Hey guys! Happy Halloween!!  How is everyone doing? I have been super busy, as always. Let me catch you up on a couple things. First of all... a couple weeks ago something pretty huge happened for me! The local bakery that I work at,  Pinch of Sugar, started selling some of my homemade candies! Just peanut butter cups for now.. but I'm hoping that before Christmas I will be selling multiple kinds of candies there! I'm so excited about it. :) So if you're around town anytime soon, swing in and buy some of my handmade candies and a cupcake too! :) 
Also yesterday my roommates and I held our Halloween party! Soooo much fun! We had a some snacks.. ya know, some cupcakes, a cheese ball, spaghetti, lots of candy, and some awesome punch. Brent, the two Heather's, and I dressed as a mob family. Hopefully I'll get a pic of all of us up soon. :) 

Anyways, enough about me and my life. Lets get to the real story here. CHEESECAKE. And not just any cheesecake. This cheese cake has a dark chocolate cookie crust, cream vanilla cheesecake with an out-of-this-world raspberry filling, and a dark chocolate drizzle on top. Yes. Yes it is as amazing as it sounds. YUMMMM... This is a 4 part recipe: crust, cheesecake, filling, drizzle. Lets get started shall we?:)  

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
Preheat oven to 350.

Crust
1 package dark chocolate cookies (I used the new Keebler's Dark Chocolate Fudge Striped Cookies) 
5 Tbl butter, melted
Directions:
Crush all of the cookies. You can use a food processor if you like, I used a gallon sized zip lock bag and a rolling pin. Pour cookie crumbs into a bowl, add the melted butter and mix. Set aside. 

Use wet hands to press cookies into the bottom of a 9'' spring form pan.

Pour half of cheesecake batter over crust. Spread out evenly.

Spread raspberry filling evenly over cheesecake batter.

Spread remaining cheesecake batter on top. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes, rotating halfway through the bake time. When done, allow it to completely cool. 

To make the chocolate drizzle, melt 1/2 teaspoon of butter and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips together. Put into a small zip lock bag and snip off a small part of the corner with scissors. Drizzle your pretty designs on top of your cheesecake and garnish with a few fresh raspberries. Have fun impressing everyone with this! Don't worry, they don't have to know how easy it is. lol

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Happy Baking! And Happy Halloween!! 

Hello to everyone again! I hope you all have been enjoying the fall weather as much I have been. :) I cannot express how much I just love this time of year. The beautiful leaves, the heavenly smells, the addicting flavors... AHH I love it!      Anyways... I have a recipe for you! 
Nothing says fall the same way that baked apples do. And these aren't just regular baked apples... they are SUPER STUFFED with oats and cranberries and some of those amazing spices we all love this time of year. Ready? Here we go! 

Jenni's Super Stuffed Baked Apples
Ingredients:
6 regular sized granny smith apples
4 Tbs butter, at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1/3 cup pecan pieces 
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. 
In a medium mixing bowl, add all ingredients except apples. Use a spoon to make sure it is all mixed well and butter is thoroughly mixed in. Set aside.
Core your apples, if you have an apple corer... obviously this is ideal. However I do not. So I used a paring knife. DO NOT PIERCE THE BOTTOM OF THE APPLE! You need to keep it in tact to hold all the goods. :) Sprinkle lemon juice over the apples to keep them from browning.

Take your filling and divide it evenly between the 6 apples. For an added touch I put about a teaspoon of caramel on top of each apple. Place apples in a baking dish (I used a 9'' round baking pan). Put about a 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the pan. Cover in foil and bake for 35 minutes. Take foil off of pan and bake for 10 more minutes to brown the tops.
Serve with ice cream drizzled with caramel and you've got a super simple dessert that everyone is going to love and be impressed with! 

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Happy Baking! :) 
-Jenni