Bake: Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

You've probably seen a lot of hubbub over "gluten free" products recently and might be wondering - Is it a fad diet?  Is gluten bad for you?  What the heck is this gluten stuff anyway?

M&M Cookies

M&Ms were invented in the 1940s by Forrest Mars, who got the idea for the candy-covered chocolates after witnessing soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolates covered with a hard tempered-chocolate coating.  He patented the idea and started manufacturing in New Jersey in 1941.  The original colors were red, yellow, brown, green, and violet.  Red was replaced with orange in the 1970s due to the Red #2 scare, but was added back in the late '80s.  The current colors are brown, yellow, green, red, orange, and blue.  Dark chocolate M&Ms - the ones used in this recipe - were first introduced in April of 2005.  This recipe would also be delicious with the pretzel, peanut butter, or original varieties.

Bake: Chocolate Meringues

I was looking for something to bake that would be Easter-y, kosher for Passover (ish - my kitchen is full of chametz), quick to make, and not completely ruin my diet (only 40 calories each!).  I decided on chocolate meringues: whip egg whites, add sugar and chocolate, bake.  Done.  I decided to dot a few of the meringues with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or dried cherries, just to mix it up a bit.  Enjoy!

Bake: Mini Mints

It's that time again.  Girl Scout Cookie season.  Having made awesome Tagalong and Samoa taste-alikes last year, and in celebration of National Chocolate Mint Day on the 19th, I figured I'd try my hand at Thin Mints.  I started with a recipe for chocolate mint wafers from Martha Stewart, added some high-quality chocolate coating, and at J's suggestion, sprinkled Kosher salt on top (which really takes the cookies to another level).  The resulting cookie was a bite-sized morsel of deliciousness, slightly cake-ier than true Thin Mints, but still so addictive.

Bake: Triple Treat Bars

This recipe started with my attempt to make fudge and peanut butter fudge without a recipe.  The result was delicious, but not quite fudge (which requires the heating, then slow cooling, then stirring of corn syrup, water, sugar, chocolate, butter, and milk/cream).  Everyone agreed that the two non-fudge products should be combined to make a delicious chocolate-peanut butter treat.  I added a crust of chocolate sandwich cookies (known to most as Oreos, though I actually used Newman-Os in this recipe) and the Triple-Treat was born.  This can be served in slices like a pie (as shown above), or in smaller bar-like squares (see below).

Bake: Chocolate-Chip Cookies

When you think "All-American" you may think "apple pie."  Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you're wrong.  Chocolate-chip cookies are the essential American baked good.  Apple pie dates back to the medieval times (just see the article over at Gode Cookery, the infringing of which started the internet firestorm against Cooks Source magazine).  Chocolate-chip cookies are a true American (accidental) invention.

The Nestle Toll House recipe, found on the back of Nestle chocolate chip packages, is based on Ruth Wakefield's original recipe.  This recipe is a good starting-off point, and a classic go-to when you're in a pinch.  I adapted mine based on info from a New York Times article, in which it was revealed that Wakefield's recipe called for chilling the dough overnight, as well as a bit of my foray into experimenting with baking science (see notes at end of recipe). 

Bake: Better than Tagalongs

Tagalongs are my preferred Girl Scout Cookie variety.  I decided to make these with dark chocolate from Scharffen Berger, on the recommendation of a commenter.  The shortbread is the same used in the non-Samoas recipe, and the peanut butter filling is a snap to make.  These are possibly my new favorite cookies.  Ever.

Bake: I Can't Legally Call These Samoas

Girl Scout Cookies are delicious, but they keep raising the price and decreasing the quantity/size.  Being an avid baker, I figured I could replicate some of the best selling GSCs in my own kitchen.  About 19% of the GSCs sold are Samoas - "Tender vanilla cookies, covered with caramel, rolled in toasted coconut, and striped with a rich, chocolaty coating."  I decided to use a vanilla shortbread, homemade caramel, and dark chocolate to give these "girl" cookies an adult flair.  

Bake: Blondies

If you think chocolate chip cookies are addictive, wait until you try these blondies.

Bake: Chocolate-PB Cookies

The classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter.

Bake: Dark Chocolate Souffle

I've been wanting to try making a souffle for a while.  My mom recently bought me some souffle dishes as a gift, so I decided to start with a chocolate souffle (that way if it fell or otherwise didn't bake correctly, it would still be a delicious bowl full of chocolate).  It was actually really easy to make, and turned out great.

Recipe after the jump...