Happy Blogiversary, Shelby!

Today is one of my favorite blogger's blogiversary... Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch! She is celebrating 4 awesome years of blogging! Shelby was one of the first friends I made through my blog and she has always been an inspiration to me. There have been many times over the last few years where I wished I lived closer to her... I just know we would have so  much fun together!

In honor of her blogiversary I am sharing my recipe for chocolate covered cheesecake bites. They are teeny, amazing, and oh so delicious! I hope you'll make them and enjoy them!

Make sure to stop by Shelby's blog to wish her a happy blogiversary! Also, check out the links for those who have also posted in honor of her blogiversary!

Finally, Shelby is hosting a giveaway. Go to her post HERE to find out how to win a $50 gift card!

Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
16 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Coating:
24 oz semisweet chocolate
3 TBSP shortening

Line 8" square pan with foil; spray with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix well. Press into bottom of prepared pan.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour filling over crust.

Bake at 300 for 40-45 minutes or until edges are set. Center will be soft. Refrigerate 1 1/2 hours; then freeze for 2 hours. Cut into 48 pieces.

Melt chocolate and shortening. Cool for 2-3 minutes. Dip cheesecake bites; set on wax paper. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Store in refrigerator.

*Note: I find it easier to pull only a couple bites out of the freezer at a time while dipping. It makes dipping easier if they are still frozen.

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the $25 gift certificate to King Arthur Flour is comment #41- Erica! Congrats and I will be emailing you with the gift certificate today!

Thank you so much to all who commented! I appreciate each and every one of you!

My 500th Post!!!! Oh, and a giveaway, too!

Can you believe it? This is my 500th post! When I started this blog almost 2 years ago, it was with the hope that my family and close friends would read it. I NEVER imagined that complete strangers would not only read it, but comment on posts and ENJOY what I was writing/making.

Now here I am, 500 posts later, and still going strong. I absolutely love blogging... almost as much as I love making the food I blog! I plan on continuing for as long as I have readers... so please keep reading! :)

Thank you to all who stop by and take the time to enter my world. I appreciate every single comment and am so grateful for my all of you!

As a thank you, I would like to give a $25 gift certificate to King Arthur Flour to one lucky commenter! I love KA flour. Not only do they have food items for baking, they also carry gadgets and pans. (No, I am not getting anything from them for saying this... I just love them enough to say it on my own!)

You have 3 chances to enter:

#1- Leave a comment. Easy peasy, right? Make sure you enter your email address, though, so that I have a way to contact you if you win!

#2- Become a follower of my blog and leave a seperate comment. If you are already a follower, leave a comment letting me know!

#3- Blog about this giveaway or post on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did!

Please make sure that each entry has its own comment. If not, it won't be counted. :) The giveaway will end at 9pm EST on Sunday, June 6. I will announce the winner Monday morning.

And, just in case you would like the recipe for the delicious giant cookie you see above, here it is...

Enjoy!

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, divided

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugars; add vanilla and egg. Mix in flour and baking soda just until combined. Mix in 1 cup chocolate chips.

Press dough into 12" pizza pan (make sure it has a lip). Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips and press lightly into dough.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan.

SpinningLeaf Giveaway Winners

Thank you to all who entered. The winners are:

#14- Eliana
#1- Monica
#20- Valerie
#13- Maria
#26- Jennifer

I will email send all of you an email to get your shipping information and mold choice. Congratulations!

SpinningLeaf Giveaway

It's time again for another wonderful giveaway courtesy of SpinningLeaf! My love for SpinningLeaf and their cookie molds is no secret. I was so thrilled when they offered to provide molds for my giveaway last month and am even more thrilled that they have offered to do it again!


SpinningLeaf has the cutest selection of molds to make chocolate covered Oreos and chocolate covered Nutter Butters. They seem to have a mold for every occasion. I made a test batch of Easter Egg Oreos (pictured above) and am so excited to make more for Easter. Or what about the adorable green shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day? Perfection!

This giveaway is for one mold of your choice from SpinningLeaf. The best part is that there will be 5 winners! Five lucky winners will be able to pick their own mold and make super cute, delicious chocolate covered confections!

You can enter the giveaway up to 4 times (please leave a seperate comment for each entry). Here's how:

#1- Visit SpinningLeaf and leave a comment letting me know which mold is your favorite.
#2- Become a fan of Cooking with Cristine (link on sidebar).
#3- Become a fan of SpinningLeaf on Facebook.
#4-Tell others about the giveaway. You can blog it, facebook it, tweet it... Whichever you prefer!

Please make sure to leave a seperate comment for each entry. That is the only way it will be counted! :) Also, if you are already a fan of my blog or SpinningLeaf, thank you and please leave a comment stating so.

This giveaway will run until 10PM EST on Wednesday, March 17. The winners will be announced Thursday, March 18.

Thanks for entering and good luck!

Giveaway Winner

First off, thank you so much to all who entered the giveaway! These cookie molds are truly something I am a huge fan of and I wish I could give everyone a mold because I know you would love them! Make sure to stop by SpinningLeaf and order a few!

Also, a HUGE thank you to the folks at SpinningLeaf who donated the molds for this giveaway. As always, I am impressed with your customer service and very thankful for your help with this giveaway!

Now, the for the winner! With the help of random.org, the winner is comment #52 from Cari, Abe, and Paige. Congratulations!!!

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 70
Result:
52
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Chocolate Covered Oreos and a GIVEAWAY!!!

I have mentioned before my love for the company Spinning Leaf and their cookie molds. I ordered my first cookie molds from them about 3 years ago and fell in love with the ease of making GORGEOUS chocolate covered Oreos. Then they came out with Nutter Butter molds and I fell in love with the ease of making chocolate covered Nutter Butters.

I recently placed an order for the Valentine's molds and they were a hit at Anya's school party. With that order, I also purchased the Easter egg mold so I would make sure I have it early. I can't wait to decorate those eggs... I think they will be ADORABLE!

One of the best things about this company is not just their molds but their customer service. I have never had a problem with them and whenever I have emailed, I have received a response within 24 hours, usually sooner. Also, along with every order they send a free sample mold! How cool is that?

I have been planning on hosting this giveaway for a few weeks now and it occured to me two days ago to let the folks at Spinning Leaf know about it. I had no intention of anything coming from it other than to tell them that I was a satisfied customer and that I wanted to spread the word about the cookie molds. I recieved an email back stating that not only were they happy that I was doing this giveaway but that they would like to donate FIVE molds for it! I was floored and extremely excited!

This giveaway is for 5 cookie molds of your choice from Spinning Leaf. Once the winner is announced, I will send over the shipping information and mold choices to them and they will ship them out to you!

You have the ability to enter this giveaway up to 3 times. Here's how:

Entry #1 - Visit Spinning Leaf and leave a comment here telling me which mold is your number one choice.

Entry #2 - Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know you are following. (Link on sidebar) If you are already a follower, please leave a comment stating so.

Entry #3 - Become a fan of Spinning Leaf on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know.

Please leave a seperate comment for each entry. I understand that this can be a pain, but it will help me when it comes time to count each entry. :)

The giveaway will run from today through 10 PM EST on Monday, February 15. The winner (chosen at random from random.org) will be announced Tuesday, February 16.

Giveaway Winner

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the Tastebook giveaway. The winner is Tina who said "Sounds like fun! Hope to make one even if I don't win. Love the blog and have used several of the recipes in our house." Tina, I hope you have fun creating your Tastebook! I just need your email address so that I can get your gift certificate sent.

Thanks again for everyone who entered and thanks for all the wonderful support!

Happy Blogiversary to me and a GIVEAWAY for you!

WOW! It has been one year since I started this blog. I can't believe it! I started blogging with the gentle nudging of my friend, Monica. She had suggested it a few times, but I kind of shrugged it off. Then after being sucked into the world of following food blogs, I decided to start one of my own.

It all started with a cooking challenge. I challenged myself to make at least one new recipe per day for an entire month. I ended up making 56 new recipes that month! 56!!!! It was so much fun finally pushing myself to make new things. I have always tried new recipes, but this challenge gave me the chance to chisel away a bit at my "to try" file.

Another wonderful part of blogging has come from the great groups that I am a part of - The Daring Bakers, Tuesdays with Dorie, Cookie Carnival, Cheese of the Month, and Sweet Melissa Sundays. Believe it or not, I will also be joining fellow bloggers in a cupcake baking group! I enjoy being told what to make and discovering new favorites and/or techniques. Plus, I am never short on desserts! :)

I wanted to post about my favorite recipes from the past year, but the problem is that I have too many. I couldn't even begin to narrow it down if I tried. I hope that you have all enjoyed my recipes as much as I have. It always makes my day when I read that someone has tried something I posted about.

Throughout the last year I have enjoyed being a part of this blogging community. I appreciate all the people who stop by and comment on my blog. I am so grateful to everyone who reads my posts. I am looking forward to starting another year and sharing more recipes!

To celebrate one year of blogging, I am going to give away one of my favorite things. Have you heard of Tastebook? It is a fantastic website that allows you to purchase pre-made cookbooks or create your own. My friend, Erica, told me about these earlier in the year. I have made one already and have two more in the works. They are wonderful books and look great! Each book can hold up to 100 recipes and if you don't fill up the book at the time of purchase, you can add more later. Easy, convenient, and super cool!

One lucky person will win their very own Tastebook (25 recipes; shipping not included)! All you have to do is leave a comment here by midnight EST on Sunday, August 2nd. I will announce the winner on Monday, August 3rd.

Good luck and thanks again for making this past year awesome!