Sweeter Than Thou

I am so proud of you for sticking to that New Year’s Resolution of yours.  Seriously, most people quit after a week or two but you’ve been sticking to that “I’m going to eat healthier this year!” mentality even after Valentine’s Day!  Right?  Right.

We all know that to eat healthy throughout one’s life, one must splurge now and then.  Lucky for you I’ve got just the thing to do the trick!

Let’s toss some cookie dough into that glorious dessert the gods have named “cheesecake.”  So put on those new skinny jeans and get out that full fat cream cheese because it’s about to get decadent in here!

Actually, you might want to pull out the fat pants for this.  No shame in it.

Cookie Dough Cheesecake

For the crust:

About 2 cups finely crushed chocolate graham crackers (you can use any other type of graham cracker, that’s just what I had on hand).

1 tablespoon sugar

8 tablespoons butter, melted

For the filling:

3 8 ounce packages cream cheese

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

16 1/2 – 18 ounce refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

Optional: 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces or miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

Let cream cheese and eggs reach room temperature, about 30 minutes.  This is the perfect time to get your crust started.

For crust:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Stir your graham cracker crumbs and 1 tbsp of sugar together.  Add the melted butter and mix until combined.  Press the mixture into the bottom and about 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a 9in springform pan.  Set aside.

For the cheesecake:  In the bowl of an electric mixture, beat the cream cheese, the sugars, flour, and vanilla on medium speed until combined.  Add milk and beat until smooth.  Stir in the eggs.

Pour half of the cheesecake mixture into your prepared crust.  Rip apart the refrigerated cookie dough into about teaspoon sized pieces.  Drop half of these pieces into the mixture.  Pour the rest of the cheesecake mixture into the pan and add the rest of the cookie dough.  Press the cookie dough pieces into the mixture until covered (or mostly covered, not a big deal).  Top with chocolate chips if you desire.

Place your springform pan into a flat baking pan.  Cook at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until 2 1/2 inches from the side of a pan seems set when you shake the pan (note: my cheesecake took about 70 minutes).  The center of the cheesecake will wobble when shaken.

Cool in the springform pan for 15 minutes.  Run a butter knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen the crust from the sides of the pan.  Cool for another 30 minutes, and then remove the sides of the springform pan.  Cool on a wire rack for 4 hours.  Place into your fridge for later or immediately serve and enjoy!

We live in such a wonderful futuristic world. During these times we can talk to people across the globe, share ideas, and sing off-key renditions of Disney songs without ever meeting anyone face to face. Or maybe we can have an entire fight via text message because someone’s at work and can’t call and then you feel like a huge jerk for being insensitive.

Me? Insensitive? I’m talking about my friend guys.

Buuuut let’s not point fingers. At my friend, I mean.

Anyway, fights stink but they give you chance to make up, and what better way than with cake?

Ya know because then you’ll get cake too.

See that heart? Yeah, I’m adorable.

I failed to take a picture before I cut into the cake because I hadn’t planned on using this recipe for my blog since it was a super special personal cake for my super awesome and manly boyfriend. He told me I should post it so here ya go!

To tell you the truth that cupcake up top is chocolate, but it’s way prettier than a partially eaten cake. Plus I swirled the two frostings together on top. Fancy.

But, um, here’s the cake from the back.

You can’t even tell it’s been cut now! Perfect.

This is a perfect “sorry” cake because you can bake and decorate it quickly before a certain someone gets home. I usually prefer not to use box mixes, but they’re great for a quick cake and can be altered to make different flavors.

Peanut Butter Cake
1 package white or yellow cake mix (I used white)
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 crunchy or smooth peanut butter (I used smooth)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350. Run shortening along bottom and edge of cake pans (I used two 9″ rounds) or spray with non-stick spray. Dust with flour and set aside.

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and, by hand or with a mixer on low, mix for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for 2 more minutes, making sure the batter is well combined.

Pour the batter into your pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool in pans for about 10 minutes and then flip cakes out onto a cooling rack.

Chocolate Frosting
Makes 3 cups

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed
1/3 cup milk, plus more if needed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place butter and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed to avoid having cocoa powder fly all over your kitchen. Blend until the mixture is soft and well combined (about 30 seconds). Stop the mixer.

Add the sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and beat on low speed at first until the frosting is fluffy (about 3 minutes). Increase speed if you desire after the sugar has combined somewhat so it doesn’t go flying everywhere.

If the frosting is too thick add a bit more milk. If it is too thin add more sugar, 1 tbsp at a time.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes 3 cups

Note: This recipe is enough to frost an entire cake. I halved it to use for decorating only.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3-4 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Put the peanut butter and butter into a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed until fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer.

Add sugar, 3 tbsp milk, and vanilla. Blend on low speed until sugar is well combined, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, another minute.

If frosting is too thick add 1 tsbp more milk.

Remember how I mentioned graduating college and how we had a sweet soiree to celebrate? Well obviously I couldn’t show up with just one dessert, that would be crazy, borderline blasphemous! Not only did I make some chocolate chip cookies to be best friends with the M&M ones, but I also made a cute little chocolate cake.

Do pardon the picture. I took a few at the actual party but, of course, that meant I had to be quick because people wanted to get down to eating!

This recipe will be enough for two 6inch rounds and some change, so I’m sure you could stretch it to make two shorter 8inch rounds. I chose the smaller size because there’s always leftover desserts when I bake for a party because I tend to go overboard and make waaaaay too many varieties. This time I held back and planned for the possibility of not everyone having dessert (I can’t believe people like that exist) or someone else bringing something. The 6inch size was perfect for this party and there were no leftovers after the guests got done with the cookies and cake!

The smaller layers also meant the cake had some dramatic height which is what I wanted. This darling cake was a little drama queen but not over the top!

In case you’re wondering why I’m not including a recipe for the frosting, that’s because…well I don’t use a recipe. I tend to just make my buttercream frosting by taste. I usually use about a pound of butter, a tad of salt, and than add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract as I see fit. So this cake will give you a reason to take your favorite frosting recipe for a spin. I’m a fan of chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, but feel free to use chocolate or even strawberry. I won’t bug you about it!

Side note for decorators: I used a #21 star tip to make the swirls on the cake. Eazy peazy! It makes for a nice little elegant design in white, no?

Side note: I put butterscotch chips in between the layers because hey, why not? They were a nice little surprise for the people biting into their cake slice!

Yummy Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour two cake pans (in my case, 6inch round pans) and set aside.

Sift or mix all the dry ingredients together(including the cocoa!) together with a whisk. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and mix/beat until combined.

Add the hot water and mix until combined. The batter will be very liquidy, but that’s good! Pour the batter evenly into your prepared pans and bake for about 30 minutes, adding or taking away time based on your pan size. My 6inch pans took a little over 30 because I made them nice and thick, but a thinner layer like an 8inch should take 25-30. Just make sure to check that a toothpick inserted into your cake comes out clean before taking it out of the oven.

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then transfer the cake to a cooling rack. Don’t frost until they are completely cool!

Oh hai, another mixer-optional recipe. It’s also a one bowl recipe! Aren’t those the best?

Adapted from http://www.bakerella.com