Festive Chocolate Treats for the Holidays

I bookmarked a whole pile of possible treats to try for the holidays this year, and then only made one of them. Oh well, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to try some of the others, and now I'll save time with searching for them and narrowing down the options.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake - It might look more festive baked in a bundt pan, but Michelle didn't have one, so we used a 9x13" pan. I also should have let it cool more before frosting. However, it was still a delicious dessert  (from Lemons for Lulu) to take to the family dinner, beautifully moist. Not that half the recommended amount of frosting was plenty.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

For the glaze:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon milk, if necessary
• Chopped gingersnaps, to garnish (optional)

Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl. Combine liquid ingredients (except water) in a medium bowl. Combine the two, the carefully stir in the boiling water. Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and cool thoroughly on a wire rack.

For the frosting, combine brown sugar and water and bring to a boil and cook until thickened and reduced a bit. However, if you cook it too long, it will turn into a hard-crack candy; you don't want that. When it's cooled a bit, cream with the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the powdered sugar, adding milk if necessary to reach desired consistency.

Drizzle over cake and sprinkle with chopped gingersnaps if desired.

This is a recipe we've tried before, but it did make it onto our holiday table again this year, so it deserves an updated picture - Flourless Chocolate Cake. (We omitted the ganache topping and used fresh raspberries instead.)

And here are the ones that didn't make it to our table this year:

Caramel Pecan Shortbread - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/caramel-pecan-shortbread/ - top shortbread cookies with caramel, then chocolate frosting, then a pecan

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-thumbprint-cookies/ - chocolate cookie dough rolled in walnuts, baked and topped with vanilla frosting and a Hershey kiss

Chocolate Caramels - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-caramels/

Chocolate Lebkuchen - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-lebkuchen/ - sugar cookies topped with spicy chocolate nut and fruit mixture

Marshmallow Puffs - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/marshmallow-puffs/ - Top a pan of marshmallows with melted chocolate chips and peanut butter. Chill and cut into squares.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-peanut-butter-cups/

Chocolate Linzer Cookies - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-linzer-cokies/ - sugar cookies filled with chocolate and raspberry jam

Chocolate Billionaires - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-billionaires/ - needs rice krispies and caramels and pecans and milk chocolate

Turtle Cookies - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/turtle-cookies/

Salted Pecan Shortbread Squares - https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/salted-pecan-shortbread-squares/