Pumpkin Roll Bars

 

I love pumpkin!  I am not sure why I wait until the fall to make yummy pumpkin desserts.  I should be making them all year round.  I got the recipe from the Six Sisters.  I love their stuff and I recently got to see two of the sisters when I was in Vegas.  Plus I got a signed copy of their newest cook book.  I was a very happy camper.  These babies turned out so good and they are so easy to make.

All you pumpkin lovers out there: Ready, Set, Go get baking!

I did forget to swirl the cream cheese with the pumpkin but they still tasted really good!

Pumpkin Roll Bars
adapted from Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients:

Cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
1/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and water until well blended.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin/butter mixture and combine until well blended. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

 

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the pumpkin batter. Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese batter and spread out as evenly as possible.  Use a table knife to swirl together the cream cheese and top layer of pumpkin batter.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the pumpkin batter springs back when touched. Cool completely in pan, then cut into bars.

*Serve room temperature or cold.  Refrigerate the leftovers.

Banana Cake made Light

Have I mentioned my love of banana's lately?  I haven't.  Shame on me.  I <3 banana's!  I found this recipe on my Taste of Home app.  Have I mentioned my love of my iPhone?  Love it!  I made this cake several months ago but I have some banana's on my counter just begging to be made into this cake or maybe bread.  I haven't decided yet.







Banana Cake made Light
from Taste of Home

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3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt

For Frosting:
1 package reduced fat cream cheese
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the bananas, applesauce and vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture just until blended.

Transfer to a 9x13 baking pan coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack.

For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.  Frost bars.  Refrigerate leftovers.

I'm Back with Strawberry Shortcake Cake

I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the planet I just took a break.  For awhile I wasn't feeling very good but now I'm feeling so much better.  Once they figured out some of my health issues I felt like a brand new girl!  Which is a good thing.

I wanted to share some of the amazing, wonderful things going on in my life.  First off I went to Anaheim, California for a library conference.  It was such an amazing experience.  My friend Jessica and her mom Joy got to meet me there.  We had a great time getting to go to Disney Land and California Adventure.  At my conference I got to meet so many wonderful authors like Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha Van Leer.  Chris Colfer from Glee was there.  I love him.  I just got so inspired by all the programs I went to and the other librarians I talked to.

Jessica and I with the Goofy Statue at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel

Me with Stich (He was very mischievous)

I also became a new mommy to Sadie Deville.  I forgot what it is like to have a kitten.  She is so loving and playful.  My hands and arms are all scratched up but its worth it.  My other babies are slowly starting to like her.  Her and Sage are bonding.  I found them today in the laundry basket together.  Of course they were on top of my clean clothes, but that's what I get for leaving them out.

Sadie says Hi

Today I got a promotion at work.  I am now the Hobart Township Manager.  I am really going to miss working with Carol on a day to day basis but life changes and you have to change with it.  She is off to Central and they are lucky to get her.  I am very happy to stay at Hobart.

A Vision in Red

On to the food.  This Strawberry Shortcake Cake is so good.  It would be great to take to a summer party, just don't leave it outside.  It does better keeping it in a cooler environment.  Everyone who eats this will be really impressed and will think you slaved away over it in reality it's super simple.



Strawberry Shortcake Cake
as found on The Country Cook

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1 box white cake mix prepared according to the directions on the box in a 9x13 pan, cooled
1 (8 oz.) package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip
1 (13.5 oz.) container strawberry glaze
3 cups fresh strawberries cut into bite size pieces

In a mixing bowl mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Mix in Cool Whip.  Spread over the cooled cake.  In another bowl mix together the strawberries and glaze.  Spread it over the Cool Whip mixture.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cake Batter Cheesecakes made Light

For my book discussion last week I made these and mini cinnamon rolls. I wanted to make them less fattening so I tweaked the recipe a little bit. I think they turned out pretty good.

Cake Batter Cheesecakes
adapted from Cassie Craves

24 servings, 3 WW points with Oreo crusts
2 WW points without Oreo crusts

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24 Reduced Fat Oreos, optional
16 ounces Fat Free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Fat Free sour cream
2/3 cup Sugar Free yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Prepare cupcake pans with paper liners. Place a whole Oreo in each cupcake liner if you are using the Oreos. In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese for 3 minutes on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugar and mix for 2 more minutes. Add in the vanilla and mix. Slowly pour in the lightly beaten eggs on medium low speed and mix to combine. Add in the sour cream and mix on medium low speed. Be careful not to over mix the cheesecake batter. Sift the cake mix over the bowl with the cheesecake batter to remove any lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons sprinkles. Fold in gently.

Using a cookie dough scooper or a 1/4 measuring cup, place cheesecake batter on top of each Oreo, if using. Bake the cheesecakes at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. Once they’re done baking, chill them in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

New York Style Cheesecake Mousse

The library recognition dinner was this past Friday and whoever wanted to bring a dessert could. Of course I jumped at the chance to make dessert. After talking it over with my co-workers they thought I should make cheesecake. But I wanted to try something new and when I saw this recipe in the January 2012 Taste of Home magazine I knew I needed to try it. I'm sure the library people are glad they are my guinea pigs. These babies turned out fantastic. I wanted to find clear plastic shot glasses to serve it in but I couldn't find any. I thought it would be really pretty but since I couldn't find what I wanted I used cupcake liners. I quadrupled the recipe since I was taking it to a rather large party. But I shouldn't have quadrupled the crust part because I have a ton of that left. I should have been able to make 48 but I was only able to make 38. The recipe below is for 12 servings.


New York Style Cheesecake Mousse
from the January 2012 Taste of Home magazine

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1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tsp. sugar
2 T butter, melted
Sliced fresh or thawed frozen strawberries, optional

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and lemon peel until fluffy. Fold in the whipped cream. Divide among 12 dessert dishes or cupcake liners. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Meanwhile, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl until combined. Press to a 1/4 in. thickness on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely. To make these look pretty I put the mousse in a pastry bag with a star tip and piped it into the cupcake liners. Then I sprinkled them with the graham cracker crust and placed half a sliced strawberry on top.

Strawberries and Cream Mini Pies

I have been dreaming these up for awhile. I was inspired by a strawberry pie I saw on Our Best Bites website but these babies are very different. These babies are oh so good. I thought my co-workers were going to fight over these and they didn't last long. These were very easy to make.

Strawberries and Cream Mini Pies
a Lacey original

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2 ready to use refrigerated pie crusts (This time I only used 1 because I was experimenting but the filling should be enough for all two)
flour for dusting
1 cup mashed strawberries
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 8 oz Cool Whip

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Lightly dust your work space with flour and roll out one of the pie crusts. Using a rolling pin flatten out the pie crust to thin it out a bit more. Using a round cookie cutter cut out as many rounds as you can. Place each round into a well of a mini muffin pan. Take the scraps and re-roll out until the pie dough is gone. I was able to get 23 rounds from one pie crust so you should get 46 from 2. Lightly pierce the bottom of each round of dough with a fork to keep the dough from puffing up when baking. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan combine the sugar and cornstarch. Add the strawberries and water. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Cook for three minutes or until it thickens. I didn't time it but it didn't take long for the mixture to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool.

While that is cooling in a mixing bowl using a mixer beat together the cream cheese and sugar. Once combined fold in the cool whip.

To assemble: Fill each pie shell with strawberry filling. Top off with a dollop of whipped topping. If you want the pretty swirl like the picture I used a piping bag with a star tip.

I'm thinking little French silk pies next. Yum, yum.

Cherry Pretzel Cheesecake

One of the foods I look forward to the most in the summer at parties is strawberry pretzel jello salad. Most of the time someone has made it and I gladly eat it. It's so yummy but I have a fear of making it. What if the jello doesn't set up right? I have anxiety just thinking about it. For my book discussion this month I came very close to making it but I chickened out. I found the strawberry pretzel jello salad recipe on Betty Crockers website. When I decided I wasn't going to make it I looked on that website for something else to make and found a recipe with the name of strawberry delight something. It was basically the same as the strawberry pretzel jello salad but instead of a jello topping you used strawberry pie filling. I had cherry pie filling on hand so that is what I used. I sorta of meshed the two recipes together. I liked the pretzel crust recipe better from the delight recipe and the cheesecake mixture better from the pretzel salad. This dessert is awesome. If you like the salty sweet combo this is for you. The pretzels just give it a great taste and it's not too sweet. I will be making this again probably with a few tweaks so I can have it on WW.

Cherry Pretzel Cheesecake
adapted from www.bettycrocker.com

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2 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 8oz package reduced fat cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 8oz tub Cool Whip
1 can cherry pie filling

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees.

Combine pretzels, butter, and sugar. Spread mixture evenly into a non greased 9X13 cake pan and press with hands for form a crust. Bake for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled crust. Open the can of cherry pie filling and evenly spread over the cream cheese mixture. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.



Sage says hi.

Cheese Ball

I love cheese ball. I love this cheese ball. I'm not sure where the recipe originated from I just know that my mom made it all the time for parties. She would put green onion in it and roll it in nuts but I prefer it plain. Serve with Ritz crackers and enjoy.

Cheese Ball

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2 blocks of cream cheese, softened (using fat free would be fine)
2 packages of Budding Beef, cut into small pieces
1/2 to 1 tablespoon garlic powder

In a bowl mix together the cream cheese, Budding beef, and garlic powder. Start with 1/2 tablespoon garlic and add more if it needs it. Once mixed together shape into a ball and place on a pretty plate. Serve with crackers.

If you need to make a really big cheese ball just double the recipe.

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecakes

For my friend Kris's wedding I'm going to be making cheesecakes. So a week or so ago I decided to try out a couple different recipes. The cheesecake with the strawberry on it is white chocolate strawberry but I wasn't happy with the end result and won't be posting a recipe until I have perfected it. It tasted good, it just wasn't what I had imagined. But the cookie dough ones were awesome. So so so so sooooooooo goooooood!!!!! These babies are sinful good.




Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecakes
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

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For the Crust:

2 sleeves cinnamon graham crackers, finely crushed
1/2 stick of butter, melted

For the Filling:

4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
4 eggs

For the Cookie Dough:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup caramel topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoon water or milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini chocolate chips

For the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, combine the butter, caramel, and sugars for the cookie dough. Add the water (or milk), vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and 1 cup chocolate chips. The dough will be fairly soft. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and place them on a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet. Place them in the freezer to harden while making the rest of the cheesecake.

Prepare the crust by mixing the graham crackers and the butter in a bowl. On a cookie sheet place 18 to 20 jumbo foil cupcake liners. Place about two tablespoons of crust mix in each cup and press down over the bottom and a little bit up the sides. Set aside.

For the filling:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and flour; mix well. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.

Take out the cookie dough balls and get ready to assemble the cheesecakes. Place a couple tablespoons of cheesecake batter into each foil cup. Place two cookie dough balls on top of the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of mini chips evenly between the foil cups . Fill each cup almost to the top with remaining cheesecake batter. Break up the remaining cookie dough balls into small pieces and evenly distribute between the cheesecakes.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the centers are almost set. Let cool and drizzle with caramel and melted chocolate.

Sit back with one of these babies and a tall glass of milk and enjoy every sinful, delicious bite.


This is what the inside of the cheesecake looks like. These are making me drool.

Muffin Tops-Two Ways

I bought myself muffin top pans probably about a year ago and had never used them. I love buying new stuff for my kitchen I just don't always use the stuff right away. For my book discussion last week at the library I knew I wanted to make muffin tops. Since I like variety I made blueberry and pumpkin. They were a huge hit. More so than the book we discussed.







Blueberry Muffin Tops
taken from Pillsbury.com

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1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated sugar cookies
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
2 to 3 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries

Let cookie dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. If using muffin top pans spray them with cooking spray. If using cookie sheets line two with cooking parchment paper. In small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of the flour, sugar and butter with fork until crumbly; set aside to use topping. In another small bowl, mix remaining 1 cup flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.

In medium bowl, beat dough and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. On low speed, beat in egg, milk, lemon peel and lemon juice until well blended. Stir in flour mixture just until combined (do not overmix; mixture will be a thick batter). Carefully fold in blueberries. (If using thawed berries, rinse and pat dry with paper towel before adding).

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the batter into each muffin top. I had two pans that equaled twelve muffin tops. If you are using cookie sheets drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls 1 to 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets, using a rubber spatula to scrape batter from tablespoon. Bake 3 minutes; remove from oven. Sprinkle each muffin top with about 1 teaspoon crumb topping; immediately return to oven.

Bake 16 to 20 minutes longer or just until edges begin to brown. Cool on cookie sheets or muffing top pans 2-3 minutes before removing to cooling racks. Serve warm or cool.

Pumpkin Muffin Tops
adapted from the 2011 Taste of Home Quick Cooking cookbook

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2 cups self rising flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
2 cups canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
1 cup vegetable oil

As a substitute for each cup of self rising flour, place 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a measuring cup. Add all purpose flour to measure 1 cup.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
2 dashes of cinnamon

For the muffins in a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk the egg, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spray the muffin top pans with cooking spray. Using a 1/4 measuring cup fill each muffin well with batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yields about 1 1/2 dozen.

For the icing beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the vanilla. Beat in the powdered sugar in increments until fully incorporated. Add the cinnamon. Spread the icing on the muffins. Store in the fridge.

Hockey Pucks-I wasn't sure what else to call them!

Hockey pucks have never tasted so good. These actually really remind me of Ding Dongs. Red velvet Ding Dongs but Ding Dongs nonetheless. I was inspired to make these after having something similar on my birthday. You may remember the little white thingies my cousin brought me from Bloomington. My version are a little bigger but oh so tasty. I made these for Joyce's birthday. She loves red velvet so I knew she would like them. And she did and so did everyone else. Will even liked them before I dipped them in chocolate. These were fairly easy to make. Which is my kind of recipe. You could easily make homemade red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting if you wanted to. I say why bother but that's just me.



Hockey Pucks

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1 box red velvet cake mix, prepared according to the directions on the box
1 can cream cheese icing
1 bag white chocolate melts
2 bags milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoon oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Measure out a piece of parchment paper that will fit the cookie sheet and place the paper on the cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Prepare the red velvet mix according to the directions on the box. Spread the batter onto the cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cook completely.

Once cooled using a round cookie cutter cut out as many rounds as you can. They will peel off the parchment paper easily. Set the scraps aside to eat or you can make cake balls with the leftovers. Cut each cake round in half lengthwise. Spread the cream cheese icing or using a piping bag pipe the icing onto one half of the round and place the other half on top. Like the picture below.

Place the icing filled round on a clean cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet in the freezer to freeze for 15 to 30 minutes.

In a microwave safe bowl melt the white chocolate melts until smooth in 30 second intervals. Once the chocolate is melted take out the cookie sheet and start dipping the rounds one at a time in the chocolate. Cake crumbs will get into the chocolate but I think it gave the finished products character. I think I was able to dip seven of the rounds before running out of white chocolate. If you want all the cakes dipped in white chocolate make sure to purchase a couple more bags and repeat the process.

For the milk chocolate place one bag of chips in a microwave safe bowl with one tablespoon oil. Microwave in 30 second intervals until the chips are meted and smooth. Dip as many rounds as you can until the chocolate runs out. Repeat the above with the second bag of chips to finish dipping the rounds. I didn't have enough chocolate to finish dipping my cakes but Will didn't seem to mind and ate the uncovered ones with now problem.

Next time I want to try chocolate cake with marshmallow icing to be more like a Ding Dong.

Chicken Capri Pasta

I found this recipe in the latest Kraft Foods magazine but you can find the recipe online as well. This recipe calls for the new Philadelphia cooking cremes. I thought it was pretty tasty but needed more sauce. Next time I will use two cooking cremes or add another block of cream cheese. Will didn't care for this meal but with more sauce I think it would have been really good.


Chicken Capri Pasta
adapted from Kraft Foods

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5 one cup servings, 5 WW points per serving w/o pasta
Pasta is 5 WW points per cup

2 chicken breasts, thawed and cut into strips
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 tub Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Creme (I would add another tub)
Cooked angel hair pasta (make how much you want to eat per serving)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

In a skillet lightly coated with cooking spray or olive oil cook the chicken until cooked through. Add the broccoli and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes or until broccoli is hot. Add the tub of cooking creme and cook for a few more minutes or until it is nice and hot. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Meatballs

This picture looks messy but meatball sandwiches are messy so I think it's alright. I was inspired to make these from a Taste Of Home Comfort Foods cookbook. The same cookbook I got the wonderful Vegetable Chicken Soup recipe out of. The original recipe calls for beef and for the sandwiches to be open face but I used turkey and as you can see closed the sandwiches. I thought they turned out really good. Will said they were pretty good so that is his stamp of approval. I think I will try these with lean ground beef next time but this time I had ground turkey unthawed.

Meatballs
adapted from a Taste of Home cookbook

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Makes 32 meatballs, 1 WW point per meatball with sauce
Points very for what type of bread and cheese you use for the sandwich

1 package ground turkey, about 1 lb.
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 egg white
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 small onion chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Cheese of choice, I used reduced fat Provolone which equals 1 WW point per slice
Bread of choice, I used ciabatta bread which is about 6 WW points per bun

In a bowl combine the first seven ingredients until fully incorporated. Roll into balls. I used my smallest cookie scoop to try and keep them uniformed and was able to make 32 meatballs. Spray a skillet with cooking spray or lightly coat with olive oil. Brown the meatballs in batches. Once browned place all the meatballs back in the pan and add the jar of spaghetti sauce. Cover the pan and let simmer for 10 to 20 minutes or until the meatballs are completely cooked through. I let them simmer for over 30 minutes. I turned the burner down to low and let them simmer away while I worked on other things. To make a sandwich take the bread and place a slice of cheese on one half of the bread. Place as many meatballs as you want on the cheese and top with the other half of the bread. Place in the microwave and heat for about a minute to allow the the cheese to melt. Enjoy!

These meatballs would be good in pasta too.

Banana Sour Cream Cake

Okay so you are probably wondering what is that white thing. This white thing is a banana sour cream cake. I tried a slice but didn't get a picture of it. I love banana's and any dessert that features banana's. Banana bread, banana nut muffins, banana cake, pie, I think you get my point. But I think banana cake is my favorite. This cake only has five ingredients if you don't count the frosting. Next time I will up how many banana's I use. The recipe calls for 1 cup and two banana's made one cup but I think it needs three banana's. I'll also put the walnuts it calls for around the sides of the cake next time because I think that would make this cake over the top.

Banana Sour Cream Cake
adapted from Food & Family's Winter 2008 magazine

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1 pkg. yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup oil
2 cans cream cheese frosting or *1 recipe homemade cream cheese frosting
1 cup walnuts finely chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream, and oil with mixer on low until moistened, scraping the bottom of the bowl often. Pour batter into greased and floured 9X13 pan. Bake 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan. Remove cake from pan. Carefully cut cake crosswise in half using serrated knife. Place one cake half, top-side down, on plate. Spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top side up. Frost top and sides. Press nuts onto sides.

Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium until blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.

Mini Reese's Cheesecakes

I checked out a cookbook from the library by Pillsbury called Easy As Pie. The one recipe I flipped to right away was called Candy Bar Pie and oh did it look good. I had most of the ingredients I needed except the candy bars and with the big storm that hit running to the grocery store was out of the question. So I improvised. And I made them mini. I really like the hold in your hand small bite desserts. I can have one or two without feeling totally guilty.

These have a mild peanut butter flavor and I really liked the crust. The crust needed to be thinned out a bit but other than that I thought they were tasty. I want to make this using the Snickers candy bars instead because I think they would be really good.

Mini Reese's Cheesecakes
adapted from Pillsbury's Easy As Pie Cookbook

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1 package of 2 refrigerated pie crusts
2 8 0z. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 creamy peanut butter
12 mini Reese's cups, the new ones sold in a bag
1/4 cup Reese's peanut butter chips

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

Lightly flour your work surface and place the pie crusts on top. Using a rolling pin thin out each pie crust. I left my rolling pin at the library so I used a cup but it didn't work so well and my crusts were a little to thick. Using a round cookie cutter cut out as many rounds as you can. Re-roll the scraps and cut some more until you have 24. Shape the rounds into the mini muffin pans. Place a mini peanut butter cup in 12 of the holes and in the other 12 place a few of the peanut butter chips. You can use all peanut butter cups but I wanted to make some without chocolate.

In a mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add each egg one at at time until well blended. Add sour cream and peanut butter beating until mixture is smooth. Using a small scoop or spoon fill each muffin cup with the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes.


I had left over batter so I took two ramekins and sprayed them with cooking spray. I filled each 1/2 full with the batter. I added some peanut butter cups and filled them up the rest of the way with the rest of the batter. I baked them for 30 minutes.

Cookies, Cookies, and Cookies

While I was enjoying the warm weather in Arizona I also did a lot of baking. Along with making the pumpkin roll cookies I made butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, cream cheese spritz cookies, and Mexican wedding cookies or I know them as Snowballs. Mexican wedding cookies are Jessica's favorite. She also loves butterscotch.

I remember one time in high school we had a blizzard that knocked out some houses power. Jessica's house was one of them so her dad brought her over to stay with my mom and I. We decided to make cookies and was out of butter so we trekked across the street in knee high snow to my neighbors to get some. Crazy I know but nothing stands in our way when it comes to cookies. I believe we made butterscotch chocolate chip cookies with walnuts.


I found the recipe for the cream cheese spritz cookies in the Woman's World magazine I purchased to take on the plane. This cookie is Paula Deen's recipe. I didn't exactly follow the recipe. You are supposed to pipe the dough onto a cookie sheet using a pastry bag with a star tip. I didn't have a pastry bag so I used a cookie scoop. I thought these cookies were very tasty and they ended up really soft. I love soft cookies. I will defiantly try these next time following the recipe better because they are really pretty in the magazine and she dipped hers in white chocolate and I think that would be really yummy.

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
adapted from Paula Deen

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2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract

I didn't use this when I made them:

1/8 tsp no-taste red concentrated food coloring
1/8 tsp Kelly green concentrated food coloring
1 cup white chocolate chips melted, cooled
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted, cooled
red, green and white jimmies or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, reserve. On medium high speed, beat butter, and cream cheese until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. On low, beat in sugar, 30 minutes. Add egg and almond extract, beat 30 seconds. Gradually beat in flour mixture until dough forms.

2. Fit medium star tip into large pastry bag. Using small brush, starting at tip of bag, paint one line of each food coloring inside along opposite sides of the bag, ending 1 inch from top edge. Fill bag with dough. I didn't do this step I just used a cookie scoop and scooped them onto the cookie sheet.

3. On baking sheets, pipe dough into round and or S-shaped cookies. Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pan on racks 5 minutes. Transfer to racks, cool completely.

4. Line cook baking sheets with wax paper. Dip ends of the cookies into melted chocolates, shaking off excess, transfer to wax paper. Sprinkles with jimmies. Let stand until set, 1 hour.

Mexican Wedding Cookies
as seen in Taste of Home Cookies cookbook submitted by Sarita Johnson

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2 cups butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Additional powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Gradually add flour, mix well. Beat in vanilla. Stir in pecans.

2. Place dough in fridge to chill for about 15 minutes. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Roll warm cookies in the powdered sugar, cool on wire racks. Makes about 6 dozen.

I have made these cookies quite a few times over the years and I don't remember the powdered sugar melting on the warm cookies. I would cool them a little bit next time before rolling them in the sugar. They tasted good anyway.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

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2 sticks butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a mixing bowl mix together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Once incorporated mix in the chocolate chips.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 1o minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies onto wire rack to cool.

These turned out pretty thin. I'm not sure why because I followed the recipe. They still were addictive.