{Italian Tuxedo Triffle Makes the Cut}

It was an honor to make desserts for the East Central Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Fire & Ice formal fundraising event this year. It was tough to make a final choice for this year’s dessert. For the 2011 event, I made Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Baby Cheesecakes and they were a crowd favorite. This year, event organizers, [...]

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{Amaretto Pistachio Cakes}

Liqueur is a staple at my house but that’s because I love to bake with it. I may be of the rare few who visit their local liquor store with a recipe for something sugary-sweet tucked away in my purse. Don’t get me wrong. I like to drink the stuff (the sweet girly drinks with paper umbrellas and fruit threaded [...]

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Frosting for the Cause | Chocolate Mint Mascarpone Cupcakes

I’ve been excited for this day to come since I signed up to post a recipe and a cancer awareness story at Frosting for the Cause. Although no one ever wants to see a friend struggle with cancer, I was honored to write my friend, Paulette’s story of hope; appropriately titled, “It’s Okay to be Freaked Out”. Please [...]

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Rockin’ the Pink {Peppermint} Ladies

If I went to Rydell High in 1958, Rizzo would have given me a Pink Ladies jacket for this. Frenchy may have dyed her hair pink again. And I would wear the skin-tight black leather pants at the end-of-the-school carnival. By far the cutest, pinkest cheesecakes I’ve come up with so far. Sitting on top of the crunchy chocolate crust  is a creamy [...]

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{KAHLÚA Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake}

My friend Teresa gave me a Pumpkin KAHLÚA Cheesecake recipe in 1994 and I’ve been making it the same way ever since. Until now. I couldn’t help but to add chocolate to the recipe this time [the Ghirardelli made me do it]. Luckily it was just as delicious as I imagined because I prepared it for Thanksgiving dinner [...]

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{Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie}

It’s always fun when baking leads to the liquor store. In honor of National Dessert Day, I posted on my Facebook site that I would bake and blog a recipe if someone shared something with me that they like to make. The first request came from one of my friends and  high school classmates, Derek Clever. (Thinking back to [...]

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{White Chocolate Amaretto Cake}

One of my student employees, Hannah, turned 21 a few weeks ago and I thought it would be cool to bake her a cake with alcohol in it. Good thing the alcohol burns off in the oven because this cake is soaked in amaretto!   White Chocolate Amaretto Cake Cake: 1 package yellow cake mix [...]

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{Creamy Dreamsicle Cheesecake with Sugared Cream Sauce}

I love chocolate and cheesecake. When I go to a restaurant, the first thing I do is look at the menu and (1) see if there is chocolate on the dessert menu (2) see if there is chocolate in the form of cheesecake. I tell you this because if you are a chocolate addict like I am, you may not think this recipe is for [...]

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