New Year, Renewed Blog: Cheesecake!

A perfect cheesecake. No cracks, lightly browned, creamy and delicious. I use a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Ina has never let me down. I received so many compliments on this cheesecake. It is my go to recipe; the only cheesecake recipe I ever make.

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 whole extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the crust, combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until moistened. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. With your hands, press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

To make the filling, cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, 2 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 225 degrees F and bake for another 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the center. Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another 2 to 3 hours, until completely cooled. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

The recipe online has a raspberry topping but since it was Christmas, I made a cranberry topping. I kept it on the side because I knew some of the people in the family would not want it. I boiled a bag of fresh cranberries with 1/2 cup cranberry juice and 1/2 cup of sugar. The tartness was perfect against the richness of the cheesecake.

Now I have to remember how well loved this cheesecake is and make it more often.

Orange Chocolate Bundt cake

I needed to bake a cake for Sunday dinner dessert, but I could not figure out just what I wanted to bake. I went searching around my favorite blogs and I found a recipe for this orange chocolate bundt cake on Joy the Baker's site. I love her blog and her recipes. Not to mention, she takes the most beautiful pictures. If you get a chance check it out.

Here is the cake in one of my favorite Nordic Ware pans. I think I've mentioned here before my love for Nordic Ware. Everyone kept asking me where the chocolate was when I said it was an orange chocolate cake.




They were surprised when I cut into the cake and they saw the chocolate ring. It was moist and delicious. The perfect cake for a warm spring Sunday dinner.




You can find the recipe on Joy's blog.

My 100th post!! Let's celebrate with a Chocolate Overload!

One Hundred Posts! Wow. Who knew? When I started my blog it was a way to keep track of things I'd made and to share recipes with a few friends. I don't have a following, and that is ok, this blog is still very much for my friends and me. I do wish more friends and family would leave comments just so I know you're still out there, but I still appreciate you taking the time to view the blog.



This cake is the one I made for my mom's birthday. She is such a chocoholic, this was the perfect cake for her. It is a Chocolate Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting decorated with dark and white chocolate curls and pirouette cookies. It is rich, chocolaty, and DELICIOUS.




The recipes for the cake and frosting both came from MYRecipes

Chocolate Velvet cake layers

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (16-ounce) package light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Melt semisweet chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes total time). Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer, beating about 5 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spoon cake batter evenly into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cakepans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack.


White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:


Ingredients

* 3 cups white chocolate morsels
* 3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
* 3/4 cup butter, softened
* 7 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Microwave white chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM (50% power) 3 minutes; stir until smooth.

2. Combine cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add melted chocolate, beating well. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat at medium speed until mixture reaches desired spreading consistency.

Peanut Butter Candy Bar Brownies

Add this to your holiday baking. It is delicious and easy. Everyone who love peanut butter will love this. They are very rich so make sure you have a glass of milk handy. I left out the coconut because I made these for our youth group and most kids are not coconut fans.

I found this recipe at myrecipes.

Yield

28 small bars or 18 large bars

Ingredients

• 1 (16-oz.) package peanut-shaped peanut butter sandwich cookies, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 (1.5-oz.) packages chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies, coarsely chopped
• 2 (2.1-oz.) chocolate-covered crispy peanut buttery candy bars, coarsely chopped (we tested with Butterfinger)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup honey-roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preparation

Combine crushed cookies and butter in a medium bowl. Press crumb mixture into bottom of a greased aluminum foil-lined 13" x 9" pan, allowing foil to extend over ends of pan. Bake at 350° for 6 to 8 minutes.

Combine condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl, stirring until smooth.

Sprinkle chopped candy bars, chocolate morsels, peanuts, and coconut over crust. Drizzle condensed milk mixture over coconut.

Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in pan. Use foil to lift uncut brownies out of pan. Peel foil away from sides of uncut brownies, and cut into bars.

Study for exams or make sugar cookies?

which one would you pick? Yep that's the one I picked too. I haven't posted much lately because I had exams this weekend. I finished them today but yesterday before I took the first one, I made sugar cookies for our church youth Christmas party. Sure I could have been studying, but I HAD to make these cookies ya know?



The sugar cookie recipe is the same one I posted in October when I made the candy corn cookies. These cookies were Christmas themed for the party. I used a wilton pan you filled with dough to make the shapes instead of rolling out and cutting. It was so much easier and was not messy at all.

This is the pan:




Now that exams are over, I hope to be blogging a lot more so keep checking back for new recipes.

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

I made chutney but I still had some fresh cranberries left. I have been wanting to try new cranberry recipes so I went on a search. This one looked easy and delicious. I decided to give it a try, on a week night even. After all, who doesn't come home after working all day and having an afternoon class to make dinner and bake a cake for dessert? Don't look at me, this was a one time moment of crazy, but a tasty crazy.

Actually this came together easily and it had time to bake while I put the pork tenderloins on the grill, made dirty rice, and steamed some broccoli. Multitasking is the only way to get things done, especially on week nights.

This will probably be the dessert I take to our Thanksgiving feast.




Recipe found on recipezaar
Ingredients:

4 tablespoons sweet butter, very soft
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated (optional)
2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (If using frozen, thaw first)

Cake

* 12 tablespoons sweet butter, very soft
* 7/8 cup white sugar (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons)
* 1 large egg yolk
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 3/4 cups cake flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place 4 tablespoons of butter in a 9 inch cake pan. (The pan should have at least a 2 1/2 inch rim.) Place the pan in heated oven for 4 to 5 minutes until the butter is fully melted. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest (optional). Spread the sugar mixture evenly across the bottom of the cake pan. Spread out the cranberries in an even layer over the butter and sugar mix.
3. To make the cake, begin by using a wooden spoon to cream together the butter, sugar and egg yolk for about 30 seconds. Switching over to a whisk, stir in the eggs one at a time. Continue to whisk another minute until the sugar crystals dissolve. Whisk in the vanilla extract, salt and sour cream.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Whisk everything together until the batter is smooth and lump-free.
5. Pour the batter over the cranberries and bake for 50 to 65 minutes. When done, the center of the cake should be dry to the touch and spring back when lightly poked.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and set on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes (no longer as the bottom begins to set as it cools).
7. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Invert cake onto a serving plate and remove pan. Let it rest an additional 15 minutes before serving.
8. Best served warm.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake and my love for Nordic Ware

I love Nordic Ware. I have so many different Nordic Ware bundt pans and other shapes. I love all the different shapes. They have pans for ever season, every occasion. I have big bundt pans, baby bundt pans, Christmas pans, Snowman pan, and many other shapes. Hopefully there will be more pictues of these to come on my blog. Have I mentioned that I love them.

One of my favorite cakes to make in my bundt pan is a lemon sour cream pound cake. My family loves it, especially the lemony glaze I put over the cake.



Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake (baked in my chrysanthemum pan)

Ingredients

* 3 cups cake flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
* 3 cups sugar
* 6 eggs, room temp
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon rind
* 1 cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Grease 16-cup tube pan.
Dust with cake flour; tap out excess flour.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
Beat in lemon juice and peel.
Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients.
Mix in sour cream.
Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 90 minutes.
Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
Cut around cake in pan.
Turn out cake.
Carefully turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely.

The glaze is simple. Lemon juice and powdered sugar. I mix quite a bit and let it sit over night. Then I add a bit more before I serve it. It's delicious.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Aren't these super cute? And they are really easy which makes them even better. Just whip up your favorite sugar cookie dough, add food coloring, and you have a cute cookie. I made these for our church youth group meeting this month. They were a big hit with the teens and adults there.

Sugar Cookies

1 Cup Butter, Softened
¾ Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Milk or Cream
1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla
3 Cups of Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Add the egg, milk/cream, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix only until blended.

For basic sugar cookies:
Form into 2 balls and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I usually make my dough the night before and let it warm up at room temp for a bit.

Roll out flat, cut into desired shapes. Bake for 5-8 Minutes

For Candy Corn cookies:
Divide dough (I made two batches, one colored orange, the other batch divided with 3 oz melted chocolate chips added to make it brown) Line a loaf pan with wax paper and leave some wax paper hanging over the side of the pan. Layer the colors into the loaf pan. Put it in the refrigerator to firm. When firm, make slices and then cut them into triangles.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

First let me say, thank you to the bloggers who emailed me asking where I've been. It's nice to know someone missed me :) I started school and work at the same time after a couple of years of being a stay at home wife. It's been a transition for everyone. Plus for the last couple of weeks any of my extra time has been working on my grandmother's 80th birthday party. I hope to have pictures for the blog when it finally gets here.

Now on to the whoopie pies. I haven't had a lot of free time to cook, but I still find a little time to surf some of my favorite blog sites. When I saw the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling on Culinary Concoctions, I could not wait to make them.

It's homecoming at our church tomorrow and everyone will be bringing lots of cakes and pies. I wanted to make something a little different and this recipe fits the bill. I usually would not make a new recipe to take somewhere, but since this made little bites, I knew I could give it a taste before taking it to church. Now I just hope everyone else loves them as much as we do.

Quick and Easy: Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

I had to make pies the day after our vacation for a church dinner. We stopped at the grocery store before we even went home so I had to make something I knew the ingredients by heart. Cherry cream cheese pies filled the bill. A quick stop at the grocery store for cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, a few lemons, cherry pie fillings and graham cracker pie crusts is all that's needed. The pies turned out great and when the dinner was over, all that was left was the pie tins.

They may not be gourmet but they're mighty tasty.




1 9 inch graham cracker pie crust
1 8oz block of cream cheese
1 15 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 can cherry pie filling
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Whip room temperature cream cheese until fluffy and gradually add the condensed milk. While continuing to beat, add lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into prepared crust. After chilling for a couple of hours, garnish with cherries.

**I use the extra serving pie crusts and for two pie crusts, I mix 3 times the recipe so the crusts are completely full and thick. Plus sometimes I'm lucky enough to have some extra to eat out of a bowl.

We all scream for ICE CREAM! when it's homemade

One of summer's greatest pleasures is sitting under Grandma's carport listening to the whir of the ice cream freezers.



We usually make it a few times a summer, but so far this year we have only made it once. Our family is growing so it is becoming hard to find flavors everyone loves. This time we didn't succeed because one of the kids doesn't like any fruit ice cream, so he ended up with store bought. Oh well, more for me!

This time we made peach and banana. They were both wonderful, but the banana was my favorite.

This is the way our family makes ice cream. I have made a custard first, but this was is easy and delicious.

2 packages instant pudding (vanilla for fruit flavors)
1-2 can evaporated milk
1 quart half and half
mashed fruit (5-6 bananas, 10-12 peaches)
sugar to taste
milk to fill the freezer

A lot of the measurements will depend on what size freezer you are using. The banana we made in a one gallon freezer so we only used one can of evaporated milk. The peach was made in a six quart freezer so we used two cans of evaporated milk.

Follow the directions for your ice cream freezer. This also works well in the kitchen aid ice cream attachment but you just have to scale down the recipe.



There are no pictures of the finished product because once the tops were taken off, the bowls were filled and the ice cream disappeared. I'll try to do better if we get a chance to make some more before the summer is over.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

This weekend was Bible School at our church. I signed up to make cookies. The next question was then, what kind of cookies would go over well with the kids? Of course chocolate chip was the first to come to mind, but since I didn't know what everyone else was making, I figured there would some chocolate chip cookies made by someone else. (And there was) My next favorite cookie is peanut butter so those would be it. Of course I had to figure out a way to make plain old peanut butter cookies more fun. Thanks to a bag of hershey kisses, I knew peanut butter blossoms would be it.

Here is the recipe I used, it was on the back of a bag of unwrapped hershey kisses. Boy I'm glad I didn't have to unwrap all those kisses. I made a double batch of these cookies and they were almost all eaten. The kids and the adults seemed to love them.


Peanut Butter KISSed Peanut Blossoms
Ingredients:

* 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates filled with Peanut Butter
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Granulated sugar



Instructions:

1. Remove wrappers from peanut butter filled chocolates; place in freezer overnight.

2. Heat oven to 375°F. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 48 balls (about 1-inch each). Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 3 to 4 minutes. Press frozen peanut butter filled chocolate piece into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove cookies from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. 48 cookies.

Chocolate Velvet Cake with Butter Pecan Frosting

Yes it is as delicious as it sounds. It makes a great ending to a meal or heck around here, it could be the actual meal itself. This is my go to cake when I have to make something for a church dinner or holiday meal. Everyone loves it, plus it's a simple recipe. The recipe came from Southern Living, December 2003. I've been making it since I first got the recipe and it's still a family favorite.




Sadly I don't have a picture of the cake sliced because this one had to go to a church function.

For the layers:
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (16-ounce) package light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Melt semisweet chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes total time). Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer, beating about 5 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spoon cake batter evenly into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cakepans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack.

For the frosting:

Ingredients

2 cups chopped pecans
1/4 cup cup butter, melted
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 (16-ounce) packages powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Stir together chopped pecans and 1/4 cup melted butter. Spread in an even layer in a 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until pecans are toasted. Remove from oven, and let cool.

Beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in pecans and vanilla.

Is anything better than gooey chocolate brownies?

I'm not sure there is, especially if you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a big glass of milk. I love gooey brownies where some people prefer a more cake like brownie. This recipe makes a gooey brownie if you make sure not to over cook them.

Brownies:

1 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
6 T melted butter
3/4 cup self rising flour
3 T cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nut (pecans or walnuts)

Sift sugar, flour and cocoa together. Add eggs, butter, vanilla and mix with a spoon. Add chopped nuts. Pour into a greased 8x8 inch pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I always double the recipe because really, an 8x8 pan is never enough. If you double it, bake in a 9x13 and adjust your cooking time. But remember, don't over cook it because they are wonderful when gooey.

Rustic peach tart

Remember my love for peaches? I still had a few and wanted to make something else with them. I started to make a peach cobbler, but decided to make a peach tart instead. The recipe I used called it rustic because the pie crust didn't have to be perfect when you pulled the sides up. I call mine rustic because it made such a mess. The syrupy juice ran all over the place. I don't know if it's because I didn't use enough flour or if the peaches were just that juicy. It didn't matter. It was delicious. We were scooping up the syrup with our fingers once it cooled so it would not go to waste.

Ingredients

Parchment paper
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup peach preserves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 (15-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 tablespoon sugar


Preparation
1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper; coat parchment paper with cooking spray.

2. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peaches and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Unroll piecrust on prepared baking sheet. Roll into a 12-inch circle.

4. Drain peach mixture, reserving liquid. Toss peach in flour.

5. Mound peaches in center of piecrust, leaving a 3-inch border. Fold piecrust border up and over peaches, pleating as you go, leaving an opening about 5 inches wide in center.

6. Stir together egg and 1 Tbsp. water. Brush piecrust with egg mixture, and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. sugar.

7. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden. Carefully transfer tart on parchment paper to a wire rack; cool 20 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, bring reserved peach liquid to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boil 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Let cool slightly. Brush or drizzle 1 to 2 Tbsp. hot peach liquid over exposed fruit in center of tart. Serve immediately with remaining peach syrup.

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

This recipe comes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipes From New York's Sweetest Bakery . The Magnolia Bakery is famed for starting the cupcake craze and for appearing in Sex and the City.

These brownies are delicious, just like ever other Magnolia Bakery recipe I've tried. They were a good choice because my husband loves butterscotch better than chocolate. I made these treats with him in mind. Plus the recipe was easy. That makes them even better.



Makes 24 (3-inch) brownies

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
FOR THE BROWNIES:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 /2 teaspoon salt
2 cups butterscotch chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12x18-inch jellyroll pan.

TO PREPARE THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
In a medium-size bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and beat well. Add flour and beat until incorporated. Set aside.

TO PREPARE THE BROWNIES:
In a medium-size saucepan over low heat, melt butterscotch chips and the butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in brown sugar until well blended. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Beat eggs one at a time into the butterscotch mixture. Add vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients, beating until well combined. Stir in walnuts. Pour the batter into prepared pan.

Drop the cream cheese mixture by teaspoonsful over the batter. Using a small knife, swirl the cream cheese mixture by teaspoonsful over the batter. Using a small knife, swirl the cream cheese into the batter, forming a decorative pattern.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of pan comes out with moist crumbs attached. Do not overbake. Allow to cool to room temperature, or overnight, before cutting and serving.

Simple and Delicious: Banana Split Pie

Banana splits scream summer. This is another quick and easy recipe. For a crowd it is easier to make this pie than to have a banana split bar. It is much less mess and the addition of the graham cracker crust gives it another texture banana splits don't usually have.

Step 1: Pour chocolate sauce (I used hot fudge) in the bottom of a graham cracker crust and freeze.



Step 2: Slice bananas and sprinkle with lemon juice so they don't turn brown. Add bananas over chocolate sauce.


Step 3: Top with pineapple sauce and maple walnuts.



Step 4: Add ice cream. I used a 5 quart container of chocvanstraw (neopolitan) ice cream. I allowed the ice cream to get a bit soft, took it out of the container and sliced it off. It was just the right size to cover the toppings.



Step 5: Top with whipped topping and freeze.




Step 6: When you are ready to serve, allow it to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Slice and serve. You can add more chocolate sauce, walnuts, and maraschino cherries if you'd like. Caramel sauce would also be delicious.

This recipe idea came from the July/August 2008 Simple and Delicious magazine.

Cream Cheese Banana Muffins

Sometimes I'll buy bananas just to let them get soft and brown to make banana bread. If I haven't bought them specifically for banana bread but I have one or two get brown before I can use it, I'll put it in a freezer bag and pop it in the freezer. Then when I have four or five bananas in the bag, I'll make bread or muffins.

I found this recipe in Southern Living a couple of years ago and it's been my go to banana bread since then. The cream cheese keeps it moist and adds to the richness of the bread.



Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (1 1/4 pounds unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loafpans.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary. Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Cream Cheese-Banana-Nut Muffins: To bake muffins, spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Makes 24 muffins. Prep: 15 min., Bake: 25 min.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly Time.


Now that you hate me for putting that earworm up there, I'll tell you this entry is really about Martha Stewart's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. See, now you can't hate me because they sound too good. Right?

They really are scrumptious. It takes the childhood favorites of PB&J and turns it into dessert. The bars are rich, so cut them small. And have a glass of milk handy.



Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen.

* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
* 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
* 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped


Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I think I mentioned in a previous post how much I love strawberry season. The next couple of weeks you will see lots of evidence proving it. Today's installment is homemade strawberry ice cream.

I love my Kitchen Aid Ice Cream attachment. I always keep the bowl in the freezer so anytime I want to make homemade ice cream, I just have to decide what flavor and get my ingredients together. No need to worry about ice or getting the big ice cream freezer out for just my husband and me.

Ingredients:
3 cups half and half
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup strawberry puree
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar

Follow the directions on your ice cream freezer and enjoy.





I think next time I make chocolate covered strawberries, I'll chop up a couple and drop them in the strawberry ice cream.