Chocolate Raspberry Chip Sixlet Cookies

It's really hard for me to resist buying baking supplies, especially when I find specialty items. I have drawers full of specialty chocolate chips, candies, flours and extracts. When I came across these raspberry flavored chocolate chips at an Amish market, I knew I had to have them. They look just like regular chocolate chips but pack a punch of sweet raspberry flavor. I knew they would be the perfect addition to a dark chocolate cookie.

Rolo Cake Mix Bars

Every now and then I disappear from my blog for a week or so. Not because I don't enjoy blogging, but sometimes I just need a break. The past few weeks have been busy, mostly thanks to a new little guy in my life - our rescue puppy, Tucker.

Nutter Butter Flip Flops & Sandy Bottom Pretzels

+ Beach Themed Party or Shower Ideas

My coworker Jen is getting married in May in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Traditionally, our office holds small after-work parties to celebrate events such as upcoming weddings and babies. My fellow coworkers and I began planning Jen's shower about a month ago and last Thursday was the big day. We scrounged up all of our beach themed decor, made some creative homemade favors and threw a really great shower on a small budget.

Almond Joy Brownie Sandwiches

I'm always looking for a easy way to jazz up boxed brownies. My boyfriend's love of almond joys inspired this brownie creation. I've seen almond joy brownie recipes in the past that incorporate flaked coconut and chopped almonds right into the batter, but I wanted something more closely resembling the candy. I wanted a sweet, flaky, yet creamy filling and a rich chocolate frosting. What makes this recipe so simple is that I used a brownie mix that includes a frosting packet, so there's no need to make your own frosting or ganache to top the brownies.

Double Chocolate Crackles

Why did 624 bloggers bake 22,000 cookies? For the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of course! Julie and Lindsay, the genius girls behind The Little Kitchen and Love and Olive Oil came up with the idea of the swap. The concept was simple. Each blogger bakes three dozen cookies and ships one dozen each to three other bloggers. In the end, each blogger would end up with a variety of delicious cookies and make some great new connections. Naturally, I didn't hesitate to sign up for such an fun event.

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

 

Last week I introduced my friend Jen to this old school candy shop in Harrisburg called Zimmerman's. Zimmerman's has everything you would ever need for candy making. I go there before every major holiday to stock up on melting chocolate for peanut butter eggs, caramel for my caramel stuffed peanut butter and pretzel truffles and for hard to find classic candies like squirrel nut zippers. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

This guest post comes to you from my friend Maggie. Maggie and I were roommates at Elizabethtown College. I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in her beautiful wedding last year. We share a mutual love of baking and she has quite possibly the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know. When I started the blog, I immediately went to Maggie and asked her if she would be interesting in writing some guest posts. Maggie and her husband Preston live in Lambertville, NJ.

Back in the summertime, Amber and I took a trip to the mall before heading out to see a Maroon 5 concert (the concert was amazing, by the way). After shopping for awhile, we decided to stop and get a snack at the Nestle Toll House stand. I chose to get a chocolate chip cookie cup. Basically it is a chocolate chip cookie, shaped into a cup and filled with chocolate. A couple of weeks later, my husband and I were on vacation and passed by another Nestle Toll House store. I immediately made him stop so I could get another cookie cup and so he could see what I was raving about it.

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

Ever since I bought my doughnut pan a few months ago, I have been toying with the idea of a chocolate doughnut with peanut butter glaze. The thing about baked doughnuts is that I desperately want them to be fried and unhealthy, but they're not. So in reality, baked doughnuts are more like muffins pretending to be doughnuts. And, in true Amber fashion, I took something that should have been healthy and made it unhealthy by adding a sugary glaze and chopped candy. So if you're looking for a low cal alternative to a doughnut - this is not it. But, the good news is, regardless of calories, it won't clog your arteries as fast as the fried version!

And seriously, if you want low cal or healthy, this probably isn't the blog for you!

Raspberry Nutella Poundcake S'mores

Ever have one of those weeks where you think you can't possibly jam one more activity into it? That's how I feel about baking this week. I love baking, really I do (obviously we wouldn't be here if I didn't). But, truthfully, I probably picked the worst time in my life to start this blog. Between working two jobs and maintaining some semblance of a personal life, I'm finding it hard to find the time to bake. Plus all this baking requires a lot more of my time at the gym, otherwise I'd weigh about 400 lbs by now.

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chambord Ganache

Summertime means sun, heat and ... zucchini. Anyone who has a garden knows that it seems like you pick all the zucchini in the garden one evening and the next evening there's twenty more. My parent's refrigerator is full of zucchini, some the size of a baseball bat.

I didn't want to make your typical spiced zucchini bread, though I do love it. I wanted to disguise my zucchini a little bit more because after all, zucchini is a vegetable and as far as I'm concerned, veggies have no place in my desserts (this goes for fruit as well, though I do make some exceptions).

Raspberry Chambord Cheesecake Brownie Bites

I have a confession. On Saturday, I had my first blog post fail. I came up with the idea of these brownies. Dark chocolate brownies, with a raspberry chambord reduction and a cream cheese swirl. Except, I didn't want to bake them in a pan and cut them and inevitably end up with brownie crumbles, chunks and a mess. No, I wanted perfectly portioned individual brownie bites. Enter my "non-stick" mini muffin pan and a can of cooking spray.

The term non-stick clearly does not apply to brownies. Maybe there's some scientific reasoning for this? Too moist and dense perhaps? And, as I found out, not even the combination of a non-stick pan AND cooking spray will keep brownies from sticking to a mini muffin pan. So my plan to have perfectly portioned, beautiful mini brownie bites was ruined. Instead, I had mini brownies that could only be pried from the pan with a fork. Of course, this didn't stop me from eating the entire pan in one evening.

Caramel Stuffed Peanut Butter & Pretzel Truffles with Candied Bacon

Wow... that's a mouthful of a name. I tried to think of something shorter but it just didn't get the point across. The inspiration for this original recipe comes from two things. My friend Natalie makes the best peanut butter eggs... creamy, light fluffy peanut butter covered in a thick layer of milk chocolate. I've been making her recipe at Easter time for the past few years. During this time I usually consume an entire peanut butter egg with every meal and at least two a day as a snack. It's a good thing I only make them once a year. Natalie's recipe calls for imperial margarine, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, powdered sugar and Wilbur milk chocolate, made locally in Lititz, PA. I stayed true to the ingredients of Natalie's recipe with one small change - I exchanged the margarine for pure, unadulterated butter. Go big or go home, right?

The second inspiration for this truffle comes from Philadelphia. Marcie Blaine artisinal chocolates is a small chocolate shop located in a home goods store in center-city Philly. I found the shop while on a chocolate tour of the city. That's right, I don't tour cities to see the sites, I just go for the food. The shop created a series of Philadelphia inspired chocolates and the Philly Pretzel was a peanut butter and pretzel truffle covered in dark chocolate. It was small (and cost me $3), but the flavor was rich with the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

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