Category Archives: chocolate

Peppermint Mocha Cookies

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Ruthanne

Brighten up your February with these cheery peppermint mocha cookies!

Sweet peppermint icing over dark chocolate coffee cookies? Yes please!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, these cookies didn’t last long in our house, and my husband is already hoping I will make them again. Not too sweet, but full of rich espresso and peppermint. I think you’ll love them.

Want to know how to make them?
Here you go. (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 36 medium cookies)

Cookies:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 1/2cups sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons instant Espresso Powder
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Icing:

4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
a little pink food coloring gel
sprinkles or white chocolate to make the design on top

DIRECTIONS:

Cookies:

Cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Mix in eggs and then cocoa.
Place vanilla and Espresso Powder together in a small cup until coffee dissolves. Add this mixture to the batter and mix until completely incorporated.
Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until smooth (use clean hands at the end, to knead into a soft ball of dough)
Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
Allow cookie dough to soften a little at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Roll out cookie dough on floured counter.
Cut into circles and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 8 to 11 minutes until the edges are firm.
Gently slide parchment paper off of cookie sheet and onto a flat surface. Cool completely before removing cookies from paper.

Icing:

Beat together all ingredients and add powdered sugar until it becomes a thick glaze consistency.
Place in a zip-top bag fitted with a small round piping tip.
Pipe icing around edges of cookie and allow this to harden.
Fill center of cookie with icing, spreading it to the edges that have hardened.
To make coffee or heart design, pipe lines on top of cookie with white chocolate, and pull a toothpick through to form design. Otherwise (much easier!) sprinkle with some crushed peppermint or heart sprinkles!
Let icing harden and ENJOY!!!

My thoughts: These are easy to make, and they keep in an air-tight container for at least a week (and freeze well). I spent way too much time making coffee froth designs on the top, and when I make them again they will just have sprinkles. I really hope you get a chance to try these!!! Enjoy! ~r

Other cute Valentine’s Day ideas to try (click on photo to see recipe):

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Peanut Butter Spider Cookies!

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Ruthanne

Spider5

These deliciously creepy little spider cookies are special…. because the peanut butter cookies they sit on only take THREE ingredients, and are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted!

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I’ve seen these cute little guys pop up online, and I’ve wanted to make them with my favorite (super-easy!) peanut butter cookies for more than a few years. They are a cute addition to any Halloween party, delicious, and sooooo easy to make. Want to know how? Here you go: (printable recipe)

Ingredients: (makes about 24 cookies)

2 cups peanut butter (creamy)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
24 Lindt chocolates
1 cup of Wilton candy melts in milk or dark chocolate
48 candy eyes

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Place peanut butter, sugar and eggs into a mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
Use a cookie scoop to place 2 inch balls onto a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 12 minutes (cookies will still be soft in the middle).
Remove from oven and use a tart shaper or the rounded back of a measuring spoon to press a small round indentation into the center of the cookie (so the chocolate spider has a place to sit!).
Bake another 2-4 minutes and remove from oven. Slide parchment paper off cookie sheet with the cookies still on top and cool completely.
Melt candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between.
Use a toothpick to put a little melted chocolate on the back of your candy eyes and attach them to the Lindt chocolate. Allow these to harden.
Place the rest of the melted chocolate into a zip-top bag. Seal it up and cut a small corner off. Squeeze the bag and pipe legs on the top of each cookie.
Add a bit of chocolate in the center of each cookie and set a Lindt “spider body” on top.
Allow all chocolate to harden and ENJOY!

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My thoughts: What’s not to like about these?!? A super-easy peanut butter cookie, plus chocolate? SO fun! Too busy for spiders? Just make the cookie part. You could have warm peanut butter cookies in like 20 minutes from RIGHT NOW. Aaaand…. go!

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Looking for other fun Halloween treats? Here are a few- just click the photo to see the recipe!

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Posted in chocolate, Cookies, Kids recipes, Seasonal dessert and tagged 3 ingredients cookies, 3 ingredients peanut butter cookies, best peanut butter cookie recipe, cookie recipe, cookies, easy halloween dessert, fun cookies, halloween cookies, Halloween party idea, lindt chocolate, lindt chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, spider cookies, spider cookies for halloween, spider dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Chocolate Almond Bites

Posted on August 5, 2017 by Ruthanne

These little clusters of almond, coconut and dark chocolate will satisfy your sweet tooth without wrecking your diet!

I’ve been trying to eat healthier this year, and so far I’m doing really well (even with a baking blog!). My friend Laura and I walk each day and when we do we talk a lot about things we crave that could be made healthier. She was telling me that she craves chocolate so much that she takes a few dark chocolate chips and adds some almonds for a snack each night. I was in the process of making some coconut cut-out cookies and I had extra toasted coconut. We started brainstorming ways to make a cookie with relatively low calories and carbs. This is the result 🙂 They are delicious (!!) and as far as I can tell, they are about 85 calories each and 6 carbs. Which is perfect. Just perfect.

They aren’t very pretty- but who needs pretty when you can have yummy and relatively healthy? 🙂

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of toasted coconut (buy it toasted, or toast your own…)
1 cup of lightly salted, roasted almonds
2 plain rice cakes
1 cup of dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Place toasted coconut and almonds in a food chopper and chop to small pieces. Place in a mixing bowl.
Crumble up the 2 rice cakes into very small pieces and add to bowl.
Melt chocolate chips, and pour them over the top of mixture.
Stir until well-blended and then use a medium cookie scoop to spoon out evenly-sized cookies onto a parchment paper- covered cookie sheet. (My batch made 22, and calories and carbs were calculated accordingly.)
Place cookie sheet in refrigerator until cookies harden up. Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are really, really good. I bagged mine up in individual cello bags and tied them shut with a twist tie. That way, I wasn’t tempted to eat more than one at a time! These are a perfect “gotta have some chocolate” treat. Lots of protein from the nuts, healthy oils from the coconut, and a little bit of crunch from the rice cakes. Enjoy! ~r

Other yummy (slightly less healthy!) cookie recipes here at Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe):

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Posted in chocolate, Cookies and tagged almond cookies, chocolate, chocolate cookies, coconut, coconut almond cookies, coconut cookies, cookies, dessert, healthy dessert, low calorie dessert, no-bake cookies, toasted coconut. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Covered Coconut Cut-out Cookies

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Ruthanne

Crunchy bits of toasted coconut make these cut-out cookies one of my favorite cookie recipes ever!

I love coconut! It reminds me of sunshine and beaches and (for some weird reason) Easter. Well, it isn’t Easter yet, but you can practice up so you are ready next month!

Story time!!!!! Last Christmas I made shortbread cookies with really cute little Christmas chocolates on top. The mold I used was made by Silikomart in Italy, and I got them on Amazon. I loved that they were a thin mold- so they added a cute bit of chocolate to a cookie without being too much chocolate. I looked for other varieties and found these ADORABLE winter animal ones. Cute little foxes, and hedgehogs?? I had to find them!

I found them on Ebay and ordered them- but they sent me the wrong ones…from Italy… and then told me afterward that they were out of stock.

Sigh.

The only other place I found these was on a website out of Poland- that only ships to Poland. But I have friends in Poland, and long story short, I just got these in the mail with a fun note and a Polish chocolate bar.

I’m telling you this so that you won’t think it is easy to get this particular mold. Silikomart has a lot of other molds on Amazon (they call these chocolate tags)- so hopefully you can find one you like and make similar cookies to these. Of course, if you live in Poland…or Italy…. 🙂

Here is how we made these: (printable recipe for the cookies here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 48 small cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of coconut flavoring
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of shredded sweetened coconut (or one cup of toasted, chopped coconut)
2 bags of Wilton Candy Melts in dark chocolate
Edible shimmer dust (if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Start by making your chocolate tags.

Set mold on a small cookie sheet so it is easy to move.
Melt candy melts in a bowl in the microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until smooth.
Spoon melts into a zip-top bag. Clip a corner and squeeze chocolate out and into mold. Tap on counter to flatten out into mold and remove bubbles Photo of this here.
Place in freezer for about 5-10 minutes and then pop out of mold onto clean and cool surface.
Repeat 2 more times (so you have 48 pieces)
Use a food-grade paint brush to add a little edible color and shimmer to these (if desired!)

Then toast your coconut.

While you are waiting for these to harden, preheat oven to 350F degrees and spread 2 cups of coconut out in a baking dish.
Bake for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes and watching closely. Coconut toasts fast- so be careful not to burn it!
Cool coconut to room temperature and then place in a food chopper and chop it up fine. Set aside.

Finally, make your cookies.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, vanilla and coconut flavoring and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients except coconut and mix until able to knead into a firm ball of dough.
Add coconut and knead it in.
Roll out on a floured counter with a flour coated rolling pin to desired thickness (I made them fairly thick)
Cut into rectangles just a little bigger than the size of the molds you use on top and place on a parchment-paper covered baking sheet.
Bake at 350F degrees for 8-10 minutes and slide off the cookie sheet (leaving on parchment paper) to cool.
While the cookies are still warm, set a chocolate on top and then let them cool completely. The entire chocolate will get soft. It won’t lose it’s shape, but if you touch it before it hardens back up you will make a mess 🙂
Allow cookies and chocolate to cool completely (a couple of hours)
Enjoy!

My thoughts: I love coconut, I love coconut and chocolate together, and I think these are simply the cutest little chocolate molds ever! Please Silikomart— sell more things in the US!!! Your stuff is SO fun!!! 🙂 I hope you get a chance to try these yummy little cookies out- I think you will love them!!!! ~r

Plus, if you don’t want to bother with the molds, you can cut these cookies into any shape and just drizzle them with the candy melts! Less fuss…same amazing cookies. I totally did a few- just so you can see 🙂

Other favorite coconut recipes here: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

A New Year’s Collection of Top Recipes on Easybaked!!

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Ruthanne

Happy New Year, friends! One of my favorite parts of marking the end of one year and the beginning of the next is looking back at all the things that made the previous year wonderful! One of the really fun things to look at is my statistics for this blog. A LOT of you visited us here this year! Thank you!!! I am always fascinated by which recipes really took off and became HUGE hits- and I’m always a tiny bit disappointed by the ones that I thought were AMAZING, that didn’t really catch anyone’s attention.

I have lots of fun recipes lined up to share with you in January, but this week- as we welcome 2017- here are the top picks from 2016.

Just click on a photo to see the recipe- and enjoy!!! ~r

Viewed 203,655 times in one month alone! The cupcake version of these is really popular too.

Seriously, that cheesecake is maybe the best recipe on this blog. You have GOT to try it!!!! 🙂

When this was 1st posted, there were NO other Oreo Pops on the internet- so I like to think that the Oreo Pop craze started here! We certainly have had fun creating all sorts of them for every holiday!

This recipe was from a failed audition for The Great American Baking Show, and a new friend!

This is the most recent big hit on Easybaked- and it is really easy to make!

So, those were the top 5 in all-time views this year… but what were my favorites from 2016? These three!

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This is the star of 2016. It is SO yummy and got rave reviews every time I made it. A massive layer of cookie dough in the middle of a cake? Does it get any better than that???

2016 was also my year to turn those healthy little Oreo Thins into amazing stuffed Oreos! These marshmallow ones… oh my! We also stuffed Oreos with Key Lime Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Cookie Butter!

These win my personal “cutest” recipe award for 2016! I loved making them and making cute little stickers to seal the bags I gifted them in too! So fun!

I’ve been asked many times what my all-time favorite recipe on Easybaked is. I’ve got SO many favorites- but if I had to pick one, it would be my Caramel Fudge Brownies. I love them because they are my mom’s famous mint brownies with my favorite caramel added in place of the mint- and they are just the BEST chocolate fix ever.

I hope you have enjoyed this round-up of recipes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

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Posted in Brownies, Cake Pops, Cakes, Candy, Cheesecakes, chocolate, Cookies, Cupcakes and tagged Best dessert collection, best of the year dessert recipes, cake, cheesecake, Cookie, cupcake, cupcakes, dessert collection, layer cake, new year dessert, oreo, oreo pops, top dessert recipes. Bookmark the permalink.

Fall Marshmallow Cakes

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Ruthanne

These delicious little chocolate cakes are filled with creamy sweet marshmallow, and decorated to make everyone at your fall table smile!

I’ve been craving HoHos lately. Do they even still make those? Seems like Hostess went out of business awhile back…? Anyway- or those Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Both of those desserts remind me of high school lunches. My friends and I would sit at lunch, peel them apart in layers, and talk about boys and such while we ate them.

Anyway… so I started thinking about a way to do a grown-up version of these flavors. My friend Angie gave me SUCH a fun pan- it makes little cakes with a cavity in the center that holds filling. See what I mean HERE. I’ve used these pans before here on Easybaked and they seemed perfect for this idea. Instead of topping cake with cake—- I topped each cake with a thick layer of chocolate glaze that was decorated with chocolate transfers.

I love how they turned out! This was my 1st time using transfers, and they are a little fussy- but the wow factor….!!!!!

Mmmm……!! So there is some special equipment to make these exactly like I did (cake pans, silicone molds to make the top chocolate layer). If you hate to purchase the pans and chocolate mold, make these as cupcakes. Fill them with marshmallow and pour the glaze over the top. Or make this as a layer cake maybe- with the marshmallow in the middle and the glaze drizzled over the top?

However you choose to make it, the flavors are wonderful together!

Here’s how we put these together. (Printable recipe here)

Ingredients (makes 8 mini cakes)

Cake:

1 chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package)

Filling:

2 cups marshmallow creme
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Topping:

2 cups chocolate chips
12 tablespoons of butter
1 large (12″x16″) chocolate transfer sheet (here is where I got mine)

Directions:

Start with the chocolate toppers. To add a chocolate transfer on top, cut 8 circles in a 4 inch diameter. I traced the pans with a marker and the cut the transfer just inside the line. Place the smooth side down and the rough side up inside a 4 inch silicone cake mold (I got mine here, in the medium size).
Place chocolate chips and 12 tablespoons of butter into a microwave safe dish and melt in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Gently spoon chocolate over the top of each transfer until it is covered completely.
Freeze for about 20 minutes- until completely hard.
Gently peel away the silicone mold, leaving the chocolate. Keep this chocolate in the freezer until use.

Repeat process (re-melt chocolate glaze if needed) until you have 8 toppers in the freezer.
Make cake according to mix and bake in 4 pans as directed on box. Only fill the pans 1/2 full, or they will overflow. And grease the pans generously!!! My 1st batch stuck a little.
You will need to bake two batches to get your 8 cakes. Cool completely.
Make filling by beating together the marshmallow creme and the butter until smooth and light (about 2 minutes).
Slowly add the powdered sugar, beating on low until it is fully mixed in, and then increasing to high and beating until light and fluffy (another 2 minutes or so).
Place filling into a zip top bag and zip it tightly closed. Clip a corner off and squeeze filling into each open cake cavity.
Gently set a chocolate topper over the filling, pressing it lightly against the filling. As the topper warms to room temperature, it will soften and stick more firmly to the cake.
Gently peel away the plastic from the top of the transfer.

Keep at room temperature until serving. Kept covered, these can be stored for two to three days.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: If you don’t mind the extra equipment and a little bit of time, these are positively the most elegant and delicious little cakes! I had so much fun serving these as individual desserts- and everyone loved them. If what you are aiming for is extra special- this is your dessert. If you need your chocolate fix right now? Get those Little Debbies!!! 😉 ~r

Other fall treats here on Easybaked:

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Posted in Cakes, chocolate and tagged cake, chocolate, chocolate transfers, fall dessert, fall recipe, filled cakes, fudge, ganache, glaze, how to use chocolate transfers, individual dessert, marshmallow, marshmallow chocolate cake, thanksgiving dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

A Collection of 10 Halloween Treats!

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Ruthanne

halloween dessert collection

My thoughts: These are some of my favorites!!!! Click on a photo to see each recipe. Enjoy!!! ~r

Iced Mocha Pops!

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Ruthanne

Stir this delicious frozen pop into your coffee, and you have an instant, creamy iced peppermint mocha!

The heat of summer is here, and I find myself craving iced coffee drinks in yummy flavors. These easy-to-make frozen pops can be stored in your freezer and pulled out any time you have a craving for something a little more fun than just plain coffee!

I made mine with peppermint syrup- but you could certainly make yours with your favorite flavor! Don’t skimp on the chocolate- I used Torani Dark Chocolate Sauce and it is to die for!! Seriously. Use it.

Aren’t they so fun?!? And the smiles when you serve these….. love it!

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS (makes 10 pops)

3 cups of whole milk (if you can get it in your part of the world, Fairlife ultra-filtered milk is SO worth trying. It is unbelievably creamy. I’ve never had milk this good…)
2/3 cup Torani Dark Chocolate Sauce (plus a little to drizzle on top, if desired)
3/4 cup Torani Peppermint Syrup (or whatever flavor you love!)
Pink food coloring (if desired- match the color to the flavor you use– you can have several flavors in your freezer and know which is which!)
Whipped Cream (to top, if desired)
8 oz. of brewed coffee for each serving
Crushed ice

DIRECTIONS:

Heat 2 cups of milk in the microwave or on the stove until warm (not hot).
Add Dark Chocolate Sauce and mix until well-combined.
Set 10 (3 oz.) paper cups on a small baking sheet and pour Dark Chocolate milk mixture into each cup. Fill them about 2/3 full.
Freeze for 3-4 hours. Press a wooden dowel into each one (the pointed end helps with this) and re-freeze.
Mix peppermint syrup with remaining 1 cup of milk and pour all but about 1/3 cup into each cup, leaving a little room on the top of each pop to add some PINK peppermint milk.
Freeze for 3-4 hours (keep unused peppermint milk covered in fridge until you need it).
Add pink food coloring to remaining peppermint milk, and pour a little on top of each pop.
Freeze overnight.
The next day, clip the top of the cup with a scissors and tear away the paper cup. Place uncovered pop on a paper plate or parchment paper in the freezer.

To serve immediately, in a 12-14 oz. cup, brew 8 oz. of strong coffee. I used my Keurig with a dark blend.
Place pop into coffee and stir until dissolved. Add a little crushed ice to chill completely and top with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles if desired.

To have a mocha-on-demand, place these little pops into cake-pop cello bags and tie them shut. Keep these frozen for up to a month. When you are craving an iced mocha, simply make coffee and add a pop!
Enjoy!!!!

My thoughts: Ah….these are so yummy! I love the deep chocolate taste and how it blends with the coffee. I made some with caramel syrup too, and I can’t wait to try others! Give yourself a day to make them, since they have to freeze in stages. I started my first batch in the afternoon and finally put them in to freeze overnight at 10pm! So plan ahead and start them early.

These are so cute in little cello bags with ties- a perfect addition to a coffee bar- just be sure to keep them on ice! Enjoy!! ~r