HAPPY NEW YEAR/BONNE ANNEE 2012...avec chocolat bien sur!

Bonjour tout le monde et Bonne Annee 2012!

I sure am glad to turn the page on 2011 - oh, not that it didn't have some high points (i.e. Joshua moving up to Middle School and the 6th grade, the First Annual Sugar & Stilettos Bake Sale Extravaganza for Charity) but there were other less wonderful events (i.e. my dad's health scare, my mom's back surgery) that I am happy to put behind me and my family...so here's to a new beginning, a new year filled with good health, an abundance of joy, overflowing love and of course...chocolate...lots and lots of chocolate...because really is there any better way to celebrate life that to eat or drink something of the chocolate persuasion...no, I think not!

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies with Valhrona Feves

So, to get your 2012 off to the best start possible I am proposing the following three recipes for you to make ASAP...each and every one of them is tried and true, top of the line and sure to delight anyone you choose to share them with...

The first is my all time favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe by Jacques Torres/NYC. People the world over say that THEY have the best recipe but I guarantee you THIS ONE is THE ONE! I mean, really...look at those beauties...I dare you to tell me that these cookies are not DIVINE...and I made them in my very own little French country kitchen with my 1940's O'Keefe & Merrit oven...un vrai paradis...

Nutella Scones - OOH LA LA!

The second is for Nutella Scones...alright, let's get this straight...Chocolate Scones, with tons of chocolate in them...and then Nutella drizzled all over the tops of them and toasted hazelnuts to boot...did I just hear you sigh and swoon in a slightly wozzy way? Yes, I thought so.

Patricia Helding's Classic Fat Witch Brownies

The third (and certainly not last for any reason whatsoever) is Patricia Helding's Classic Fat Witch Brownies. I have tried a million brownie recipes (well, maybe not a million but a lot!) and this recipe is truly a classic. Patricia said it took her forever to be able to share it with the world (it's one of many of her treasures in her inspiring and fabulous book, Fat Witch Brownies)...and am I ever glad that she did. It is definitely my go to brownie recipe...crackly, moist and cakey all at the same time.

So there you have it mes belles...go forth and bake...go forth and make everyone (including yourself) incredibly happy with all these delectable chocolate delights...

xoxo Nanci