Bake or Break

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

The recipe for these amazing cookies comes to us from the equally amazing guys at Baked and their cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. I've only made it over to Red Hook once to sample their creations, but their two cookbooks are certainly well-used in my kitchen. I've had these cookies bookmarked for a while. Recently, I had a couple of baking... Well, I hate to say disasters. Let's just say I've had some challenges of late. Because of that, I found myself wanting to bake something straightforward. Not surprisingly, I turned to an old favorite pair of mine - peanut butter and chocolate.

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Cocoa Cake

I try to keep things simple in my kitchen and on this blog. You won't find a lot of complicated, time-consuming recipes here. Sure, I get overly ambitious from time to time, but I generally like to keep things a bit more approachable and attainable. I actually resisted making this cake for a while. It seemed almost too simple. I mean, it's a no-frills chocolate cake. I'm as much of a fan of chocolate as anyone, but most of the time I prefer it with just a little extra interest.

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Chocolate Cashew Bars

With this recipe, I'm going back to some of my baking loves - chocolate, nuts, and bars. You had to know I wouldn't stray for long. These bars are certainly a good way to reunite with some old favorites. One of my other great baking loves is pecan pie. Now, imagine a pecan pie in bar form, but with cashews and chocolate. That's what we've got here. And, it's a beautiful thing.

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German Chocolate Cake Cookies

One of my favorite cakes is the always reliable German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting. Not very creative, I know. But, what can I say? I like what I like. Unfortunately for me, coconut is most definitely not what Quinn likes.

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Mississippi Mud Pie

Take a look at that beauty. That is a prime example of what happens when I let Quinn pick out dessert. Now, take a look at the recipe. That is also what happens when I let Quinn pick dessert. So, here's what we have. First, there's the amazing Oreo crust that is sufficiently thick to hold up all of this deliciousness. Next is a flourless chocolate cake with just the right amount of coffee flavor. To top that off, there's a chocolate pudding that would be an impressive dessert on its own. Then, just in case all that isn't enough, there's a lovely, thick layer of sweetened whipped cream on top.

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Brownie Buttons

When I made these brownies, I just wasn't pleased with them. I don't know that it was anything specific. I just didn't think they turned out the way they were supposed to be. The recipe had a suggestion for a glaze of melted white chocolate. So, I put them in a container, made a mental note to try the glaze, and moved on to something else. Then, a funny thing happened. We kept eating them. And, the more we ate them, the more we liked them. No glaze. No extra anything. Just these little brownies on their own won us over.

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