This month’s Flavor of the Month theme was chocolate, which I thought was perfect for February (and well, I thought it was perfect anyway because I love chocolate)! I wanted to share a recipe that I adapted from one I found on Hershey’s website a couple years ago, because whenever I’ve served it, it’s always been a big hit. Plus, it’s a relatively simple dessert, so you can make it in a pinch since you probably have most of the ingredients on hand already!

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Because it’s Monday and I’m not ready for another week, I thought it’d be a good idea to post this wonderfully rich cheesecake. I made it for dessert for our Christmas day festivities and everyone really enjoyed it; I definitely need to make it again soon. If you’re having a rough Monday, or just feel like indulging a bit, try this cheesecake today – you won’t regret it.

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Another item from the Christmas baskets – gingerbread truffles! The gingerbread cake recipe below makes a 13″ x 9″ cake (sorry about the lack of pictures, but I was really pressed for time while making all these Christmas goodies!), so you’ll get a good 90-100 truffles out of it depending on how big you make them. For the melted chocolate, I like to use chocolate chips or chunks, so I always throw a couple tablespoonfuls of shortening in to make it nice and smooth. Make sure to pick up some Christmas sprinkles to make them extra festive!

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Well, I thought this month’s Flavor of the Month was going up today, but I guess I am a little late since it went up yesterday. In any case, here are the many gingerbread cookies I made using my leftover dough from the Daring Baker challenge this month (you can find the recipe and instructions for making the dough here). They were perfect for taking to work for our Christmas parties and for packaging up as part of the homemade Christmas gifts I’ll be posting about later. (I know I’ve been slacking a little on the posts since I’m on vacation this week, but I promise I’ll get to them soon!)

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This weekend was a little crazy. We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family, so I had a LOT to get done before we arrived (unfortunately I still can’t post about the gifts until we celebrate Christmas with hubby’s side of the family, because the gifts are similar). On Sunday though, I found some time to bake up these cookies. They’re based on Dorie’s recipe for chocolate chip cookies, since her recipe is hands-down my favorite. I love the look of the candy canes sprinkled on top – so festive! Hope you enjoy them!

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 2 or 3 crushed candy canes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugars and beat for another two minutes, and then beat in the vanilla.

Add in the eggs one at a time.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the dry ingredients gradually. Stir in the chocolate chunks and chips.

Spoon the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on to the baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle on the crushed candy canes.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are brown and the centers are golden. (Usually when I’m baking these they never look done to me, but they are – and if I don’t take them out they’ll turn completely brown!) Remove them from the oven and let them rest for one minute, then carefully remove them to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remainder of the dough.