I usually post cocktails on Mondays and since I didn’t want to disappoint, I created a creamy cocktail push-up pop… dessert and a cocktail all in one ~ LOVE it! This happens to be one of my mom’s original recipes, which I have now created in push-pop form. The original recipe is usually layered in a Springform pan. I’m including the recipe for the ice cream pie below. The push-pops are layered the same way that the pie is layered. This is a super easy, crowd-pleasing pie to make. It always gets rave reviews.

QUICK HOW-TO

As far as making these into push-up pops, they were a little messier than cake and frosting push-up pops. You need to put the push-pop together except for the stick. Click on this link to see how the pieces come together. Put the push-pops on a cookie sheet. These need to be completely filled and frozen solid before inserting the stick. After each layer, I had to go around the inside of each pop container with a damp paper towel to clean up any splatters that showed on the sides.

Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let soften. Begin by putting a spoonful of vanilla ice cream into the bottom of the pop. Spread it to even out the layer. Pop them in the freezer for fifteen minutes. Add a spoonful of fudge sauce on top of the ice cream layer. Freeze until firm. Add another spoonful of vanilla ice cream. Next, add a caramel layer. I used a squeeze bottle of caramel sauce and it worked great. Layer with another spoonful of ice cream and top off with fudge sauce. Sprinkle the top with Skor bar pieces. Using a toothpick or small skewer, poke holes into the ice cream layers. Add a small spoonful of Kahlua on top. The Kahlua will seep down into the various layers to create a great flavored dessert.  Freeze until ready to serve.

Don’t forget to comment on the Cookies -n- Cream push-up pop post for a chance to win $20 credit at CupKatesEventDesign store. You can buy these push-up pops there, and other fun party items. Give-away ends Tuesday, August 2nd. You can’t win, unless you comment!

Enjoy this first week of August. Stay cool!!

Kahlua –N- Cream Pie (www.grinandbakeit.com)

1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

3 tbsp. sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

1  12 oz. jar caramel (or butterscotch) sauce

½ gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1 16oz. jar hot fudge topping, slightly warmed

1 cup Skor bar topping

½ cup Kahlua

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix sugar and cookie crumbs with melted butter. Firmly press crumble onto bottom and up the sides of 8” Springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes. Cool completely. Freeze until cold (about 15 minutes).

Spread ½ jar of caramel sauce over the bottom of the crust, freeze until firm (about 15 minutes).

Spoon 1/3 of ½ gallon ice cream on top of caramel sauce. Freeze 15 minutes.

Spread ½ jar of fudge topping over ice cream. Freeze 5 minutes.

Spread 1/3 of ½ gallon of ice cream on top of fudge sauce. Freeze 15 minutes.

Spread remaining caramel topping over ice cream. Freeze 5 minutes.

Spoon 1/3 of ½ gallon ice cream on top of caramel sauce. Freeze 15 minutes.

Spread remaining fudge sauce on top of ice cream and gently press score bar topping into fudge topping. Freeze 15 minutes.

Poke holes in solid ice cream mixture with a toothpick and pour Kahlua on top.

Freeze at least two hours. Can be made 3 days ahead of time. Take out of the freezer and soften for 15 minutes before cutting.

Cheers to a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Here are a few of my favorite all-American treats!

Click on links for recipes:

Star Spangled Jello Shots

Firecracker Rice Krispies

Red, White and Blue Strawberries

Patriotic Cupcakes

Bikini Martini

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

Fresh Raspberry Martini

Have a fabulous weekend!

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!

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

It’s Pie Time for the “You Want Pies With That?” baking group. This month’s theme, “Vacation Pies” was chosen by Jenn at Piccante Dolce.  It’s the perfect theme to celebrate the end of our summer vacation. Next Tuesday it’s back to reality in our house. My son starts third grade – can’t believe it! I head back to work and once again try to figure out how to juggle being the chauffeur, short order cook, homework monitor – oh and somehow manage to fit in that full-time job at the school district, since that’s the job that pays the mortgage.

The beach is hands down my favorite vacation spot and was the inspiration for my pie this month. Hawaii, St. Lucia, Monterey… the geographical location really doesn’t matter. As long as I have a lounge chair, a bit of sunshine, and a romance novel, I’m in heaven. I’ve spent my life in Southern California at the beach, so you might think a vacation would actually mean going some place different. But me, do something different? Don’t bet on it!

I used my new mini cheesecake pan from Sur La Table to make these cinna-mini pies. I LOVE this pan! Bite-sized desserts are my favorite for their automatic portion control. These pies are filled with rich, creamy white chocolate cheesecake, surrounded by a graham cracker crust, and a cinnamon streusel topping. The crumbly topping helped me achieve the sand-like texture I was going for, and the taste was to die for! I garnished these little babies with chocolate swirled shells that were made with my chocolate seashell mold. I have to say I didn’t go into this one with total confidence. I wasn’t sure how the white chocolate/cinnamon streusel topping would taste. Fortunately, this one was a big success. Oh my gosh, these were good! At the point in which I realized these could not stay in my kitchen (too dangerous to keep around), I wrapped them up individually and brought them to work as little welcome back greetings for the people in my office. They turned out really cute and were a little morale booster for a workplace that desperately needs a bit of sunshine!

 White Chocolate Streusel Tartlettes

Crust

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

2 ½ tbsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use nonstick spray to lightly spray pan. Mix ingredients in a medium bowl. Divide mixture evenly into 12 mini cheesecake cups. Bake for 3-4 minutes and cool.  

 Cheesecake

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup sugar

2 oz. white chocolate baking bar

Blend ingredients until smooth. Fill cups evenly with cheese mixture. Bake 14-16 minutes.

 Streusel Topping

2 Sticks cold salted butter

  2 1/4 Cups flour

  1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon

  1 3/4 Cups brown sugar

  1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla

While cheesecake layer is baking, prepare crumb topping. Use electric mixer to combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla until all crumbly. after cheesecake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, divide among the 12 cups, sprinkling on top of cheesecake layer. Put back in oven and bake an additional 5-7 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Lightly loosen cheesecake tarts around the edges. Carefully remove cheesecakes. Garnish with a chocolate shell. Refrigerate until ready to serve.