Guinness Chocolate Cake

I'm going to start this post off with a disclaimer that I HATE beer.  I cannot stand it.  However, I can tolerate my boyfriend, and he likes beer, so I made this cake for him.  Well, more specifically to make his roommates like me, but I digress.  This cake is moist and delicious (even to those of us who hate beer), because the Guinness flavor isn't overpowering at all, it just complements the chocolate well.

Ingredients
Cake
1 1/4 cups Guinness
1/4 cup cocoa
12 tbs butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
Fresh fruit (I used strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, but feel free to use whatever fruits you prefer)
Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbs confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz chopped chocolate

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Heat the Guinness, butter, and cocoa in a pan over medium heat until the butter melts.  Beat together the sugar, eggs, sour cream until combined, then add the Guinness mixture and beat until smooth.  Stir in the flour and baking soda until incorporated, then pour into a greased 8 inch cake pan and bake for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).  The cake pan will be very full, but it's supposed to be.  After the cake cools, cut it in half so you will be able to put a layer of whipped cream and fruit between the top and bottom.

For the filling:  chill a bowl and your whisk (or hand mixer beaters) in the freezer for a few minutes.  Then, beat the whipped cream until soft peaks begin to form, then beat in the sugar and vanilla extract.  Do not over beat.

Put the whipped cream on the bottom half of the cake, top it with fruit, then put the top half of the cake on top (like a sandwich).

For the ganache:  bring the heavy cream to a boil over medium heat, then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth.  Let stand for approximately 10 minutes so it can thicken up a bit, then pour it over the top of the cake.

Decorate the top of the cake with the fruit of your choosing and voila!  A beautiful and delicious cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies - a staple of everyone's diet (or at any rate, they should be).  These chocolate chip cookies come out so ridiculously moist that I've made like six dozen in four days.  And eaten six dozen in four days.  However, since my boyfriend proposed last weekend, I can eat as many cookies as I want (and get as fat as I want) because I'm not going to die alone!  And on that happy note, the recipe...

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 package of vanilla pudding mix*
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 package (11.5 oz, I think) milk chocolate chips**

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Beat together the eggs, pudding mix, butter, both the sugars, and the vanilla extract until creamy.  Add half the flour, beat together, then add the other half and beat it in as well.  Mix in the chocolate chips.  Drop by tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet, then bake for 9-10 minutes and NO LONGER.  They might not look done, but they are.  Makes 3 dozen cookies.

*Can substitute white chocolate pudding mix as well
*Can substitute white chocolate chips and add macadamia nuts - goes well with the white chocolate pudding mix

Miniature Cherry Cheesecakes

Who doesn't love cheesecake?  Creamy richness, and you can trick yourself into thinking you're eating enough protein that it's actually a healthy dessert (or maybe that's just me).  Anyway, below is a recipe for delicious little miniature cheesecakes, perfect for those of us with portion control (again, possibly just me).

Crust:

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tbs butter (melted)

1/2 tbs sugar

Creamy goodness:

12 oz cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Topping:

Cherry pie filling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper liners.  Mix together all the crust ingredients thoroughly, then press about a spoonful of crust into the bottom of each paper liner - if you have any extra crust, you can definitely use it and make thicker crusts, but in my opinion, the filling is the best part anyway.  Bake the crust for about 5 minutes, or until it starts to brown slightly.  In the meantime, beat together all of the ingredients for the filling until smooth, then spoon over the crusts.  You should be able to fill each cup until it's just about overflowing.  Bake the cheesecakes for about 20 minutes, or until the centers set (the tops might begin to crack while they cook, but that's normal and fine).  Let the cheesecakes cool - their centers will sink slightly during this time, which is perfect for the topping.  After they cool, spoon some cherry pie filling into the little "sinkhole" in the center, and voila!