Cookies

• Instead of making a plain chocolate wafer, hide a surprise in the middle. Brownie bite cookies are a cross between a brownie and a cookie and have a chocolate kiss hidden inside. Chocolate snowball cookies are spiked with toffee candy chips and nuts and rolled in snowy powdered sugar right after baking. Give your favorite chocolate chip cookie a flavor boost by adding cocoa powder to the dough before stirring in the chocolate chips.

Bars and Brownies

• Brownies never fail to make the top 10 lists of chocolate lovers. Chocolate cream cheese brownies elevate the taste of the cocoa and add extra creaminess. Coconut lovers will swoon over chocolate macaroon bars with sumptuous coconut flakes and miniature chocolate chips topping the cocoa-based bottom layer. The combination of chocolate and mint found in many candies and cookies is easy to duplicate in crème de menthe cocoa brownies, topped with rich minty chocolate candies right after they come out of the oven.

Cakes

• Cocoa gives any type of chocolate cake rich color and taste. You can transform a simple pound cake into a showstopper by adding cocoa to the batter and mixing in some milk chocolate chips before baking. For a refreshing summertime dessert, make a thin chocolate cake in a jellyroll pan. Cool it, spread ice cream or frozen yogurt on the inside, and roll it into a spiral. Freeze until solid and slice crosswise into cool pinwheels. A flourless cocoa-flavored torte, a rich cousin of cake, topped with mocha cream sauce is ideal for a dinner party dessert.

Special Desserts

• Cocoa chocolate flan is a takeoff on the renowned Mexican flan, with a syrupy chocolate sauce instead of conventional caramel. Use cocoa to flavor the cake and filling for a tunnel of fudge or volcano dessert. Create brownie cups in a muffin tin and fill them with ice cream for a unique take on a chocolate sundae. Cool the brownie cups first so they're sturdy enough to hold the ice cream.

Storage Tips

• Baked chocolate sweets can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days in airtight containers. Refrigerate them if the weather is especially warm. If you have leftover baked chocolate goods, you can freeze them for up to two weeks. Tightly enclose them in a double layer of plastic wrap and then place them in a plastic freezer container with a tight-fitting lid. Thaw at room temperature for an hour or two before serving.