Bake or Break

Chocolate Sprinkles Cookies

I very rarely make traditional chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes, I may even start out with the best of traditional intentions, but before I’m finished mixing up the dough, I’ve tossed in something extra.

I was assessing my chocolate stash the other day and found a forgotten bag of Guittard’s chocolate sprinkles. Immediately, I decided to make cookies using those as soon as possible. Not necessarily the most traditional chocolate chip cookie, but really not that much of a departure.

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Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies

Brown sugar is one of my favorite baking ingredients. Everything is way behind chocolate on that list, but brown sugar is pretty close to the top. Combine that with how much I like baking bars, and you get these beauties.

I’ve lamented before that cashews often get overlooked in baking. (If you agree, check out this or maybe this.) What better complement to all that brown sugar goodness than a big helping of cashews?

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Oatmeal Cream Pies

My grandmother’s kitchen always had a box of oatmeal cream pies. They were those store-bought kind with the thin, soft oatmeal cookies sandwiched around a sweet filling. I shudder to think how many of those I ate in my childhood.

I somehow never really thought about trying to make them myself. When I happened upon this recipe, I knew that I had to try my hand at these as soon as possible.

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Dark Chocolate-Sour Cherry Brownies

Of all the many, many versions of brownies I’ve made in my baking life, I very rarely have used a chocolate-fruit combination. It’s not that I dislike the combination. Rather, the thought of nuts or caramel or peanut butter generally persuades me to go another route.

The addition of dried sour cherries to dark chocolate brownies makes for a chewy, slightly tart brownie. That tartness combines with dark chocolate to make an irresistible brownie.

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Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Bundt cake and I are great friends. The pure genius of them is that you can make a beautiful, delicious cake without all the layers and frosting.

I have had this recipe in my to-bake file for almost two years. I have no idea how I waited this long to make it. A Bundt cake with chocolate chips, brown sugar, and pecans??? Yes, please!

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Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Of all the things I’ve made with Nutella, I’ve somehow never combined it with another of my true loves – cheesecake. The fact that I have allowed that to happen is a terrible mistake on my part. However, I feel that I have properly atoned with these cheesecake bars.

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