I don't know about you, but when I look at a recipe that has multiple components, that is a sign to me that it is going to be outrageously delicious. Others might look at the same recipe and think all the steps just sound like a lot of work and not worth all the effort. But me? Give me a vegan caramel pecan cheesecake brownie over a standard brownie any day of the week. I want to put in the work baby.  Surprisingly enough, although this recipe does have a few different components to it, each step is really straightforward and simple to put together.  You start with the "caramel", which is made from medjool dates, almond butter, maple syrup and a bit of vanilla extract. Honestly, you could have fooled me. If I didn't make it myself, I would never be able to tell the difference.  The cheesecake batter is made from coconut cream, cashew butter, more maple syrup and vanilla extract, and a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. It comes together in a blender in seconds and th...

New year, same pandemic. Can you believe it? None of us ever imagined it would go on this long. None of us expected to be wearing masks to every outing and having drive by parties/events. Between the loss of jobs and social isolation, we have had a pretty rough year. But the one good thing to come out of 2020 was - drumroll please ...... babies. Lots and lots of babies. Not sure if it had anything to do with us being home all day, but 2020 was definitely the year of pregnancy & birth announcements.  So to follow up from my quarantine banana bread from 9 months ago, I bring you- lactation brownies. I may or may not have been one of those people with a birth announcement in 2020. And I may or may not have purchased lactation brownies, took one look at the ingredients, and thought to myself why all the galactogogues were way down at the end of the list. I mean, I could have been eating cosmic brownies if we're being honest. No benefit whatsoever!  So I took it upon myself t...

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DuncanHinesHoliday #CollectiveBias It's official. My husband has turned me into a fan of peppermint mocha. Can you believe I wouldn't go near peppermint mocha anything at one point in my life? Mint and chocolate? Pfft. That's like... chocolate flavored toothpaste. How could anyone possibly enjoy that? Turns out, I was really missing out. There's just something about these two flavors that when combined, they create a magical party in your mouth. Since I've already made peppermint mocha cupcakes , and peppermint mocha cookies , naturally, the next thing I needed to make was peppermint mocha brownies. And that called for a trip to Walmart. Yes, even bakers like a shortcut every now and then. And who can resist Duncan Hines® Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix when it's only $1.00! Plus, with only three easy ingredients, you're truly sa...

I saw a meme the other day that said it's still snowing in April because Mother Nature saw our summer bodies and knew we weren't ready yet. 🤣 Ain't that the truth! My clean eating diet was supposed to start...well, um, 6 months ago. And here we are. My life is a series of promises to myself that I will eat healthier, snack better, and count my calories and welp, negative. But today, today I made raw carrot cake bars. I am married to a snack hoarder and that makes it twice as hard for me to stick to my meal plans; but having healthier alternatives like these bars definitely helps out. They are no-bake so they whip up super quickly! You will have to soak your cashews overnight but that's pretty much the longest step. Also, I actually realized while making these that I don't own a grater. But thankfully, my Cuisinart food processor came in clutch with a shredder attachment and I shredded my carrots in half the time it would have taken me to do it by ha...

I'm sure by now many of you have heard, #keto is trending. Last year, I remember Whole30 being the big thing but as of late, almost everyone I know has either tried keto or is interested in trying it. From what I understand, it works! My friends have seen actual results! Am I going to try it? Well, only if I can still eat brownies. Hence, this recipe. Keto seems pretty easy to follow since you can still have ALL the butter, heavy cream, and cheese you want. But then at the same time, you can barely have ANY CARBS. Like, how? Butter, heavy cream, and cheese sound like the perfect beginning to a potato dish. But nope, no potatoes. So, if I can't have potatoes, I knew I had to make sure that I would still be able to have brownies. So, I did some research and keto brownies DO exist! In fact, a few people have already made them. I did my due diligence, read through each recipe's reviews and I found this one to be pretty solid all around. And because there is no such...

So, it seems that this time of the year, peppermint is a really popular flavor. Personally, I have to admit, I am not a fan, b ut when I saw this bag of M&Ms at my local supermarket, I was instantly inspired to bake something with it. I've never made any type of "bark" before, but the idea of brownie bark suddenly came to me and it sounded amazing. And I knew if I paired it with these white chocolate peppermint M&Ms, it would be a total hit for the holidays. Just so you guys know, making bark is like the easiest thing ever. You cannot mess it up. The secret ingredient to this particular brownie bark is dry milk powder, which keeps the bark from becoming too crunchy. I was so excited about trying this recipe that I forgot to buy this crucial ingredient. But my mother-in-law came in clutch because she actually had some in her pantry! I knew then that it was destined for me to make this bark. Now, I had a few different ideas about how I wanted to include t...

Right away, the name of these bars should have caught your attention. Anything salted, involving chocolate OR caramel is something I want to dive right into. And I knew these bars were going to be great, but I didn't know they were going to be so great that I couldn't even take pictures because I was so busy stuffing one after the other in my mouth. True story. This recipe comes to you today from Dorie Greenspan's new book Dorie's Cookies , which comes out in October. Dorie has teamed up with OXO this year, one of my favorite brands, for their annual blogger campaign in support of Cookies for Kids Cancer .  For this blog post and every other blog post dedicated to the campaign, OXO will donate $100 to Cookies for Kids Cancer. I love participating in their campaign every year because it's for such a great cause, PLUS who doesn't love new OXO products? I would honestly buy their entire warehouse if I could. To whip up these bars, OXO sent me thei...

We're two weeks into the new year and I've come to terms with the fact that I can't stop eating desserts. No way, no how. Even one cheat day a week isn't enough for me because my sweet tooth is as big as the universe and cannot resist the mere sight of a dessert. Therefore, I've got a new game plan. For every non-healthy dessert I make, I'm going to make a healthy version at the same time, so that I won't be tempted by the non-healthy one. Hence, these raw vegan brownies. I actually made a batch of these peanut butter crack brownies for my brother this week, and then proceeded to eat half the pan. After which I realized I needed some serious help. So I went online and found this recipe, gathered all the ingredients and hoped for the best! And whaddya know, these actually don't taste healthy at all! The consistency is spot on, and the ganache is what really gives them that true fudgy flavor. I've been constantly snacking on them when...

I had a feeling I was going to regret baking these brownies and I was right. Holy deliciousness. And my poor thighs. What did I get myself into? As a tween, I basically lived off these brownies. The days I got to walk to the corner store and snag me one or two of these bad boys were the happiest days of my life. Yes, my life revolved around desserts from a young age. And yes, these brownies were within walking distance of me. The joys of living in Brooklyn :) Nowadays, I'm not so keen on buying packaged desserts. So, when I saw this recipe on Life Made Simple 's blog, I nearly fell off my chair. It was too good to be true. When you taste these, you'll understand. You simply cannot stop at just one. I am dedicating this recipe to OXO 's annual Good Cookie campaign in support of Cookies For Kids Cancer. Cookies For Kids Cancer is a charity organization that raises awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research by encouraging everyone to bake a differenc...