Cherry Cheesecake

We made my mom this cheesecake for her birthday. It turned out really well. The cheesecake itself isn't extremely sweet so it is great with the cherry pie filling on top. Really, you could put whatever you wanted on the top (caramel suace, another type of fruit, chocolate, etc.). This recipe is from the Favorites cookbook.

Crust:
6 tablespoons butter, melted
26 graham crackers, crushed (1 graham cracker = half a sheet)
6 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together and press into 9" springform pan. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Let cool.

Center layer:
4 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sugar
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat until smooth and pour over crust. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350, then let cool for 30 minutes.

Top layer:
3 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blend together and pour over cooled cake. Bake at 475 for 5 minutes. Cool for 1/2 hour then place in fridge until ready to serve. Best if made the day before serving. Top with fresh fruit or pie fillings.

Bonnie's Blueberry Muffins

My mom gave me some jumbo muffin tins for my birthday (I have been wanting some for a long time). She also gave me some blueberries and blueberry muffin recipes. The one we tried was fantastic. These muffins were even better than the Costco ones. This is my new favorite blueberry recipe. It was perfect for cooking with children too.

2 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen berries, rinse and pat dry before adding to batter)
Additional melted butter
Additional sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Blend in milk, butter, nutmeg and vanilla; pour into dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened. Fold in blueberries (I always coat my berries in a little flour first so they don't sink to the bottom of the muffins). Fill greased jumbo muffin tins. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Makes 6 jumbo muffins.

Marshmallow Fudge

My sister-in-law Dantzel made this and I fell in love with it! I'm not usually even a fudge person, but this stuff is to die for. The leftovers freeze really well and taste great right out of the freezer.

3 cups sugar
2/3 cups evaporated milk
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
1 (4.25 oz) large candy bar or 1 (12oz) package chocolate chips (our personal favorites are cookies 'n cream bars or Symphony tofee bars)
1-1/2 cups marshmallow creme
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, and butter in a large heavy saucepan; heat to boiling. Stir constantly about 5 minutes over medium heat or until mixture reaches soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients; stir vigorously until well blended. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Cool; cut into squares.

Makes about 3 pound of fudge.

Thai Chicken Pizza

My mother-in-law made this recipe when we visited in December. She got the recipe from Heidi of Tasty Sensations (Ricky's cousin). We loved it and made it with a few adjustments when we got home. We are hoping to try it using grilled pizza dough one of these days.

4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons vegetable broth
3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar (garlic kind)
2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
3-3/4 teaspoons sesame chili oil
1/5 inch piece ginger, minced
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1-1/2 tablespoons green onions
1-1/2 cups shredded chicken
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
pizza crust

Mix all ingredients from peanut butter until sesame chili oil in the blender (or magic bullet). Puree until smooth. Pour sauce over uncooked pizza crust. Sprinkle chicken over sauce. Sprinkle cheese over chicken. Sprinkle onions, carrot, and cilantro over cheese and bake according to pizza dough instructions. (The sauce is enough to cover 1/2-cookie sheet of dough with lots of sauce or a whole cookie sheet with less sauce).

Cranberry Brie en Croute

This appetizer is so delicious. We served it on Christmas Eve.

1/2 package Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

1/2 cup apricot preserves

1/3 cup dried cranberries, softened (Mix dried cranberries and 1/2 cup hot water in bowl. Let stand 1 minute. Drain and pat dry.)

1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

1 (13.2-oz) round brie cheese

crackers

Let pastry sheet thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Mix egg and water. Unfold pastry sheet on lightly floured surface. Roll into 14-inch square. Cut off corners to make a circle. Spread apricot preserves to within 1-inch of pastry edge. Sprinkle cranberries and almonds over preserves. Top with cheese. Brush edge of circle with egg mixture. Fold two opposite sides over cheese. Trim remaining two sides to within 2-inches from edge of cheese. Fold these two sides onto the round. Press edges to seal. Place seam down on baking sheet. Decorate top with pastry scraps if desired. Brush with egg mixture. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. Let stand 1 hour. Serve with crackers.

Santa Surprise Cookies

These are the cookies my boys made for Santa this year. I always liked this recipe during high school, but haven't had these cookies since then. Luckily Ricky's Aunt Rosalie had the recipe in the family cook book. I used a much larger dough to snickers ratio than you would normally use so that my little boys could easily cover the candy.

1 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter (we used crunchy)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package mini Snickers (we just saved our's from Halloween)
chocolate for melting

Combine butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium to low speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add eggs and vanilla until mixed. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. Unwrap snickers. Make balls of dough; push your finger in the middle to make a place for the Snickers. Then rolls the dough around the candy. Place on greased cookie sheet and cook 10-12 minutes at 325. Drizzle with melted chocolate on the top.

I'm sure Santa will be happy to stop and have a treat at our house :)

Chip 'N' Oat Bars

I'm embarrassed to say these were so good Ricky and I ate the whole pan almost entirely by ourselves (E and F had 2 bars each). We used chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, but if you don't eat chocolate you could just double the amount of butterscotch chips and omit the milk chocolate and it would still be yummy.

1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass baking dish).
2. Combine flour, oats, sugar and butter; mix well.
3. Reserve 1/2 cup oat mixture, press remainder on bottom of 9x13-inch baking pan.
4. Bake 10 minutes.
5. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust.
6. Sprinkle with chips. Top with remaining oat mixture; press down firmly.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
8. Cool. Cut into bars.