Chocolate Cherry Thumb Print Cookies

Makes About 4 Dozen

Ingredients

1 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 3/4 of a Cup of Quick Cooking Oats
1 1/2 Cup of All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup of Cocoa Powder
¾ Cup of Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp of Salt
2/3 Cup of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
2 Eggs
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
2 Cups of Maraschino Cherries

Process,

1) In a large bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.

2) Melt the chocolate in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter, add vanilla and eggs and mix to combine. Whisk in the melted chocolate.

3) Stir in the dry ingredients, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4) Preheat your oven to 350 degree.

5) Drop by tablespoon full on a non stick baking sheet and using your index finger make a little indent into each ball of dough, insert 1 cherry into each one.

6) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and let cool completely before serving.

*Source LVitale

Light & Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 plus 6 Tbsp of Unsalted Room Temperature Butter
2 tbsp Vegetable Shortening at Room Temperature
¾ cup of Granulated Sugar
¾ of a Cup of Brown Sugar
2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Preparation

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2) Combine together the first 4 ingredients and set aside.

3) In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, shortening, and both sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix together until all creamy and combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed well.

4) Add the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Add the chocolate chips and mix just to distribute them through the batter.

5) Using a small ice cream scoop, drop the cookie dough 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden brown around the edges.

6) Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then remove onto wire rack and cool completely.

These are not your typical doughy and dense cookies. These are light, crisp yet soft, chewy and incredibly chocolaty. The cinnamon is not strong enough to detect right away it just makes the chocolate more intense. I promise that once you make these cookies, you will never stop making them because they are seriously addicting. Enjoy!

Cherry Cake

Ingredients:

10 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
¾ cup of Granulated Sugar
1 ½ cups of Flour
½ cup of Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract
4 Eggs
¼ tsp of Salt
1 cup of Cherries, drained and roughly chopped
½ cup of Slivered Almonds

Process,

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9inch round cake pan with non stick cooking spray and lay the bottom with parchment paper

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla and mix until you get a smooth batter.

3) Add about 1 tbsp of flour to the cherries and mix, set aside.

4) Add the flour and salt to the butter and egg mixture, mix just until it’s combined. Add the milk and mix it in.

5) Using a spatula, fold in the cherries. Pour batter into the prepared pan and even out the top. Scatter the almonds evenly over the top and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

6) Let cool for about 30 minutes, dust the top with confectioner sugar and dig in!

**Source LVitale

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup & 1 Tbsp of All Purpose Flour
½ cup of Sugar
¼ cup of Brown Sugar
1 tsp of Baking Soda
2 tsp of Cinnamon
½ tsp of Salt
¼ tsp of Nutmeg
¾ cup of Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp of Vanilla Extract
1 tsp of Grated Orange Zest
1 ½ cups of Shredded Carrots
½ cup of Raisins

For the frosting:
3 oz of Cream Cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
2 cups of Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp of Water
1 tsp of Vanilla
¼ tsp of Ground Cinnamon

Preparation,

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2) Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Lay the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

3) In a bowl toss together the carrots, raisins and the 1 Tbsp of flour until all of the carrots and raisins are coated with the flour.

4) In a large bowl mix together all of the ingredients until well combined. Add the carrots and raisins and mix until they are well incorporated through the batter.

5) Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6) When the cake is ready, let it cool in the pan for a few minutes but then take it out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

7) Once the cake is completely cooled, make the frosting my simply mixing all of the ingredients together until you get a nice thick frosting. If you need to, add a little more water by the teaspoonful to get a spreadable frosting consistency.

8) Adorn the cake with that incredible cream cheese frosting and let it set for a few minutes until the frosting begins to harden. Dig in whenever you like!

I know it seems a little strange to have orange zest in a carrot cake, but for me I honestly think that it totally makes it. Because carrot cake as we know can be a bit rich tasting and trust me I do love that, I think it needs a little something to cut it and orange zest is perfect!

I love making cakes like this over the weekend so that it can sit in the fridge and I can grab a piece of it every morning for breakfast. Let’s be honest, during the week sitting down and having a proper breakfast is impossible. But for me knowing that there is carrot cake in the fridge to grab on the go, frankly makes waking up very doable J

Berries Topped Cheesecake

Ingredients

For the crust
1 ¼ up of Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 tbsp of Unsalted Butter, melted
¼ cup Sugar

For the Cheesecake
5 8oz packages Cream Cheese room temperature
1 cup of Sour Cream
Zest of 1 small Lemon
4 Eggs
1 tsp of Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
1 ½ cups Sugar
¼ cup All Purpose Flour

For the Berry Topping
¾ of a cup of Raspberry Preserves
Fresh Berries

Preparation

1) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line the outside of a 10 by 3” spring form pan with aluminum foil, spray it with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix together the crust ingredients until it forms a coarse crumbly mixture. Pour it into your prepared pan and press it evenly. Bake for 8 minutes and set aside while you make your filling.

3) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix together all of the filling ingredients for about 1 minute or until thoroughly combined.

4) Pour the mixture over your crust, and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes exactly.

5) Cool completely at room temperature then transfer to a fridge and cool overnight.

6) Add the preserves in a small pan and just heat it up enough to make the preserves a little easier to drizzle. Drizzle the preserves evenly over the top, and scatter your fresh berries all over the top. Place it on a pretty platter and enjoy!

If you thought you couldn’t make a professional, delicious and beautiful cheesecake at home, think again! This cheesecake is ten times better than the one you buy at a fancy bakery, and it’s super easy to make.

Professional cheesecakes are so time consuming and demand so much attention it’s kind of ridiculous. I am all about simple simple simple and I took all of the tedious work out of making a cheesecake at home. This is by far the best and easiest cheesecake I have ever eaten and made and I am sure once you guys give it a try you will feel the same way.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup of Granulated sugar
½ cup of Water
¾ cup of Heavy Cream, warmed slightly, either in a small saucepan or microwave
2 Tbsp of Unsalted butter at room temperature
¼ tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract

Process,

1) In a large non stick sauce pan combine the sugar and water, cook over medium low heat until the sugar dissolves without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 8 to 10 minutes.

2) Turn the heat down to low at this point and add the warm heavy cream slowly. Be careful because it will bubble vigorously. Keep whisking until everything is combined and turn the heat off.

3) Add the butter, salt and vanilla and whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients

7 cups of Tart Apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tsp of Lemon Juice
Zest and Juice of Half of a Small Orange
¾ cup of Walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup of Brown Sugar
¼ cup of Granulated Sugar
1 Tbsp of Corn Starch
¼ cup of Caramel Sauce (I have a recipe for that too!)
2 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
1 9” Unbaked Pie Crust

For the Streusel Topping,
¾ cup of All Purpose Flour
2/3 cup of chopped Walnuts
¼ cup of Granulated Sugar
6 Tbsp of Cold Butter
Extra Caramel Sauce for Drizzling over the top

Process,

1) Place the pie crust in a 9” pie plate. Spoon the caramel sauce in the bottom of the pie crust and set aside.

2) In a large bowl toss the apples with the lemon juice, orange juice and orange zest. Add the chopped walnuts, cornstarch, both sugars and cinnamon, toss to coat.

3) Add the apple mixture in the pie crust with the caramel sauce at the bottom.

4) In a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the streusel topping and mix with your fingers until the butter is evenly distributed through the dry ingredients.

5) Sprinkle streusel topping over the apples and place the pie plate on top of a baking dish. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Let it cool completely.

Slice and drizzle over some more caramel sauce and enjoy!

**Source LVitale