Join the email club! Get more recipes delivered to your inbox once a week.

Adapted from Pinch of Yum.

Anyone who knows me well enough can tell you about my obsession with chocolate. M&M’s, Butterfingers, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake—you get the picture.

And recently, I’ve been eating peanut butter more often, but usually in the form of a peanut butter + jelly sandwich. I decided to merge me to sweet-tooth cravings together and made this chocolate peanut butter cookie.

Let me tell you—it’s amazing! The chocolate is rich but not overpowering. And the peanut butter chips add both warmness and great texture.

What I love about these cookies is actually watching people take their first bite. They never expect to have that much flavor packed into a cookie. The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is simple, but it’s also very bold.

So without further ado, start your drool engines. I bet you can’t eat just one!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes, you get home from work and you just don’t feel like doing anything. Last week, I had been having a terrible day at work and wanted nothing more than to come home, order Chinese, and watch Netflix for the rest of the night.

But eating out gets expensive. In New York, it’s so easy to get sucked into eating out all the time for many reasons. The biggest is that the kitchens here are SO SMALL. When I was looking at apartments before I moved here, some apartments had a “kitchen” that consisted of nothing more than an efficiency-sized sink and fridge. I mean, really?

So I did a new take on Chinese food by making Sweet and Spicy Chicken with Fried Rice. While this does take a little bit of prep work, it’s all worth it when you take the first bite (and the 1,000 after that). And, it makes enough for three or four days, so not only do you not have to cook—you don’t have to order in, either. What’s better than that?

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Start by combining the oil with the spices in a bowl. Work them together until smooth.

When you’re done, there shouldn’t be any clumps.

Next, pour up to a cup of white wine in a baking dish. Why wine? Because regular cooking spray will dry up really quickly with the rub on the chicken. And ain’t nobody got time for that.

Take your chicken and pat it dry.

Rub it around in the bowl with the spice mixture until the chicken is covered.

Place the chicken in the dish and sprinkle with top with sugar. Place in the oven and cook until the center of the chicken reads at least 160°F on a kitchen thermometer, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Fried Rice

Heat the oil in a pan and coat the entire bottom.

Add in the vegetables and the garlic.

After the vegetables are cooked and the onion starts to become translucent, push it all to one side of the pan and add the egg.

Cook the minute rice per the instructions on the package. Once the egg is cooked, mix the rice in with the egg and vegetables, and add soy sauce. Let the mixture cook on low for about 5 minutes.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

The temperatures lately have been, like, FREEZING—literally. I mean, come on: -50 degrees?! Come on!

One of my friends sent me this crazy Snapchat of him and some friends throwing boiling water off the deck and it evaporating instantly (or maybe it froze instantly—I’m not totally sure). My point here is that is too darn cold.

If you want to warm yourself up and impress some people in the process, try out my Turkey Meatball Marinara Sub. The best part about this sandwich isn’t the gooey cheese or the delish turkey meatballs—it’s the homemade marinara sauce.

Before you throw your arms up in the air and proclaim that you don’t have the time or skill to make homemade marinara, think again. It takes 10 minutes to prep and then it simmers for 30 minutes before you use it. It’s sweet, thick, and just tastes so much better than sauce from a jar.

It literally couldn’t be easier. And every time I go home to my parents’ house, this is the first thing they always want me to make. The marinara sauce is officially a staple in my cooking repertoire and something I’ll never be able to escape, but that’s totally OK by me. I could eat this stuff for days.

And if you don’t want to use it on the subs, try it as a dipping sauce, on pizza, pasta. Whatever your heart desires, really.

Start by prepping the onion and the garlic. Chop it up as small as you like it (or not). Some people prefer large chunks of onion in their sauce. Totally OK.

Once the onions have cooked for about eight minutes and there’s a really nice onion-garlic aroma in your kitchen, add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.

Stir all that goodness together and just bask in the smell. Yummmmmm.

Next comes the fun part: the spices. Add the sugar (yes, sugar), oregano, and salt and pepper to the pot. If you have other spices you love to cook sauce with, like rosemary or basil, throw it in, too. It’s all about making it your own and to your liking.

If you’re ambitious, make homemade meatballs. If not (like me), toss some frozen ones into the pot and stir to cover all the balls. Let this creation simmer on low for about 30 minutes.

Next, put about four meatballs into large hoagie buns and smother in the sauce.

Finally, top with a cheese mixture (I used mozzarella and Mexican blend here) and pop into the oven until the cheese is all melted.

When it’s all done, plate the puppy and admire it for two seconds before you stuff your face with, quite possibly, the best thing you’ll ever eat. EVER.

Turkey Meatball Marinara Sub

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a fan of oatmeal cookies. If I remember correctly, my favorite cookie as a child was oatmeal chocolate chip (heavy on the chocolate chips). My taste buds have matured over the years but I still love a great oatmeal cookie.

I decided to make a more sophisticated cookie and one that almost mimics Subway’s cranberry cheesecake cookie. And what I came up with was the white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookie. They’re crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside and the walnuts give them a very hearty taste. Great for the cold months!

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Slowly add the egg until well combined.

Slowly add the the flour mixture in small batches.

Add in the oats.

Followed by the cranberries.

And then the chopped walnuts.

Finally, the white chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.

Wet your hands and a small ice cream scooper. Fill scooper and roll into balls. Place on a well-greased baking sheet and flatten with the palm of your hand. The oats will quickly start to stick to the bottom of the sheet if it is not well greased (or lined with parchment paper). Place in oven and begin the drool.

Remove from oven. Centers should still be tender to the touch. They’ll seem like they’re not done but they’ll quickly harden while cooling. Immediately remove from baking sheet and place on a cooling rack for five to 10 minutes before serving.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies