Chickpea Chocolate Chip Blondies

I went to a New Years party where every family brought a dish.  Why bring regular brownies when you can sneak chickpeas into these blondies and shock everyone?  I put them out and didn't tell anyone there were chickpeas in them until after they ate them and loved them! :) 

White Chocolate Berry Cheesecake Dip

This is amazing.

And it's addicting.

I made it for a mom's night out recently and it was gobbled up in no time by my friends!  The recipe is from here, but I doubled the white chocolate chips to 2/3 cup for some extra sweetness.  I brought Nilla wafers to use as dippers and they worked perfectly.  Even if you don't cook, this is super easy to make and will impress everyone!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

If you want to make a really easy dessert that is totally addicting and SO delicious, this is what you need to make. I made this for a treat day at work and everyone was raving about it and begging for the recipe all day! It was so good that I made another batch for myself and pigged out every night!

Adapted from Jenni's Seasons

Ingredients:
• 2 T butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 t vanilla
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 T brown sugar
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature before you start.

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into a ball. Wrap the ball in wax paper and refrigerate for a few hours to harden.

Serve in a ball or in a small dish with Nilla cookies or graham cracker sticks as dippers.

It might not look that pretty, but it's VERY yummy!

Fabulous Chocolate Cake

I have to AW my Hubby for baking me this amazing chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for (plus spaghetti, meatballs and homemade garlic bread) for dinner one day! Trust me, this cake is the BEST!

From Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)
  
  Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
  
  Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
  
  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING.

Chocolate Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa.

Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

This cake is addicting! Absolutely fabulous!

Healthy Chocolate Banana Cookies

I love dessert more than anyone, but I can't help but feel guilty when I eat too much of it. When I saw this recipe for healthier cookies, I had to give it a try. Sometimes you just need something sweet and these are a lot better than a package of chocolate chip cookies or a giant cupcake!

Adapted from Once a Month Mom

Ingredients:
• 2 bananas
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1/4 c peanut butter
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mush bananas in a large bowl.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
Let mixture stand for 20 minutes to get more solid.
Roll small balls of cookie mixture and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy a guilt-free cookie!

Edible Marshmallow Hanukkah Dreidels

Hanukkah is coming soon! I'm very excited this year because it's Connor first Festival of Lights! It's also later this year so it makes things a lot easier for me and I feel like I can get more into the holiday spirit.

I have a lot of coworkers that celebrate Christmas and don't know very much about Jewish holidays. Since we're taking turns bringing in holiday treats every day for the next 2 weeks, I decided to make mine into a mini teaching lesson as well as a tasty treat.

Edible Dreidels!

Thanks to Danielle at Mostly Food & Crafts for this idea I saved from last year. All you need are marshmallows, thin pretzel sticks, peanut butter, and Hershey kisses.

And if you're interested in more info about the dreidel or how to play the dreidel game, go here

Healthy Black Bean Brownies

I'm back! We had some drama last week after a bad storm in the Chicago area. We got hit pretty hard on Tuesday and then the power went out on Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. Let's just say it wasn't a very fun experience to live in a house with no power or technology for that long. Seriously, there's nothing to do besides play with my cat who loses interest after 4 minutes! The power is back up now and I'm happy to be back to normal life again!

Anyway, I'm a little sneaky : )

I was dying to make these and then see who would notice that they weren't "normal" brownies. So I made a batch for someone's birthday at work and put them out with all the other treats. In a meeting later in the day, someone mentioned that they liked the brownies and then everyone else chimed in on how good they were. All I said was that there was a special ingredient and no one ever knew what it was! So if you're grossed out by this, I promise they still taste fabulous! I ate half the batch on my own!

Recipe from Local Fun for Kids

Ingredients:
• 1 box of Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate Family Size Brownie Mix
• 15.5 oz. can of black beans
• water

Empty the can of black beans into a colander and rinse with water.

Pour the black beans back into their original can and fill it with water.

Use a blender to puree the beans and the water.

In a bowl, mix the black bean & water mixture with the package of brownie mix.

Pour mixture in a greased pan and bake according to the directions on the box.

*Optional: top with powdered sugar when cooled for a little extra sweetness.

Fabulous and guilt-free!

AMAZING peanut butter pretzel truffles

Seriously, AMAZING! I made this for a work party and they were a huge hit! I had about 5 requests for the recipe and people begged me to make more of them!

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Makes 10 truffles, so I suggest doubling the recipe. I promise you'll want more!

Ingredients:
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1.5 cups finely crushed pretzels
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• shredded coconut (optional)
• vegetable oil

Mix peanut butter and crushed pretzels in a bowl. Cool in the freezer for about 15 minutes until firm.

Roll the peanut butter mixture into small balls. Place balls on a cookie sheet covered in wax or parchment paper. Freeze balls for about 30 minutes or until firm.

Pour chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl with a little vegetable oil. Microwave for about 30 seconds and then stir. If chips aren't melted enough, microwave again for another 15 seconds.

Roll frozen peanut butter balls in melted chocolate. As an optional topping, roll them in shredded coconut after dipping them in chocolate.

Refrigerate truffles until ready to serve.

Take a bite of this heavenly truffle!

Linking up the chocolatey goodness here