Chubby Hubby Truffles

Welcome to Day 8 of Baking Extravaganza! Possibly the best and most awesome of the entries, because seriously – Truffles! And because it’s so awesome, it also had to come after Christmas. Whoops, my bad. Next time I’ll start this experiment at the beginning of the month instead of the middle. Even if you think you’re stuffed full of sweets after the holiday and couldn’t possibly eat another item of sugar, you’re wrong. For these, you’re dead wrong.

Does anyone else remember the first time they had Chubby Hubby ice cream? My strongest memory of the time was sheer awe that someone was smart enough to combine so many wonderful things in such a small container. I honestly think that person deserves some sort of recognition. While I searched the internet high and low to figure out who exactly invented the flavor, it let me down miserably. So all I can say is – thank you Ben and Jerry for bringing us such amazingness in a carton.

Clearly, when I saw that someone figured out how to make chubby hubby truffles, well what more did I need? Forget that I’d never made a truffle before in my life – clearly if I made these for my coworkers’ Christmas plates, I’d be the hit of the day. And let me tell you, it was a glorious day.

I hope everyone has a happy New Year! I'll be back in 2012 with even more recipes - so keep an eye out. 

Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Welcome to Day 7 of Baking Extravaganza! While you may be thinking – wait, Christmas is over, why are you still showing me Christmas treats? – you clearly have forgotten the nebulous time in between Christmas and New Years when you meet up with friends and relatives. It’s still the holiday season (kind of), so here’s a recipe you can throw together when you need to bring a treat but can’t bear the thought of another cookie.

I made these for a holiday party a couple weeks ago. My roommate and I tested them extensively and agree that they’re pretty amazing. Make sure you have a glass of milk handy!

Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 6! I made these for a cookie exchange at my office. I needed a recipe that would make a ton of cookies and a wide variety of people would enjoy. I found this recipe while browsing Martha Stewart’s archives and thought why not? The dark chocolate chips takes this recipe a step above your average Tollhouse recipe and hey, who doesn’t love a huge fluffy cookie with a nice crisp edge?

I thought about halving the recipe Martha provided, but then misread the instructions (turns out 13 5-inch cookies is not the same thing as 13 cookies) and thought I wouldn't have enough dough for 3 dozen cookies. Boy was I wrong - using the original recipe proportions ended with me literally up to my elbows in cookie dough. In fact, the largest bowl I own couldn’t contain all the dough – flour was going everywhere when I tried to stir. I ended up having to split the dough between my two largest pots to incorporate all the dry ingredients. If you’re cooking for a crowd, feel free to use the original proportions – but make sure you find the largest bowl possible first!

Pretzel Bark

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 5! Seriously, who doesn’t love a good salty sweet combination? Chocolate and salt are amazing together, and personally I think it’s even better when you use dark chocolate. This recipe is ridiculously simply for all the amazingness you get out of it on your taste buds. Chances are you probably have half the ingredients already, so it’s another winner in the holiday budget battle as well.

If anyone asks you if this was hard to make, lie your ass off. You spent hours slaving over a hot stove to make caramel from scratch. The rest of it was too difficult to even describe. But it was worth it in the end to see the smile on their face. And if they call you on it?

Well, aren’t the holidays all about giving anyway?

Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 4! I made these for another work birthday party where all the celebrants said they loved chocolate desserts. This recipe certainly fits the bill – melted chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and melted chocolate on top. The addition of the peppermint helps offset all the chocolate and nicely brings in a hint of holiday spirit!

Peppermint Bark

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 3! At some point you just can't make cookies any more. Maybe you're out of flour, maybe you're out of eggs, or maybe you just don't feel like waiting in front of your stove for a minute longer. Well, you're in luck with this recipe. 

I used to sell Peppermint Bark when I worked retail - it came in a beautiful tin, but was really over-priced. So make your own! You'll save some money and homemade means no one is allowed to comment on how it looks. 

Drunken Molasses Cookies

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 2! Some of you regular readers might be wondering, what happened to Day 1? And what the heck are you talking about? Thanks to the magic of editing, I went back and started Baking Extravaganza last week, see here for more details. For those new, never mind! I totally had planned this all along and didn't realize an hour ago I have enough sweet and holiday themed recipes to create some a mini-event for this blog. Carry on!


I may or may not have asked my roommate if she wanted a little Captain in her when I offered her one of these cookies. In my defense, the cookies weren’t the only things that had rum in them at the time. In any case, molasses cookies are always tasty but these are a nice change from my traditional recipe – they’re not particularly sweet, but the spices are strong and you can taste the molasses from start to finish. You might think you don't like molasses cookies. I dare you to try these - they'll punch you in the tastebuds and give you noogies until you surrender and admit they're amazing. Because these are bold cookies; they aren't the sweet and non-confrontational sugar cookies. These molasses cookies are the badasses of the cookie world, the ones who in the inevitable robot uprising will blow shit up and walk away in slow motion, not even looking back at the explosion. Kind of like this.

Wow that metaphor got away from me. In any case, these cookies are awesome and you should make them. Did I mention there’s rum in them? Because I feel that’s also a selling point that shouldn’t be ignore, especially around the craziness of the holidays.

Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Welcome to Day 1 of Baking Extravaganza! When else during the year do you need so many cookie, candy, and sweets recipes in so short a time? The next two weeks will feature some of my favorite cookie, candy, and sweets recipes - some holiday, some classic, and some for people with allergies or food restrictions. Because this kind of excess needs to be celebrated in style, with this blog's first group of purposefully themed entries! I hope you find some new recipes during the next two weeks, or least drool a bit more at all the tasty sweets presented for your perusal. 


As you all well know, I love peanut butter and chocolate. You’ve seen my obsession in smoothies, cupcakes, and crispy treats so here’s another recipe to add to the pile: double chocolate peanut butter cookies.


I know, I started drooling at the name too. So wipe up the puddle that’s somehow started forming on your laptop and get to work! These little treats are easy to make (and easy to eat). At this point, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. Let's go with good. This recipe is plenty easy to double if you'd like to bring in some to share (or you can do what I do, which is form the balls and freeze them, then pop out a couple at a time when you need a cookie fix). 

(Chicken) Tortilla Soup

What is it about tomatoes, black beans, corn, onion, and chili powder that smells and tastes so good? I image this soup would taste even better in the summer when you can get fresh corn, but even with frozen and canned vegetables this soup still tastes pretty amazing. This recipe makes a massive amount of soup, but a full freezer can be a wonderful thing.

Rice with Almonds and Raisins

You know those days when you have nothing in your fridge but it’s cold outside and you don’t want to leave to go get more food and you don’t have the budget for takeout? Just me? Well, you should like this rice recipe in any case. I found this recipe after a couple minutes of googling all the ingredients I had in my pantry in hopes that I’d find something appealing. Luckily the internet gods smiled down on me (seriously, what did people do without Google?) and this New York Times recipe popped up. Rice + raisins + almonds + coriander? Party in my belly.

I also appreciate that it’s one pot. One pot means far fewer dishes for me to remember to wash in the morning when I stare at my empty fridge and try to figure out what to eat for breakfast (Hint: it rhymes with mice with balmonds).

This made my apartment smell like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (fair given it shares two important ingredients) and for that alone, I will love this recipe forever and ever.