Sweets

OK, kids: This is coffee. In solid form. It's been sweetened with condensed milk and booze-ified with a healthy dose of Kahlua—then rubberized into a blissful, cocktail-hour finger food thanks to the magic of gelatin. Now, you have to like Jello, or Jello-like food, for this to work. If you do, you're in for a treat.

Our good friend the Baron Von Hammer came to visit us recently, right around his birthday. That being a rather auspicious occasion, I wanted to make him something special. This chocolate cheesecake didn't disappoint!

Texas Sheet Cake is an expansive, thin chocolate cake that's coated with chocolate frosting and sprinkled with chopped pecans. And? This cake defies one of the 10 Commandments of Baking: Thou shalt not frost until the cake is cool.

Psssst, hey, you! You need to make these. Like, now. I almost never say that, but seriously: You do. Stop what you're doing and get yourself into the kitchen. You can thank me later.

This cake is like a coffee cake, but better. It's rich, but still manages to have a light crumb. It gets a subtle, mollasses-tinged sweetness from dark brown sugar, and a burst of brightness from a generous amount of fresh lemon zest.

For this recipe, squares of chewy chocolate caramel get all dressed up in chocolate. They're chewy and chocolate-y and have a deep, sweet earthiness from a generous amount of molasses.

These bars are one part cookie, and one part granola bar. And they're one of the best homemade bars...or whatever you want to call them...I've ever made. They're chewy and caramel-y and earthy and studded with tangy, dried cranberries.

One of the reasons that I love this cake is that it looks impressive, but it’s ridiculously easy to make—even for folks who don’t have a lot of experience baking. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool completely before you can fill and frost it.

OK, this started with a recipe I spotted in Cook's Country magazine for easy chocolate ice cream. You know I'm a sucker for unusual, short-cut recipes that promise delicious results. I couldn't resist giving it...

Contrary to popular belief, souffles are actually pretty easy to make. You just need to follow a few rules—and not breakdance in the kitchen when they're in the oven.