Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog this year. I can’t wait to see what sweet things are in store for 2011!

Apple Cheesecake Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Cake Batter Ice Cream Sandwiches

French Toast Cupcakes

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Apple Pie Ice Cream

All-American Cupcakes

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

S’mores Martini and Cupcake

Pina Colada Cupcakes

This year the boy was scheduled to be with his dad for Thanksgiving dinner. Matt and I are not your typical divorced couple. We care about one another, parent our son as a team, and have mastered the art of flexibility. Okay, it’s not as picture perfect as it may sound. Divorce is never good, but I think we’ve made the best with the challenges we’ve been given.

So yes, I had a little moment during Thanksgiving (actually a few moments) of not holding it together very well, feeling stressed over what I couldn’t control, and sad for not having exactly the life I had envisioned for myself. It was not my best moment (mascara running down your face on a holiday is never attractive). Some baking therapy and a few hours of retail therapy this weekend helped me gain perspective again. After making three batches of sugar cookie dough and a couple of impulse buys, here’s what I arrived at… The picturesque vision  I have of my life is not reality, and even if it was, it wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling as the incredibly functional, dysfunctional life that I’ve been blessed with.

These apple cheesecake bars, aren’t the apple pie you probably envision, but like my crazy life, they’re even better. They start with a layer of oatmeal cookie crust, topped with a creamy layer of cheesecake.  A thin layer of apple pie filling is then hidden under a to-die-for streusel topping. These were amazing. What put them completely over the top was enjoying them with a bottle of Kendall Jackson and a best girlfriend, while planning our New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys reunion concert night, and catching up on our reality-trash TV shows. It doesn’t get much better than that!

These bars would be great to make for a holiday cookie exchange and different from the usual cookie recipes people bring. Just remind your friends to refrigerate the bars. Feel free to tweak this to make it more toward your taste preferences. If you love the apple pie filling, double it. If cheesecake is your thing, you can easily make one and a half times the cheesecake layer, just adjust the cooking time by several minutes. The cookie layer is simple thanks to Betty Crocker, but if you feel compelled you can make the crust from scratch.

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars (adapted from Betty Crocker)

printable recipe

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix

1/2 cup firm butter or margarine, cold

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I ommitted these)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.

Place cookie mix in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly and coarse. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture (to use for streusel recipe below); press remaining crumbs in bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over partially baked crust. In medium bowl, mix pie filling and cinnamon. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups reserved crumb mixture from crust

1 cup cold, salted butter

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

In large bowl with electric mixer combine, reserved crumbs from crust, butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla until all crumbly. Break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top of apple filling.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool about 30 minutes. Refrigerate to chill, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Tips

• Spreading the cream cheese layer can be tricky. First drop tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture all over the cookie crust and then spread.
• Chill for a few hours. Don’t rush this step.
• I prefer these taken out of the refrigerator for a few minutes before serving.
• Double the apple pie filling if desired.
• Make one and a half times the cream cheese mixture if desired.

Wishing you a week that’s even better than you envision!

The original plan was to have the hunt right after dusk, so it would be just dark enough without being pitch black. I think the grown-ups were having too much fun, or maybe the hostess was having too much fun, which caused us to run a bit behind schedule. We had a great Italian dinner ~ lasagna, pasta, garlic bread, and salad. Bring on the carbs! And I ordered cheese pizza for the kids.

After dinner, I had the kids (around twenty of them) come inside to decorate Easter bags for the hunt. I bought spring-themed foam stickers and gift bags in bulk at WalMart. This kept the kids busy while the adults hid the eggs. I always fill a ton of eggs, but also ask families to bring a dozen or so eggs per child in their family. After the bags were decorated, the kids lined up with their bags and flashlights in hand and were set free, according to age, to find their loot. I’m fortunate to live at the very end of a cul de sac. There is a green common area next to my house and a large grass circle  out in the middle of the street. It provides ample space to hide eggs.  Eggs were also hidden in front of nearby houses. The adults either made it a little easy, or the kids are just more savy. The next morning we went on a search for left-overs in the daylight and only found one (and there were hundreds of eggs hidden the night before).  

While the kids opened up their eggs, the grown-ups made their way to the dessert table.  I served the Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes Nests that I posted yesterday. These were my favorite and were gone within seconds. I also made brownie bites in the form of chicks. I saw this idea at Cake on the Brain and loved it. Mine didn’t turn out as fabulous as I had hoped. But what I learned is that not all brownie mixes are created equal. Go for a high-quality brand when you make these. Instead of cupcakes, I wanted to do something different and found the perfect idea at WhiskThis. I used my egg muffin pan from Williams Sonoma and baked up mini yellow cakes. I covered them in chocolate ganache and piped on decorations with royal icing. They ended up fitting well in the jumbo muffin cups, and got great reviews. Finally, I served Cadbury Caramel Dessert Martinis in mini martini glasses to the adults, which are really a dessert in themselves.

After dessert, people lingered and the kids ran around, clearly on sugar highs. You know the sign of a great party, it’s when no one wants to go home. This was a great party! I’m so blessed to have such great neighbors.  I hope one day the boy will look back and realize what a great place this was to grow up in.

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. We had a fabulous time with family and friends, and experienced more excitement than usual when the earthquake shook the ground on Easter afternoon. Several seconds into it I realized this was more than our typical So Cal quake. All of the kids were in the front yard playing, and I ran out expecting them to be in a state of panic. They were down the street running in what seemed to be a race of some sort, clearly oblivious that the pavement was literally was rolling beneath them. It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. 

Things are calm again are we’re easing into our Spring Break, enjoying having absolutely no schedule.  Of all the treats I baked for the weekend’s festivities, these were my favorite and they went fast too.  I’ve seen so many cute nest treat variations, but hadn’t seen any mini cheesecake nests. I love my mini-cheesecake pan, and  had a bit of a cheesecake craving. Mini desserts are the way to go, especially during pre-bathing suit season. People may hold back and resist the entire slice of cheesecake, but not these little desserts. They’re just enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

These little babies start with a traditional graham cracker crumb crust. An Oreo crust would be a great variation. On top of the crust is a sweet peanut butter filling similar to the filling in a Reese’s peanut butter cup. The peanut butter filling is topped with a layer of creamy cheesecake with chunks of Reese’s folded in. It is heavenly biting into one of these. I grated up a Hershey’s chocolate bar and sprinkled it in the centers for the nests, and then filled the nests with Cadbury Chocolate mini eggs. By the time I got to the store, those Evil Reese’s Pieces eggs were all snatched up. Next year, I’ll have to act fast! But don’t think for a minute that this is an Easter only treat. Skip the nests and drizzle some chocolate sauce on top and it’s the perfect dessert for any occasion.  I can’t wait to make these again, and next time will have to hide a few!

Peanut Butter Cup   Cheesecake Bites

Printable Recipe

(Makes 24 mini cheesecakes)

Crust
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Peanut Butter Mixture
1/2 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar 

Cheese Filling
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
½  cup sugar
1 TBL lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 large eggs
6 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix graham cracker or sugar cookie crumbs with sugar and melted butter and press into a 9-inch glass pie pan or mini cheesecake pan. Bake 8 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For peanut butter mixture, using a fork cut in powdered sugar with peanut butter until balls form. Cut in brown sugar. Pour over crust.
For cheese filling mix softened cream cheese with sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and eggs. Beat 5 minutes. Break up peanut butter cups into large chunks and fold into cheese mixture. Pour over peanut butter crumble mixture and garnish with remaining crumble mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.

 Garnish with grated chocolate bar and chocolate eggs. 

When it comes to left-overs there are three types of people, the “Don’t You Dare Throw That Away” type, the “Count Me Out” group, and my favorite type, the “Don’t You Dare Throw That Away…I Will Keep it in My Fridge For a Week and Then Throw it Out!” people. I think we’ve all had the experience of looking into the refrigerator of someone who fits into the latter category.

I’ve never been a left-over girl, but candy is a definite exception. One of the best ways to get rid of left-over Halloween candy is by baking with it. Cookies, brownies, cakes, pies… think outside of the recipe card! Last year my boy and I decided to make a candy bar coffee cake after Halloween. It turned out great – coffee cake and chocolate, what’s not to love? I have already pilfered my son’s candy bag. Is that morally wrong? I do feel a little guilty. I’ve eaten the Snicker’s bars (my greatest weakness), but have hidden the Butterfinger’s for a recipe I’ll share next week.

Here are some of my favorites sweets I’ve baked with candy (pictured above)

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies
• Toffee Chip Snickerdoodles
• GIANT Chocolate Toffee Cookies
• Willy Wonka’s Candy Bar Coffeecake
• Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Pie
• Butterfinger’s Cookies
• Snicker’s Cookies
• Snicker’s Pie
• Banana Malt Shop Cupcakes
• Whopper’s Ice Cream Pie
• Whopper Chocolate Cheesecake