On a trip to New York a couple weeks ago, I had an hour to kill in Times Square. It’s probably no surprise I made a beeline for the M&M store and then quickly followed over to the Hershey’s store. Anywhere that sells that much chocolate should be a tourist destination in itself.

I still had chocolate on the brain after getting home from that trip and had to make this fudge. Surprisingly I hadn’t made microwave fudge in about a year so this was long overdue. Adding a little bit of Reese’s peanut butter cups was the perfect touch to these; if anything deserves a pairing with chocolate it’s peanut butter.

I used dark chocolate chips which made the fudge a little less sweet but gave a good contrast to the peanut butter cups. Instead of the fun-sized Reese’s cups you could use full-sized ones cut into more pieces or the new unwrapped miniatures.

Easy Reese’s Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 servings):

• 1 10oz bag chocolate chips
• 1 4oz stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 10 fun-sized Reese’s, chopped into fourths

Method:

1. Melt together the chocolate chips and butter in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk and powdered sugar until the sugar dissolves.
3. Mix the milk in with the melted chocolate and butter and beat until smooth.
4. Pour the hot fudge into a greased 8-inch loaf pan. You can add wax paper as a liner to make the removal and clean up easier.
5. Sprinkle the chopped up Reese’s on top of the fudge and press it in gently with your hand.
6. Refrigerate the fudge until it hardens, about 2 hours.
7. With a sharp knife, slice the fudge into 1-inch squares. Keep it in the refrigerator when not enjoying.

While cookies aren’t my favorite dessert, there are a few that I have a soft spot for. Soft, delicate lemon cookies covered in a powdered sugar glaze are definitely one of those few.

Even though there’s no chocolate in these, I find them just as addicting as if there were. The outside is sweet and glazed while the inside is chewy and slightly tart from the lemon. They’re perfect in the morning or after dinner with a cup of tea. And while fresh lemon juice surely would make these cookies taste amazing, using the plastic lemon juice is just as good, too.

The hardest part of making these cookies(which aren’t really hard at all) is getting the consistency of the dough right to shape them. When they’re too dry, the dough crumbles; adding a little bit of lemon juice to get them to the texture of Play-Doh makes them just right for shaping into cookies.

Gluten-Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 18 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16 cookies):

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice + extra
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and baking powder until evenly mixed.
3. Add in the oil, egg, extracts and lemon juice and mix the dough together by hand.
4. Mold the dough into 1-inch balls and then flatten them gently into a cookie shape in your hands. If the dough is too dry and crumbles, add a little more lemon juice to wet it and bring it to the right consistency.
5. With clean hands, pour the powdered sugar into a shallow bowl or dish.
6. Drop the cookies on both sides onto the powdered sugar to coat the outside.
7. Put the sugar-covered cookies onto a non-stick baking tray and repeat until all of the dough is used up.
8. Bake for 18 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely before moving them.
10. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature when not enjoying.