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.

Celebrating my Blogiversary with Cheesecake Cakes!

3 years and 669 posts... Happy 3rd Blogiversary to me! :)

I can't believe that I have been blogging for 3 years! My blog has had ups and downs... sometimes I am posting daily, other times a week or two go by between posts. Regardless of how often I post I gotta say that I LOVE having this outlet. I still love trying new recipes and creating my own. I love cooking for my family and friends and I am happy to have this blog to share those recipes.

I decided to make these cheesecake cakes to celebrate. I had bookmarked THIS CAKE over a year ago and never made it. Then I bookmarked THIS CAKE back in March. Then, as if that wasn't enough, my best friend sent me the link to the chocolate/PB cake a few weeks ago. That sealed the deal... I was going to try my hand at a cheesecake cake!

There were two problems, though. I didn't want to make a huge cake and my husband and I couldn't agree on which one to make. My husband wanted the PB & Chocolate cake and I wanted to adapt a Lemon Blueberry Cake that I bookmarked into a cheesecake cake. The solution? Make minis and make both!

I am glad I made minis because I was able to make two different flavors. The lemon blueberry was AMAZING! I think that flavor combination works really well with the tanginess of the cheesecake. I put a thin layer of lemon curd in between the layers and loved the extra lemon flavor. The PB version was also great but I think the PB overshadowed the cheesecake. I think this one is definitely a cake that needs to be made full sized so there is a higher cheesecake to cake ratio. I am looking forward to trying it again one day!

Thanks for sticking around for 3 years and here's to another year of great recipes!!!

Inside of the lemon blueberry (this one wasn't frosted yet)

Inside of the PB/Chocolate

Recipe for the PB & Chocolate Cheesecake Cake can be found HERE.
Recipe for the Lemon Blueberry Cake can be found HERE. To adapt this cake into a cheesecake cake, omit the middle vanilla layer and subsitute the cheesecake from the PB cake. :)

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Can you really go wrong with a shortbread crust topped with a creamy lemon cheesecake layer? No, you can't! These bars are delicious and will be made again and again!

Enjoy!

Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Recipe from Baking and Boys!

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, cut into pieces
8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
2/3 cup fat free evaporated milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, salt and powdered sugar in bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse just until crumbly. Press onto bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan (ungreased).

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Place cream cheese, evaporated milk, granulated sugar, flour, lemon juice, zest and food coloring in a food processor an blend until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl, add eggs and blend again until combined and smooth. Pour into partially baked crust.

Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes (mine took 23) or until set. Cool in pan on wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate. Cut into bars.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Pumpkin cheesecake has been on my list for a while now. The problem is a cheesecake is huge and extremely tempting so I never got around to making it. Then my best friend, Monica, said that she wanted to make a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and asked if I would make one and post it for her prior to T-Day so she could make it. That was the push I needed to hurry and make one!

(Now, let me have a small pity party for a second and say that I wish that we were still in Germany so I could've just brought the cheesecake to Thanksgiving instead of Monica having to make her own!!!)

I started with Dorie Greenspan's basic cheesecake recipe and tweaked it to create an awesome dessert that will be the star of any sweets table. I absolutely LOVED this cheesecake and will be making it again. Lucky for my waist, my good friend Lesa (who I also met in Germany and is now in El Paso with me!) took 1/2 of it off my hands. :)

If you are looking for a fantastic pumpkin cheesecake recipe, this one is IT! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

For the crust:
1 3/4 cups gingersnap crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
4 (8oz) blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups heavy cream

Butter a 9-inch springform pan and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides.

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat the cream cheese at medium speed for 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and pumpkin and continue to beat another 4 minutes. Mix in salt and spices. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in a roaster pan.

Pour batter into springform pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to me! Let's celebrate with some cheesecake!

WOW! I can't believe that it has been 2 years since I started this blog! I originally started blogging per the request of a friend and to give me something to do while Nathan was deployed. I can't say that I ever saw myself stopping, but I never imagined that 2 years and 540+ posts later that I would still be doing this.

My blog has gone through highs in posting and lows in posting. I think that is true of most blogs. I try to maintain a steady stream of posts, but real life comes before blogging, so that doesn't always happen. Commenting has really fallen by the wayside lately and for that I apologize. I have been able to keep up with posting new recipes here for the most part but have had very limited time for commenting on other blogs. I do check out the posts in my reader and try to comment when I can, but that doesn't happen as much as I would like. So for those who take the time to comment here, please know I appreciate it! I know how time consuming it can become and I love reading whatever you have to say!

Thank you so much to all who have read, commented, and supported my blog over the last two years. I am so grateful for all of you and I hope you will continue to stop by!

To celebrate my blogiversary, I thought I would post my cheesecake recipe. I can't believe that after 2 years I have not posted this. It is probably one of my most requested desserts and I must say that it is fantastic. So rich, so creamy, so delicious!

Ultimate Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

5 TBSP butter, melted

Filling:

5 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 TBSP flour

1 TBSP vanilla

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

5 eggs

Preheat oven to 525.

Mix crust ingredients; press into 9" springform pan. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar through salt; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour filling over crust and bake at 525 for 7 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 and bake 40 minutes longer or until almost set. Remove from oven and cool to room temp.

Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Peanut Butter and Chocolate. You really can't beat that combination. Add cheesecake to the mix and I am in heaven. These brownies ROCK!

I have posted before about PB cheesecake brownies... the other had less cheesecake but with the addition of PB cups. Choose either one and you will be a happy camper!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Recipe found at Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

Brownie Layer
7-ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl
8-ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 whole, large egg

DIRECTIONS FOR THE BROWNIE LAYER:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil or parchment paper, making sure it goes up all four sides. Use two sheets if necessary. Mist with non-stick spray or grease lightly.

2. Stir chocolate and butter in medium saucepan over low heat until smooth; cool 10 minutes. Using electric mixer on low speed, or stir in with a wooden spoon – sugar, eggs, and vanilla into cooled chocolate mixture, until uniform. Stir/beat in flour, cocoa and salt. Spread half the batter in pan.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE SWIRL:
1. In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter, whole egg or egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. DO NOT OVER BEAT!

ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:
1. Drop large spoonfuls of the peanut butter cheesecake batter across the top of the first layer of brownie batter. Don’t swirl them together. Cover the peanut butter dollops with the remaing brownie batter and the remaining peanut butter cheesecake batter in dollops, then take a knife, spatula, spoon handle, or whatever you have on hand that can ’swirl’ well, and swirl the TOP layer of peanut butter cheesecake batter with the brownie mixture. Lift up some of the brownie batter to insure the brownie mixture swirls in as much as possible, since it can be little heavier than the peanut butter cheesecake batter, depending on whether you use a whole egg or just the yolk. As mentioned above, it’s ok if some of the first layer of both batters swirl also, just not too much.

2. Bake for 35-37 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan feels just set, or a skewer contains a few moist brownie crumbs sticking to it (you would stick the skewer in a chocolate area).

3. Let cool, then lift the brownies up and out using the foil or parchment paper and peel it away/off. Cut the brownies into equal squares.

Makes about 16 brownies, depending on how large or small you cut them.

Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites

I blogged about these Cheesecake Bites back in November 2008 after making the DB Cheesecake Pops. When I blogged about them before, I didn't have a picture and just wanted to get the recipe posted since a few people had requested it. I have a picture now (made them for a get together last week) and because they are SO good, I felt they deserved a re-blog!

I have been making these for years and they are one of my most requested desserts. They are a bit time consuming, but not so much so that you wouldn't want to make them. What I love about them is that each little bite is a perfectly creamy, delicious piece of cheesecake; graham cracker crust and all!

Definately a great treat and one that is sure to impress! Enjoy!

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.

SMS: Black Bottom Brownies

Mmmmmm.... Black Bottom Brownies. Fudgy, chocolatey brownie on bottom. Yummy, creamy cheesecake on top. Does life get better than this?

Thanks to Cynthia of Bakingtherapist for hosting this week. The recipe can be found at her blog.

SMS: Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake with Crumbly Cornmeal Crust

Mmmmm... cheesecake! I can't get enough of it. Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. I was excited to try this weeks recipe mostly because of the crust. I usually make a graham cracker crust for my cheesecakes and was interested in how a cornmeal crust would taste.

Surprisingly the crust was delicious. I really enjoyed it. The cheesecake itself was good, but not great. There wasn't anything that made it unique to me. Don't get me wrong... I enjoyed it. You'd be hard pressed to give me a cheesecake that I won't eat. I probably won't make this particular one again, but I will try the cornmeal crust again.

I quartered the recipe and made mini cheesecakes and they all sunk in the middle. I am not sure why they sunk so if anyone has any insight on how to make that not happen in the future, I'm all ears!

Thanks to Eliana of A Chica Bakes for hosting this week. The recipe can be found at her blog.

I also wanted to share a few pics from the ball Nathan and I went to Thursday night. We had so much fun! It was a blast getting all dressed up and dancing with my hubby! :)

Me and Nathan

The McGrewe's (Us and our best friends Monica and Travis)

Daring Baker Challenge - Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I had mixed feelings about a cheesecake challenge. I make cheesecake regularly, so it really wasn't daring for me. But, I LOVE cheesecake and any reason to make it is a good thing. The great thing about this challenge is that Jenny not only made creativity an option, she encouraged it. So, I put on my thinking cap and started getting excited about this challenge.

I have a go-to cheesecake recipe that I am absolutely in love with, so I knew that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to play around with the flavors. The problem with this is that I couldn't narrow it down. I ended up making mini cheesecakes in 10 different cheesecake variations. Yes, you read that correctly. TEN different cheesecakes. See what I mean... I just couldn't decide!




I made the following flavors:

Not pictured individually:

Plain
Plain with Strawberry Coulis
Lemon
Coconut
Caramel


Plain with Blueberry Coulis



Chocolate Covered (To include craters filled with chocolate)



White Chocolate & Raspberry



Nutella Swirl


Peanut Butter & Chocolate



They were all phenomenal, but my favorite had to be the Nutella swirl. Big shocker, right? Cristine likes Nutella. I know you just can't believe it. :) The white chocolate and raspberry one was pretty great, too. Ah... who am I kidding? There wasn't a bad cheesecake in the whole bunch!

My only problem with the recipe was my own fault. I tried making 36 mini cheesecakes in a two hour period while my son was napping and my daughter was at preschool. That meant rushed cooling time (aka pan straight to freezer from oven) since I only had one mini cheesecake pan. This caused some of the cheesecakes to fall in the center, but they still tasted great!

Thanks to Jenny for a great challenge! Head over to her blog for the recipe and check out the blogroll for some HIGHLY creative cheesecakes.

TWD: Tall & Creamy Cheesecake

THIS IS THE BEST CHEESECAKE EVER!!!!! Okay, I just had to get that out of my system! I have a cheesecake recipe that I have used for years that I absolutely love. It is a wonderful New York style cheesecake. And, while I think it is awesome, this cheesecake was just OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Dorie's cheesecake calls for heavy cream or sour cream to be added to the batter. I decided I wanted to make a holiday version, so I substituted eggnog for the cream. OH MY GOODNESS! I know, I know. A lot of caps in this post, but I can't stop singing the praises of this cheesecake. I can't wait to try different variations with this. Amazing... just absolutely amazing!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Anne of Anne Strawberry for chosing this week's recipe. Head over to her blog for the recipe (right now... what are you waiting for?). Definately check out the blogroll, too, because I'm sure there are fantastic cheesecake creations out there today!

Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites

I mentioned my Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites earlier in the week and a few people expressed interest in the recipe. Unfortunately I do not have a picture because, well, I never took pictures of my food prior to starting this blog! :) I wanted to post this recipe now so those who wanted to make them for the holidays could. Just picture in your mind tiny squares of cheesecake dipped in chocolate - almost like little cheesecake petit fours. YUM!!!

I do want to warn you, though. If you have no self control (like myself!), make sure you have someone to share these with. Trust me. If you don't, you will find yourself sneaking back to the fridge for more and next thing you know the whole batch will be gone. It will be worth it, but you may need to spend a little more time at the gym!

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.

Past Daring Baker Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

Looks like it's time for another past challenge. I am trying to finish all of them and this month I think I will be able to complete 3 of the past challenges, so that is great!

Chocolate covered cheesecake is not something I am unfamiliar with. I make chocolate covered cheesecake bites a couple times a year. My friend, Monica, brought them up the other day and I realized that it has been a while since I have made them. Then it hit me that Cheesecake Pops were a past challenge and I asked her if she minded if I tried a new recipe just so I could cross it off my list.

The recipe comes from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. It just so happens that my friend, Kristl, sent me that book for my birthday. (On a side note... great book... buy it!) I really enjoyed this recipe. The cheesecake was so delicious. Definately one of the better cheesecakes I have tasted. But, I did miss my cheesecake bites. I use a graham cracker crust on them, so each bite is like a little piece of cheesecake. I also have orange zest in my cheesecake and I found myself missing that flavor.

Nonetheless, this was an awesome recipe and they looked so adorable! I only wish I had cuter sticks for them!
Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

Chocolate (any kind) for dipping

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball.
Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.)

Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Long name for a dessert, right? But, my oh my.... SO DELICIOUS! This is very rich, so I don't suggest eating as large of a piece as pictured, although you could!

I found this recipe at an awesome blog, Bake or Break. I have had this in my file for a while and finally gave it a go today. What a treat! Of course, in my book you can't go wrong with cookie dough or cheesecake. I have a cookie dough cheesecake recipe that is wonderful and to find something similar in bar form was great!

On to what you come here for... the recipe! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Crust:

1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°. Butter a 9″-square baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to extend over the sides. Butter the parchment paper. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan and 1 inch up sides. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.

Cookie Dough:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer , mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

Filling:

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended.

Pour batter into baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling.
Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack.

For chocolate topping, melt 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of butter if necessary to make chocolate smooth. Drizzle over top of bars.

Cool bars in pan completely, about an hour. Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove bars from pan. Cut into bars and serve.

Day 16 - Recipes 24 & 25

I almost feel bad sharing these recipes with you today. They are THAT good. I am so full and yet I want to eat more. I must get this food out of my house ASAP.

For breakfast I made Pineapple Cream Muffins. I found the recipe at Bunny's Warm Oven. I made 24 mini-muffins and 6 jumbo muffins. I took the jumbo muffins to Monica's and I won't even tell you how many mini-muffins Anya and I ate. Okay... well I'll just say that there aren't many left! These were so good! Not overly sweet, yet sweet enough. I've never even considered having a pineapple muffin, but these were fantastic! They definately will be made over and over again in this house.

I also made Double Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies (Baking Blonde - THANK YOU!). Yeah, I know. The name itself is tasty! :) Now wait until you see the pictures. And then you MUST make them. NOW.... go out and buy the ingredients. That is an order! If you can't tell, I am in love with these brownies. I finished making them right before I was heading out to lunch with the McBride's and I wanted to taste one bite. That didn't happen. I am including the picture of what actually happened. I am using all the willpower in the world to stay out of the kitchen right now. Good thing I am stuffed from lunch or else the rest of these brownies would be devoured.

Pineapple Cream Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 (4 serving size) pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, with juice
1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin cups with cooking spray.In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pudding mix, and stir in brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the egg and sour cream. Fold in the pineapple and oil. Add the egg-pineapplemixture to the flour mixture, stirring until moistened. Batter will be thick.Bake @ 425 degrees for 15 minutes.Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator-they taste even better cold!
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Double Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

Recipe courtesy of Baking Blonde

3/4 cup butter, very soft (not melted but softer than room temp)
1 cup sugar
1 TBS vanilla extract
2 large eggs 1 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl:

4 oz cream cheese, softened 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

5-6 Reese’s peanut butter cups (regular size) cut into 6-8 pieces each

IMPORTANT: Do NOT omit the Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. They take these brownies over the top.

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8″ square pan with foil and lightly coat with PAM cooking spray.
In a microwave safe bowl melt the two baking chocolate squares in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval until smooth and melted after stirring. Do not scortch! Remove from microwave and allow to come to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, Beat together butter and sugar until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Add vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix to combine. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and wisk together. Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture. Do not overmix.

In separate mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, peanut butter sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg and beat until just combined.

Spread about 2/3 of chocolate brownie batter into prepared pan. Evenly drop 1/2 of cheesecake batter in dollups over brownie batter. Run a knife through both mixtures to slightly swirl.
Dollop remaining brownie batter and cheesecake batter over swirled mixture. Run knife through the browine and cheesecake dollups (not all the way through the already swirled layer) to create a swirled pattern.

Bake for 40-45 minutes**, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center has a few crumbs stuck to it. Do not overbake or they will harden, if underbaked they will be too gooey. Every oven is different so watch and check these after about 35-40 minutes of baking to ensure propper doneness.

**After about 35-40 minutes of baking (with about 5-7 minutes of baking time left, you just need to eyeball it) gently place cut up Reese’s cups over top of almost fully baked brownies. Finish baking until a toothpick inserted in the center has a few crumbs stuck to it. The Reese’s PB cups will melt but hold their shape slightly. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting and serving.