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

Basic Pie Crust

Makes one 9” pie crust

Ingredients
1 ½ cups of All Purpose Flour
5 Tbsp Cold Butter, cut into cubes
¼ cup of Cold Vegetable Shorting, cut into cubes
½ tsp Salt
3 to 5 Tbsp of Ice Water

Process,

1) In a food processor add the flour and salt, pulse once to incorporate.

2) Add the butter and shorting, pulse about 10 times or until the butter is about the size of peas and distributed evenly.

3) While pulsing and 1 tbsp of ice water until the dough comes together when pinched between fingers.

4) Dump the dough in a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a disk.

5) Wrap dough and pop it in the fridge for about half an hour before using.

You can use this pie crust recipe for all pie I have in this blog. Super easy...and turns out awesome and yummy!!

Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:
¾ cups of Sugar
½ cup of Water
¼ cup Light Corn Syrup
¾ cup of Heavy Cream
2 tbsp of Butter at Room Temp
¼ tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract, optional
3 bananas, sliced
1 Store Bought 9” graham cracker crust (I have this recipe myself)
1 cup Whipped Cream

Substitute for Corn Syrup

**For each cup of light corn syrup in a recipe, substitute 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water. For each cup of dark corn syrup, substitute 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.

For the pastry cream:
5 Egg Yolks
½ cup Plus 2 Tbsp of Sugar
2.5 Tbsp Cornstarch
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ½ cups Milk, scalded (scalded just means below boiling point)
Zest of 1 Large Orange
1 tsp Unsalted Butter

Process,

For the Pastry Cream:
1) In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolk and sugar until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add the cornstarch and whisk to combine.

2) Slowly add the scalded milk and whisk to combine. Pour this batter into a medium saucepan and cook on low heat whisking constantly until the cream thickens. Once this mixture has thickened turn the heat off and add the orange zest, cognac and butter, whisk to melt the butter in the hot custard. Pour the custard into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.
For the Pie:

3) To make the caramel, in a large non stick pan combine the first 3 ingredients, cook over medium low until the sugar dissolve without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar ahs dissolved, turn the heat to high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. 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. Add the butter, salt and vanilla and whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

4) Add the caramel sauce to a large bowl reserving about 1/3 of it to drizzle over the top. Add the sliced bananas to the caramel sauce and place this mixture at the bottom of your pie crust. Add the pastry cream and smooth out the top.

5) Top it all off with the whipped cream and place it in the fridge to set for about 3 hours.

Serve with the remaining caramel sauce.

**Source LVitale

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffin

Ingredients:

½ Cup of Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
½ Cup of Sugar
3 Mashed Bananas
¼ tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 2/3 Cup of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp of Baking Soda
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ tsp of Cinnamon
1 Cup of Chocolate Chips

Process,
1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 piece muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside.

2) In a small bowl add the chocolate chips and 3 tbsp of flour and mix until all the chocolate chips are coated in the flour. Set aside.

3) In a large bowl add the first 5 ingredients and mix until all combined.

4) Add the flour and baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, whisk until all combined.

5) Fold in the chocolate chip and flour mixture.

6) Using a large ice cream scoop divide the batter into your muffin pan and bake for about 18 minutes.

Enjoy!

**Source LVitale

Apple Pie

Ingredients

Double layer pie crust (same crust as the pumpkin pie crust, just make sure to double the amount because you will need 2 pieces)

6 golden delicious apples, cored ,sliced and tossed in 1 tbsp of lemon juice
¾ Cup of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Flour
1 tsp of Cinnamon
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ tsp of Nutmeg (**Refer to my substitute suggestion below)
Zest of 1 Medium Orange
Egg Wash, (1 egg mixed with 2 Tbsp of water)

Preparation,

1) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

2) Spray a 9” glass pie plate with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

3) In the same large bowl that your lemon tossed apples are in, toss in all of the remaining ingredients. Toss everything very well to coat each piece of apple with the spices and orange zest. Set aside wile you roll out the pie crust.

4) Lightly flour your counter and roll out 1 of the pie crusts. Make sure that there is 1 inch overhanging the sides of the pie plate.

5) Put the apple mixture into the pie plate lined with the crust. Using the egg wash brush it all over the boarder and set aside wile you roll out the second pie crust.

6) Roll out the second pie crust, and top the apples. Pinch together the 2 crust and cut off any access pastry, leaving only 1 inch overhanging. Fold the pinched crust under and crimp all of the boarder.

7) Brush the top with the egg wash and sprinkle with about 1 tbsp of sugar and about 1 tsp of cinnamon all over the crust.

8) Place the pie on a aluminum foiled lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. If the edges start turning to brown to quickly cover them with aluminum foil.

9) Let stand for about 1 to 2 hours before serving.

**Source LVitale

Substitution :

1. Nutmeg : Cinnamon; ginger; or mace (Or click on my Substitution Chart Page here)

Apple pie is one of those things that just scream home to me. This recipe is so fool proof anybody can make it.

I use the same pie crust recipe that I use for my pumpkin pie, simply because that’s my go to pie crust. It never fails. Just make sure you double the amount of ingredients because you are making a deep dish apple pie so naturally you need 2 pieces of pastry. Whenever I make pie crust I make 3 or 4 batches and then individually wrap them and freeze them. This way whenever I need it it’s ready to be thawed out overnight in the fridge and ready to use. And I don’t know about you but having homemade pie crust in the freezer at all times, definitely makes me happy!

I am a huge apple pie lover and I have so many different variations of it, but this is a classic and you really cant go wrong with a classic now can you?!

Make this pie one time and I guarantee you will never buy one from a store again!