too.

See these cookies? They are chock-full. Chock-full of all kinds of flavors and goodness that go together like peas in a pod. But they’re much sweeter—and most everyone says much better—than peas. Obviously.

But they’re missing one thing for too many people.

They’re missing a giant glass of cold milk for some kids not as fortunate as mine to dip these still-warm-from-the-oven cookies into before setting a glass next to Santa’s plate to wash them down and then wipe from his frosty mustache.

But that doesn’t have to be the case, because I’m doing something about that fact, and you can too. continue to the recipe… about Cranberry White Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Lighter Caramel Seven-Layer Bars Recipe

Greek yogurt, egg whites, unsweetened coconut and fat-free sweetened condensed milk make these caramel bars a lighter version of the classic seven layer bars.

Typically when you hear the words “baking” and “healthy,” they’re not in the same sentence, especially when it comes to the holidays. It seems like a bit of an oxymoron, eh? The holidays are the time to just let go, to overlook better choices. Or is it?

Luckily bloggers like Amy Atherton, of Amy’s Healthy Baking are changing the way people think about virtuous sweets.

With simple substitutions like alternative flours, healthier oils and natural sweeteners (and less of them), baked goods can in fact be healthier and tasty at the same time, and this is something Amy has undoubtedly figured out. So to all of you skeptics out there, her mindset is for you.continue to the recipe… about Lighter Caramel Seven-Layer Bars Recipe

Loaded Monster Cookies

Whole wheat pastry flour, nuts, raisins, popcorn, coconut and chocolate bits all combine to make one monster of a healthier cookie.

This post is sponsored by Lifetime’s production of Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow premiering Saturday, November 21, 2015.

These cookies. They’re so ugly, they’re crave-ingly cute. Just like Jim Henson’s classic puppeted creatures and those in the new holiday movie, Turkey Hollow, these Loaded Monster Cookies are destined to become classics.

When Lifetime asked if I’d like to preview their new Jim Henson movie and make a treat to eat along with it, I was all for it. I grew up with Jim Henson and his cast of characters. I know every line to Rainbow Connection. I can still sing the opening credits to the original Muppet Show TV series.

And as for Kermit and Miss Piggy? They’ll always be a the ultimate celebrity couple in my eyes. I’m just waiting for a reunion.

Until then…these cookies.

By using smart ingredients like whole wheat, heart-healthy nuts, raisins and oatmeal, not to mention that chocolate is good for you (here’s 10 reasons why!) these cookies pack a fortified punch. Your kids’ll never know you snuck in all that good stuff into these perfectly-imperfect, Henson-inspired cookies.

continue to the recipe… about Loaded Monster Cookies

Milk Bar’s Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies by Christina Tosi are the fastest homemade cookie recipe I’ve ever made, and they come together in just one bowl, no mixer required. The hit of flaky sea salt really sends them over the top.

Because it’s Monday. That’s why.

Mondays call for a stiff cup of coffee in the morning and possibly martini with three olives to cap off the night. But chocolate chip cookies…they’re in order no matter what time of the day.

Last Friday was the official chocolate chip day of the year. But since my sugar rolodex was on hiatus, I missed it. Ironically, I had this chocolate chip cookie ready to rock and roll for today.

I may be a day or two late, but this cookie is FAR from a dollar short. Make that a chocolate chip short. Hardly. Because this baby is PACKED with chips. In fact, the amount of dough pretty much comes secondary to the number of chips, making for a soft, chewy extra rich cookie with crispy edges. All I did was add a sprinkle of flaky salt and I have a new favorite.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom has a saying about cooking / eating / observing an overly ambitious amount of dinner table food. “This could feed an army!” is the exclamation I’ve heard from her more than once in my life. It’s her way of noting how lucky we are, to live and enjoy such bounty with our family and friends.

It happens most every year when we cook to excess at Thanksgiving, or when I get a wild hair and decide I need to add just a bit more to the BBQ with a few more side dishes, plus another dessert, and oh heck, why not have hot dogs PLUS hamburgers. Just so nobody goes hungry.

These pillowy, cakey, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies fit that bill. This recipe is perfect. Especially if you’re baking for a crowd. Like for my mom’s invisible army. Or better yet, for a party! Now, that’s an idea I can get behind. Or better yet, I’ll lead the charge.

So hop to it soldier (I’m looking at you, mom), and let’s get this cookie baking party started.

continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

S’mores Krispies Bars and a Sweet S’more’s Recipe Round-Up

Snap. Crackle. And mix those krispies with butter, chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers then let’s start snacking. Those little elves who live in the tree may never know what hit them once the melted marshmallows sticks around.

Times like these call for sweet treats. And by times like these I mean the end of another school year and the absolute giddiness that has been bouncing around our house, with her high kicks and smiling licks that she simply can’t contain.

But since it’s also almost the weekend, and in the true spirit of weekending, I’m vowing to veer away from attempting any recipe concocting deemed too strenuous. Nothing that will take up too much time or put pressure on my already in weekend mode brain. Baking fancy cupcakes? That’ll wait for another time.

We have lots of other types of fun on the agenda. So let’s get to it.

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