Food processor fans, meet your new favorite dessert. This entire recipe is created in a food processor. One bowl prep. You can’t beat it!

Also, apparently I’m on a cheesecake kick - which I am not going to be ashamed of.

For the Super Bowl, I made these Chocolate Cheesecake Squares to share with friends. They have a traditional chocolate cheesecake taste but are lighter in texture than your typical cheesecake. An Oreo cookie crust serves as the base and semi-sweet chocolate chips round out the top.

Since I was taking these bars to a party, I doubled the recipe and made two batches. However, I would recommend making two separate batches instead of just doubling the ingredients.

The recipe can be found over on Martha Stewart’s site (where else, right?).

The texture is different, with the graham cracker “crust” on top in loose crumbs, but that doesn’t stop them from tasting awesome. You can add fruit preserves, or not. I’m not a huge fan of fruit with my cheesecake so I made these both ways. They were both great! You can also make the cheesecake portion ahead and add the preserves and crumbs when you’re ready to serve.

You can find the recipe over on Martha Stewart’s site and take a look at my photos below.

If I had a dollar for every time I tried to give up chocolate, my 401K would be quite lined. Alas, I still eat it – probably every day. And brownies are one my favorite ways to get my fix.

Brownies are so versatile. You can substitute any type of “chip” (milk, butterscotch, peanut butter, white, etc) for the dark chocolate in this recipe. Use your imagination or whatever you happen to have on hand the day you make these.

The recipe I use is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Double-Chocolate Brownies, found here.

Ingredients:: 

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup 60% semisweet chocolate baking chips
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan by coating it with cooking spray. Optional: Line the pan with parchment paper if you wish.
2. Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof medium bowl, set over a pan of simmering water; stir until butter and chocolate are melted. Let cool slightly.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; set aside.
4. Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat, scraping down sides of bowl, until well incorporated.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 35 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out brownies; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

This little handheld delight was a bit of an accidental find. I was making Spanakopita Casserole (one of my favorite recipes) and had some leftover phyllo dough. Not wanting to throw it out, I decided to make phyllo cups and decide what to do with them later.

Also on hand, I had ricotta cheese, whipped cream cheese, and some Hershey’s Special Dark bars. After some experimentation, I came up with these cannoli cream cups. The filling is similar to what you might find in a cannoli, but less fluffy. I think the almond extract is really what takes these to the next level, but you can leave it out or try vanilla extract instead.

These would make great, small, party desserts. The best part? You can make this ahead – about 24 hours. It tastes better with a little time anyway, giving the flavors the opportunity to meld together.

To make phyllo cups, lay out several layers of phyllo dough on a workspace. Cut the dough into equal squares, about 3 x 3 inches. Gently set the squares in the wells of a standard muffin tin, then spritz each square with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a cookie sheet, then either use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours.

Ingredients:: 

• 3/4 c whipped cream cheese
• 3/4 c part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2  bars (regular size) Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate, chopped
• sugar, to taste
• 8-10 phyllo cups, previously made

I love pop-tarts. Especially the strawberry kind. With frosting. And sprinkles.

Sure the ones out of the package are great – and original – but the homemade version? Wonderful. Also, I’m willing to bet that homemade pop-tarts become the next cupcake or whoopie pie in terms of small dessert trends.

These are grown-up, flaky, and have just the right amount of filling. Taking over for the frosting is powdered sugar, gracefully dusting the top. They pack well for picnics or movie nights in the park, and will be a crowd favorite among your friends and family.

Here are two options for your own homemade pop-tarts:

• Pick up the Toaster Pastry Press from Williams-Sonoma, and use the recipe included
• Do all the manual work yourself and use Bon Appetit’s recipe here

The OTT recently turned the big 3-oh. To celebrate even further (he turned 30 while we were visiting the Panama Canal in February – talk about a cool birthday), we put together a party centered around one of his favorite sports – golf.

The party dishes were named after golf terms, like “Barbecue Birdie Sandwiches” and “Dip and Chip Out,” there were golf-theme cupcakes (idea courtesy of the ever-fabulous Martha Stewart), and we even instated a golf/preppy dress code. Favor bags included tiny round brownies and golf-ball look-alike Mexican wedding cookies.

Invites:

Menu:

- Divots and Hummus (veggies and hummus)
- Dip and Chip Out (black bean dip with tortilla chips)
- Green and Rough (warm spinach artichoke dip)
- Barbecue Birdie Sandwiches (slow-cooked bbq chicken on potato rolls with monterey jack cheese)
- Bucket of Balls (powdered donut holes in a metal bucket)
- Golf Cupcakes
- 19th Hole Special Drink

Favors:

- Mexican Wedding Cookies and Bite-Size Round Brownies

Decoration:

- Golf balls in tall, round vases
- Table backdrop made with colored paper

Sources:

- baking cups, white candy pearls, favor bags – Layer Cake Shop
- paper for invitations, food cards, favor cards, cupcake flags, and wall decoration – Paper Source
- green sanding sugar – Williams Sonoma

Time is a hot commodity. Sometimes we all need a secret recipe that tastes amazing, looks great, and only seems like it took you longer to make than it really did.

Enter, Champagne Cake.

Sadly, I cannot claim this recipe as my own. I wish I had been this creative. You may remember this little post awhile back, about the Better Homes and Gardens “Desserts” publication. Champagne Cake is in there, on page 13.

Basically, here’s what you do:

• Buy boxed white cake mix (enough for two 9″ rounds)
• Buy white vanilla frosting
• Replace the called-for water with champagne (seriously)*
• Bake according to the box directions
• Frost

I made this for a small New Year’s get-together just a couple weeks ago. To make it more festive, I colored the frosting a light pink and added blackberries as a garnish. You could use any berry or small fruit really, and get creative with the color! These would also make great cupcakes as well.

The cake tastes great, like fluffy, moist, white cake with just a little bit of a champagne edge to it.*

Make this and I promise people will still be talking about it the next day.

*The alcohol will burn off during baking, so all that remains is the taste.

Back in September, Bon Appetit published a recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar (which is on my list of must-try restaurants next time I’m in NYC). This pie is named for its addicting quality. And believe me, it lives up to its name. I’ve adapted it just a little bit here.

It has an oatmeal cookie-like crust. The filling is basically brown sugar and butter. Plus, it has a little bit of that salty-sweet combination that is just so great.

I used steel-cut oats instead of the old-fashioned kind. It makes things more crunchy than chewy, which I prefer. In addition, steel-cut oats are a tad bit better for you (like you care if you’re going to go ahead and make this).

I took this pie to a little picnic outing on one of DC’s last warm days. There were six of us and I didn’t take a single bit home. Not one little crumb.

The cookie crust dough will be thick and tough to spread.

Put a little muscle into it and things will be just fine.

Once the dough is baked and cooled, crumble it up, add some butter and brown sugar for your crust.

Here’s where life gets really good…the filling.

Bake it, cool it, chill it, powder it, and enjoy.

You’ll Need::

• parchment paper

Ingredients::

Crust

Photo: Nicholas Donner

Labor Day is upon us. For anyone outside of Florida, it means the last days of summer are almost here.

What better way to celebrate than with some good old fashioned apple pie?

As much as I wish I was talented like my grandmother, I haven’t mastered the lattice crust yet. Instead, I went the crumb topping route. It tastes like almonds and butter mostly, but when it mixes with the apples and cinnamon underneath…so much goodness! This apple crumb pie is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.

I strongly recommend buying an apple corer/peeler/slicer for this, if you don't already have one.

The makings of a crumb crust...

Pile the apples nice and high in the middle so your pie achieves that "domed" look.

Let this pie cool completely before digging in. It needs time to set up before being served so it all sticks together.

Ingredients:

• Almond Crumb Crust (recipe follows)
• 3 1/2 lbs assorted apples (I used Granny Smith and Fuji), cored, peeled, and sliced into half-moon pieces
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1/3 c sugar
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TBS unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press 2/3 of crumbs into bottom, up sides, and onto rim of a 9-inch glass pie plate. Freeze pie shell for about 15 minutes.
2. In large bowl, stir together apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. Pour mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding apples in center. Dot with butter. Sprinkle remaining crumbs in clumps over apples to cover completely.
3. Bake, rotating halfway through, until crust turns golden and juices begin to bubble, 45 min – 1 hour. Cool on rack, completely.

Almond Crumb Crust:

In large bowl, stir together, 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour, 1 c + 2 TBS almond meal, 1/2 c +2 TBS sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c) unsalted butter, room temperature, until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Using your fingers, squeeze the mixture together to create pea-size pieces.

Time is a hot commodity for many of us. Ok, all of us. Staying creative while using convenience foods is difficult!

Problem solved: Four Way Brownies.

The beauty of these is that there are no rules and the different flavors will please everyone in your crowd. Just open up your cabinets and pull out what you see. Does it go well with chocolate? If yes, bring it out.

This is my spread. I had a box of brownie mix and my other random ingredients.

Pretzels.

Dark chocolate.

Walnuts.

Candied ginger.

• Follow directions on brownie package. Pour the mix into baking pan. I used a 9×13 pan for mine, because it gives more room for different ingredients.
• Chop brownie mix-ins and sprinkle them into each quadrant of brownie batter.
• Using a wooden spoon, carefully stir mix-ins into each quadrant. Use a motion similar to smoothing out cake batter. Like this:: ~~~~
• Bake brownies according to directions on box.

In order from top to bottom:

1. Pretzel Brownies
2. Ginger Brownies
3. Walnut Brownies
4. Dark Chocolate Chunk Brownies

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