Bake or Break

Black Hole Chocolate Cheesecake {Plus a Cookbook Giveaway}

Many of us likely depend upon desserts to make us feel better after a bad day. Whether you get joy from baking them or eating them or both, there is no comparable comfort.

Recently, I was given a copy of Marian Keyes’ Saved by Cake. I’ve been a fan of Marian Keyes’ fiction books for many years. She has such a unique and witty voice that it’s hard not to enjoy her writing.

When Ms. Keyes was recently dealing with depression that far exceeded just a bad day, she found happiness in baking. Now, she has this wonderful book that is both memoir and cookbook. It’s filled with many delicious recipes and plenty of her trademark wit. Just reading the notes and recipe directions is entertainment on its own.

Continue reading...

Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes with Chocolate Cookie Crust {and a Giveaway}

I have a long-standing love of cheesecake. It started in my childhood with cheesecake from a box and grew from there. It was usually my go-to dessert choice when we went out. Then, I realized how simple they are to make, and now I love them even even more.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese is celebrating Easter this year with Bring Out the Silver, a virtual recipe swap among selected food bloggers who are bringing out the silver by baking cheesecakes using Philadelphia Cream Cheese in its unmistakable silver package. When they asked me to be part of that campaign, I knew that I couldn’t pass up that chance to celebrate with one of my favorite baking ingredients.

Continue reading...

Coconut Bars with Chocolate Shortbread Crust

I do so love coconut. That love, however, is not proportional to the number of recipes on this blog that feature coconut. Quinn doesn’t like it one bit, so I don’t use it that much.

But, every once in a while, I can resist no longer. Because it doesn’t happen often, I like to make it count. And, these bars definitely count.

Continue reading...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

Do you ever find yourself wavering when faced with a choice of desserts? Do I want cookies? Do I want cheesecake? With this dessert, you can have both.

Rather than a traditional graham cracker crust, I decided to up the chocolate chip ante and make a chocolate chip cookie crust. So, underneath all that cheesecake goodness, there’s a big, thick layer of chocolate chip cookie.

Continue reading...

Chocolate-Chocolate Cookies {Plus a Momofuku Giveaway}

If you’re not a fan of chocolate in a big way, you might want to go find some of my other recipes today. But, if you are a fan of all things chocolate, I may have found your new favorite cookie.

These amazingly chocolate cookies come to us from the incredible Momofuku Milk Bar and their cookbook. I’ve had the book for a while, but I just recently pulled it back off my bookshelf and became engrossed.

Continue reading for a chance to win a Momofuku giveaway.

Continue reading...

Peanut Butter Streusel Brownies

It’s been a while since I baked anything using chocolate and peanut butter. While I do believe variety is a good thing, I also believe with absolute certainty that the combination of chocolate and peanut butter is a very, very good thing.

I’ve made peanut butter brownies many times, but these are different from any of those. The difference? Streusel. Not just any streusel. Peanut butter streusel. I’m pretty sure that’s a new one for me.

Continue reading...