This I know to be true: There are cake people and there are frosting people. And I most definitely am a frosting person. I’m guilty of taking a slice of cake and just eating the frosting. I’m also guilty of running my finger along the edge of the cake before it’s been cut into just to taste the frosting. But don’t worry–I haven’t done that in any recent years… that I’ll admit to.

Today’s my birthday, and on your birthday you shouldn’t have to eat anything you don’t want to. Apples. Broccoli. Even cake. You should be able to just eat your frosting and have it, too.

I’ve been wanting to make a recipe like this for a long time and never found an occasion. I suppose now is as best a chance I’ll get; don’t judge me if all of these are gone by the end of the day.

They’re easy enough to make and just need two ingredients. You can use canned frosting but homemade is so much better tasting and just as easy. If you don’t have a favorite recipe, I’d recommend mocha buttercream or vanilla buttercream.

Buttercream Shots In Chocolate Cups

Prep time: 15 minutes(Plus 20 minutes of cooling time)

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 dozen):

• 7oz good quality dark chocolate
• 3/4 cup store-bought or homemade buttercream
• 24 miniature cupcake holders

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a double broiler until it’s smooth.
2. With a spoon, drop a Tablespoon of chocolate into the cupcake holder and paint it around the sides. Make sure the layer of chocolate isn’t too thin or it will break.
3. Put the chocolate cup on a tray and repeat until all of the chocolate is used up.
4. Refrigerate the tray for 20-30 minutes until the chocolate has hardened.
5. Gently peel off the cupcake holders until just the chocolate cup remains.
6. Fill the cups with a tablespoon of buttercream each. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

If you tried to tell me there’s a better kind of birthday shot, I wouldn’t believe you.

Trader Joe’s makes the best trail mix. It’s called Tempting Trail Mix. The name really doesn’t do it justice; it won’t last long enough in your pantry to be tempting. Normally with trail mix I’ll just pick out the chocolate bits until there’s only fruit and nuts left, but not this one. It has chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, peanuts, cashews, almonds, and dried cherries. What’s not to love?

See, nothing but good.

Obviously these needed to be made into cookies to be enjoyed all the time. I mixed some of the trail mix into a super simple gluten-free peanut butter cookie batter; the peanuts and peanut butter chips in the trail mix and peanut butter in the cookie dough make for a delicious triple dose of peanuts.

I used 2 egg whites in place of the egg since I wanted to use up a container of egg whites and the cookies were slightly puffier and softer than normal and the batter was also looser to work with. I wouldn’t say one version was better than the other but I would be aware that subtle changes like that can change the end result.

Tempting Trail Mix Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 20 cookies):

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup Tempting Trail Mix

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients together.
3. Take off pieces of dough and roll into 1-inch balls. place the balls on a lined baking tray and flatten lightly. Repeat with all of the dough.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes until the tops of the cookie are firm to the touch.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before moving.

These came out just as good—if not better—than the trail mix. I had trouble not just eating the batter. The chocolate chips melted perfectly in the oven and had just the right bitter flavor for the lightly-sweet dough. I also can’t get enough of how easy a Silpat mat makes baking. I don’t know what took me so long getting with the times.

I’m a huge fan of Reese’s. I don’t think there’s anything they make which I don’t like. Well, besides the inside out peanut butter cups. And the white chocolate peanut butter cups. Seriously, what were they thinking? Well, we all make bad decisions.

Anyway, any true Reese’s fan can tell you that the holiday edition items are the crème de la crème. Whether it’s the trees, eggs, or hearts, the peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio is so much more perfect.

Why make regular peanut butter cups when you can make delicious(and festive!) eggs? You wouldn’t. These were just as easy to make as regular cups, and I think I liked them more. I used peanut butter that was just peanuts and salt, but no-stir peanut butter should work as well. You could even use white chocolate instead of the semi-sweet chocolate, but I will judge you slightly(Just kidding… sort of).

Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 7 eggs):

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4oz semi-sweet chocolate

Method:

1. Melt the butter and mix in the peanut butter and powdered sugar until there are no clumps(If you’re using no-stir peanut butter, you might want to melt that, too, so it’s easier to mix together).
2. Refrigerate the peanut butter mixture until it’s mostly solid.
3. While the peanut butter is chilling, melt the chocolate until smooth and silky. Let the chocolate sit at room temperature for 10 minutes once melted to cool slightly, but keep it hot enough so that it doesn’t reharden.
4. To shape the eggs, take about an ounce of chilled peanut butter dough and roll it in your palm into a log. Then press down slightly on both sides to flatten. If the dough gets too soft during this process, stick it back in the refrigerator or freezer for 10 minutes to make sure that it’s solid before touching the melted chocolate.
5. Drop the egg into the melted chocolate. Flip it using a spoon or a fork and spread the chocolate around the sides. Move the chocolate-covered egg onto a piece of parchment paper.
6. Repeat with all of the peanut butter and chocolate.
7. Refrigerate the eggs until the chocolate coating has hardened. Keep chilled for up to 2 weeks.

Just take my advice and double the recipe. 7 will hardly last a day.

I’m not really a fan of Valentine’s Day. There are so many other holidays I’d rather celebrate, like Arbor Day or the Ides of March. But if celebrating means baking and devouring delicious red and black brownies, then I will reluctantly celebrate.

Starbucks used to(or maybe they still do?) sell these terrific fudgy brownies with raspberry sauce artfully swirled in on top and I would get them most days after school. I’d honestly choose raspberries and chocolate over peanut butter and chocolate most days; I think the pairing is that good.

For this recipe, I just used my standard gluten-free brownie recipe and added in the raspberry preserves to elevate it to those Starbucks brownies. If you have a favorite brownie recipe—gluten-free or not—you can always use that and just follow the last couple of steps to add the raspberry in.

Gluten-Free Raspberry Swirl Brownies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 8 x 8 pan):

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4oz baking chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the almond flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
3. Beat in the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until mixed.
4. In a separate bowl, melt together 4 ounces of chocolate along with the butter.
5. Slowly pour the melted chocolate and butter into the batter while whisking until fully incorporated.
6. Pour the batter in a greased 8 x 8 pan.
7. Drop the raspberry preserves on top and swirl around lightly into the batter to cover most but not all of the top(If you want to do this more artfully than I did, put the jam into a plastic bag, cut off one of the corners and squeeze it into lines across the top of the brownies. Then run a knife along the top in lines perpendicular to the jam to create a swirl effect).
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Let these cool completely before cutting in.

OK, maybe Valentine’s Day won’t be so bad. So long as I get to eat all the brownies.

What better way to finish off a week than with chocolate? After I made chocolate hazelnut butter, my first thought was to make chocolate hazelnut brownies. For some reason, that sounded familiar; sure enough I looked back through the recipe pages to see that I made those last Winter. I made a few changes to the recipe this time around and took some higher quality photos to show you just how good these are.

These brownies aren’t quite cakey but aren’t quite fudgy, either; they’re in between. You can use store-bought or homemade chocolate hazelnut spread. Since the recipe doesn’t call for eggs to begin with, these are really easy to make vegan; simply swap out the butter for non-dairy margarine and use water or a non-dairy milk for the liquid.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 brownies):

• 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1/4 cup room temperature butter
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour(I used all-purpose gluten-free flour)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup water or milk
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon chocolate chips(optional)
• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts(optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, cream the chocolate hazelnut butter, sugar, and butter together.
3. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
4. Pour in your liquid and mix until the batter comes together uniformly.
5. Fold in any chocolate chips or hazelnuts you might be using.
6. Grease an 8×8 baking pan and press the batter in in an even layer.
7. Bake for 28-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Take out of the oven and let cool completely before cutting in.

I didn’t add hazelnuts or chocolate chips into the batter and since that felt a little boring I gave these a chocolate icing to make them a little more special. Mission accomplished.