Cheesecake Ice Cream Pie

A while back, I noticed a recipe on the side of a carton of Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream. I cut it out of the carton and saved it for a special occasion. The recipe is originally called Breyers Cherry Cheesecake, but I took the liberty to rename it something I think is more fitting. I made this for Mother's Day and it was a big hit. We loved it. It has the perfect ratio of cheesecake to ice cream. You'll have to try it out.

Cheesecake Ice Cream Pie
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter
3 Tbsp Sugar

1.5 qt. natural vanilla or vanilla bean ice cream (I think you could experiment with other flavors here, but would highly recommend trying it first with the vanilla bean or natural vanilla)

2 packages (8 oz each) Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling (Or fresh berries. I used fresh strawberries with a little sugar added to bring out the juices. I think any combination of fresh berries would be delicious.)

Combine crumbs, butter and 3 tablespoons sugar; press into 9-inch springform pan.

With electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Spoon ice cream into pan on top of graham cracker crust, pressing to form an even layer. Spread on cream cheese mixture. Cover; freeze at least 5 hours.

Top cheesecake with pie filling or fresh berries and serve.

Strawberry Shortcake

I really love traditional Strawberry Shortcake. I don't think I ever had it this way until Becca made it for dessert one night when we had dinner with her and Shane. Growing up, Strawberry Shortcake was always made with Angel Food Cake, which is also good. However, I really love this recipe that comes from the Joy of Cooking.

BISCUITS

Pre-heat the oven to 450.

Sift together in a large bowl:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar

Cut in, using a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the size of small peas:
4-6 Tbsp chilled butter
(it needs to be really cold butter, I take a cube of butter out of the freezer and only leave it out a few minutes before using it. I also do this part in my food processor to make it easier).

Make a well in the center. Add all at once:
3/4 cup milk (For added riches, use half-and-half instead of milk)

Stir just until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead gently and quickly, about 8 to 10 times, Roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin (or pat out with your hands) to 3/4" thickness. Cut into squares and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush the tops with a little milk and sprinkle sugar over the top. Bake until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.

Strawberry Filling:
Wash, pat dry and hull strawberries. Crush one-quarter of the berries in a bowl with a potato masher or fork. Slice the remainder. Combine the sliced and crushed berries and add sugar to taste.

To assemble, cut each biscuit in half horizontally. Place one half on a plate, spoon the berry mixture over, and top with the other half of the biscuit. Spoon a generous dollop of whipped cream (it must be real whipped cream!) on top and serve.

Vermont Maple Walnut Bars

These bars are so easy and so yummy. They really make your home smell like the holidays. It calls for a cup of pure maple syrup, which seems like a lot but it makes them so moist and tasty. I buy my maple syrup at Costco. I think this is one of those staple items you need to have on hand.

Bars:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup salted butter, softened (or use unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt)
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Maple Frosting:
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 Tlbs light brn sugar, packed
3 Tlbs pure maple syrup
1/4 cup + 2 Tlbs confectioners' sugar
Walnut halves

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and 8-by-8 inch baking pan.
To make bars: In a med bowl combine flour and soda. Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer blend sugar and butter to form a grainy paste. Scrape down sides of bowl, then add syrup, egg and vanilla. Beat at med speed until smooth.
Add the flour mixture and walnuts, and blend at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
Pour batter into pan and smooth the top with a spatula. bake 40-45 min. Cool in pan 15 min, then invern onto cooling rack. cool completely before icing.
To make frosting:
In a med bowl cream butter and cream cheese with electric mixer at high speed. Add brown sugar and maple syrup, and beat until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly add confectioners' sugar. Once sugar is incorporated, increase speed to high, and mix until smooth. If frosting appears thin, add sugar until thickened.
Frost the bars and top with a walnut.

Little Owls

I bought this magazine last fall because I thought these cupcakes were adorable. There are lots of other fun and festive recipe ideas in the magazine, too. If you are interested, you can purchase it here. I made these cupcakes a couple weeks ago. The cupcakes themselves weren't great, but I do love these little owls. The cupcake recipe included for these was a white cake with shredded coconut (this says spring to me...not fall) and cream cheese frosting. When I make them again, I'll probably use a spice cake or carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Anyway, here's what you need for the decorations if you want to try them.

Eyes: place two butterscotch candies for the eyes. Dip chocolate chips in a little frosting and place in the center of the butterscotch candies.

Nose: whole cashew

Feathers: slivered almonds placed around the eyes.

Enjoy!

Apple Crumb Pie

OK, I just took another trip out to the apple orchard today to pick some fabulous apples and I am always just inspired by the feeling of fall in the air this time of year. It's amazing! And every time that I have a stock of apples on hand, this delicious dessert comes to mind and I have to make it. I like apple pie. It's a good thing. I really, truly, passionately LOVE crumb topping from apple crisp. The beauty of this recipe is that it combines the goodness of both of those desserts into one, amazing whole.

I got this recipe several years back from another one of our New Haven friends, Jen Brewer. We made it while she so graciously hosted our family for an away rotation at the Mayo Clinic. I learned a lot of great recipes from her on that trip that I adore. Thanks, Jen! BTW, I seem to remember this recipe coming from an ex-girlfriend of Jerry's! Kinda funny :-)
APPLE CRUMB PIE:
Filling:
10-15 apples, peeled & cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup sugar (+)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (+)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Topping:
1 cube butter, chilled, but not too hard
1/3 cup heaping sugar
1/2 cup heaping flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 pie crust

Put pie crust in bottom of pie dish. Load apple mixture on top - should be heaping. Make the topping by cutting the butter into sugar and flour until crumbly, then sprinkle over top of apple pie. Wrap tin foil around edges of crust to keep from burning. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. This tastes fabulous served warm with ice cream.

Don't you just love that this recipe uses "heaping" so many times. That's just my kinda thing :-) Enjoy!

heaven, bliss and good fortune

my favorite new recipe....

i love lindsays blog, she has my kind of taste you see. everything i make from her turns to gold and this is no exception! this one is super easy but takes patience as it needs time to freeze. it is best when frozen overnight.

frozen coconut key lime tart

you can find lindsays recipe and tutorial here.

i browned some coconut in the oven and then added some lime green food coloring to my whipped cream. i piped it with a large ziploc and cut a little hole in the tip and kind of swirled it.

additional info - i made this and served it in quantity at my recent coupon class. in an effort to make all of it pretty, i wanted to use my 1 tart pan for all 5 tarts, but i decided to try and make this in a large pyrex. i made the crust and cooked it in the tart pan and then crumbled it and put it in the pyrex adding the filling and cream over top, it was a great way to serve in quantity and tasted great even tho it wasn't as pretty!

{p.s. the cream of coconut is right by the drink mix section of the drink isle, and make sure to note it is cream of coconut, not coconut milk. and stock up, you will want this often!}

a royal birthday cake...

the barking orders for a birthday cake this year were chocolate double cake with chocolate frosting.
simple enough, but i hate a plain cake with plain old frosting.

i almost never eat it unless i know it was fancied up by the baker, so.....

i bought a cake mix let my mind wander.

it called for 1 1/2 cups of water. ugh, how boring. so i had some creme fraiche on hand and used 3/4 c of that and the rest water. i followed the rest of the called for ingredients and baked as directed in 2 9 inch pans. it made for the most moistalicious cake.

then....

i thought about how good a cream cheese filling would be. so i used 1 brick of softened cream cheese, with 1/2 c of ganache frosting (recipe forthcoming) and 3/4 c powdered sugar. i put those in the blender and put them in a ziploc and froze it for a few minutes to firm it up.

the ganache..
first, might i bear my testimony of it?
okay, i love the gloss, the taste and the ease of cooking it, i love how i dream about all of the things it could go on. okay, done.

it is 2 parts chocolate to
1 part cream.
i used 2 cups of hershey's chocolate chips (milk chocolate)
and
1 cup heavy whipping cream.
stir with a whisk on medium heat until chocolate starts to get shiny. remove from heat and set aside.
{you can use this for cupcakes, just dip those pretty little tops in it, or a fondue dip also.}

to assemble:

cool your cakes and cut the tops off making a flat surface for the cakes to rest on top of one another without falling over.
you can see i put the cake on a square serving dish with sides so the ganache wouldn't spill over.
so, put your first cake down and clip the tip of the baggie you stored your cream cheese filling in. i piped this in a big circle and then spread it with the back of a spoon. add your second layer of cake on top of that.
{make sure both cake surfaces that were cut are facing each other. so the first cake should have the uncut surface as the side touching the plate, the bottom of the second cake should be the cut side so the top doesn't get crumbs everywhere.}
make sure the ganache isn't too hot to the touch but not too cool. about body temperature, dip your finger in to test {and lick your finger too ;)}
i spread the ganache starting in the middle of the cake, pouring it from the pan and working from the center to the edges, letting the ganache drizzle down the sides until it filled the corners of the plate. this was especially nice because it covered any crumbs or filling spills. i refrigerated it for a few minutes to help the ganache firm up a bit.

i fanned some strawberries by slicing them thin from bottom to top in 5 or 6 slices per strawberry. they sure looked pretty. and i thought this was a fabulous taste and something different. we served it with vanilla ice cream.

Peach Pie (my favorite)

I like to make pies quite a bit. I have made many, many pies, but peach still stands alone as my favorite. There's the sweetness of the peaches that only lasts a few weeks a year, the beautiful lattice top (or not!), and the late-summer-sit-around-the-picnic-table quality to eating peach pies, requiring any pie-eating participants to slow down, tell some stories, laugh out loud, and get that old familiar feeling that life is so good....ahhh...


We made a weekend of our late-summer peach pie by going to the orchards and picking our peaches. Some of the peaches were truly bigger than a baby's head. Have you ever heard the pregnancy descriptions of size, like during such-and-such week, your baby is the size of a walnut? Well, I think the 36th-week fetus is the size of an August Peach at Lyman Orchards. These peaches are enormous, and most branches were nearly touching the ground, being heavily burdened by the weight of these incredible peaches.


Ta da! Here it is! I opted out of the lattice crust for this one. Why? Well, one, I was feeling lazy. If I had the neat-o fluted pastry wheel from Williams Sonoma, there would be a much greater likelihood that I'd go for the lattice (hint hint husband).

But, heck, it's summer, which is meant for sipping lemonade and not fiddling in the kitchen with my pizza-cutter and a ruler to create a lattice crust. I'll save the pretty pies for Thanksgiving.

I used my favorite pie dough recipe, which I rarely stray from, it's on page 862 of The Joy of Cooking, Deluxe Butter Flaky Pastry Dough....how could this not be good, right?!

The key element of pie crust is the temperature. I cut up 2 sticks of UNSALTED butter and stick it in the freezer. Martha says to also put the flour in the freezer, which I guess could be helpful on really humid days, but seems to be just a tad much. You know how Martha can be sometimes...


I then get 1/3 cup ice water ready to go.

Next, I put 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon white sugar, 1 teaspoon salt in the food processor and pulse until mixed.


Then I put the butter and 1/4 cup of Crisco in the food processor, and pulse it just a few times until the butter is in pea-sized clumps.


I add the water next. This is the most tricky part of the whole process and can make or break your crust--too much water, and it's totally soggy, too little, and it's like eating flour. I remove the ice from the water, turn on the processor and stream the water in through the top until I hear what I call the crust rumble. It really is a rumbling sound that is the sound of the crust binding together. Here's what it looks like:


I take the dough out of the processor bowl and put it in 2 saran wrapped disks. I stick it in the fridge overnight.


The next day, I roll out the first crust, put it in the pie dish, and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. There's kind of a tricky way I transfer the crust so it doesn't fall apart on me during the move--I roll it around the rolling pin and unroll it into the dish.


In the meantime, I made the filling. My favorite peach pie filling is also from Joy, Peach Pie on page 876:
2 1/2 pounds peaches (5 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced 1/4 inch thick*)
1/2 to 3/4 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca or cornstarch (use cornstarch for a lattice pie)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt.
2 to 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
1 to 2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour filling into the bottom crust and dot with butter. Roll out top crust and cover filling, sealing the edges by fluting the edges with my knuckles. And here's the big secret to a beautiful-looking crust: I always mix 2 Tb. heavy cream with an egg yolk and brush it on right before I stick it in the oven. I'm telling you, it does wonders.

If the crust seems warm and starts to stick, put it in the fridge for a half hour. If it seems nice and firmed and chilled, go ahead and slip a baking sheet underneath the pie and cook it for 30 minutes at 425. Reduce the temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 30 more minutes.

*I have tried the boiling water technique for peeling peaches, and, to me, it's all too much work, sloshing around boiling and freezing water everywhere. I find that peeling peaches with a vegetable peeler, especially when they are a touch firm is faster and less wet.

And who doesn't love a big dollop of whipped cream?! I just dump a cup of whipping cream with a 1/4 cup of sugar and a little vanilla if I think of it, and whip it in my KitchenAid on the highest setting for a minute or two. Whoop, there it is.

my love....

was discovered on a hot and muggy new haven, CT day. and not any day, but BBQ sunday. the lovely and talented becca introduced me to key lime pie. it didn't help that i was pregnant and about to move cross country shortly. translation is i was in search of a good comfort food. becca made me a very traditional and classic key lime and i had to call her in my "missing the hood so bad" phase and tell her how i dream of her key lime pie. i was so large and pregnant, really i was, i couldn't dream of putting a lot of time into recreating it, but i found it was so easy i couldn't resist.

i was in love. the sharp lime taste and the sweet sugar that caresses your tongue was mesmerizing. so, when i found that lindsay at cafe johnsonia had the same obsession, i thought i was in heaven. our neighborhood had a little key lime contest and i entered 2 of lindsays suggestions. here is the first one that made me feel pretty good i was able to make this and not feel flustered with the concepts.

this is what mine looked like - tada!


lindsay has a great tutorial and recipe here
instead of the 2 smaller ones, i did the big one as you can see. i love her addition of sweetened condensed to the coconut reduction. the consuming of these morsels were other planet fabulous, try it, you'll like it!

Turtle Fondue

Todd and I celebrated Valentine's Day last night with a nice candlelight dinner. I got take-out of some of our favorite Indian food, and for dessert made this YUMMY turtle fondue that I saw on Feeding My Enthusiasms. I think it was our favorite fondue yet! So delicious and super easy to make.

TURTLE FONDUE:
Adapted from Perfect Recipes For Having People Over by Pam Anderson
8 oz. caramels, unwrapped
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
¼ cup finely chopped pecans, pre-toasted at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes until fragrant
¼ cup milk
Fresh fruit, such as apples, pears, bananas, strawberries, grapes or figs; larger fruit cut into bite sized pieces
Cubes of pound cake, pieces of shortbread cookies
Dried fruits like apricots, peaches or figs

Combine caramels, chocolate, nuts and milk in a small heavy saucepan (or a fondue pot) and heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth and warm. (I melted the caramels with the milk by themselves first and then added the chocolate and nuts and found it easier this way). Serve in small bowls with skewers (or fondue forks) for dipping fresh and dried fruits and pound cake. Dip cookies while holding end of the cookie.If you have a fondue pot, use it. If you use the heavy pot, the fondue sauce retains the heat fairly well. If it starts to cool off, simply return the pot to the stove and reheat.

Serves 2 to 4.

Caramel Brownies

With Valentine's Day here and the scent of chocolate everywhere, how can I not post one of my favorite chocolate recipes with caramel? These delicious, chewy brownies are often requested in our house and they definitely don't last very long!

CARAMEL BROWNIES:

1 German chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup chocolate chips

1 pkg. Kraft caramels (about 10-oz. or so)

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 cup nuts (optional, for turtle brownies)

Mix first three ingredients into a stiff batter (if you want to make turtle caramel brownies, add the nuts to the mix now). Spread half the batter in a buttered 9 x 13" pan. Bake for 6 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle chocolate chips over first half after baked and while hot. Melt together the caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Spread out the melted chocolate chips. Pour melted caramel over baked portion. Place remaining batter over caramel - don't try to spread, just piece it on. Bake for 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for 1 hour and then cut into squares.

They are so yummy!

Blueberry Dumplings

Last summer I picked a ton of fresh blueberries at the orchard. I froze a bunch of them and last Sunday was trying to come up with a dessert to make that would use some of them. I ended up trying these blueberry dumplings and served it with vanilla ice cream. It was an all around hit and I love having fresh berries in the middle of winter!

Blueberry Dumplings
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar, plus 1 1/2 cups
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 quart (4 cups) fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups water
Vanilla ice cream or fresh cream, for serving

Stir flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients, using a pastry cutter or fork. Add milk to form dough. Set dumpling dough aside.

In a large saucepan, combine berries, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and water and bring to a boil. Drop dumplings into hot boiling berries by the tablespoonful. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and cook slowly for 20 to 30 minutes. Do not remove the lid before 20 minutes has passed, and do not stir dumplings. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh cream.

Holiday Cookies

One of our family to traditions is to decorate sugar cookies each year around Christmas. We generally always try to invite another one or two families to come and do it with us. This year we had Todd's sister's family over to join in the fun. I've tried a LOT of sugar cookie recipes over the years searching for one that I really like. Today I tried a recipe that I got from my sister-in-law and I really loved it. I like my sugar cookies thick and super soft, and that is exactly how these turned out.

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add remaining ingredients and mix together. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours. Roll out to 1/4" thick and cut into shapes. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

FROSTING:
6 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. (4 cups sifted) powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

If you're daring, you can try doing some of your sugar cookies the way Todd's family has his whole life - you brush the tops of the dough with milk and then sprinkle with any flavor jell-o powder before baking. It gives you all kinds of great flavors and isn't quite and sugar-sweet at going the route of tons of frosting and sprinkles, etc. We like both kinds in our house.

Pumpkin Ice cream Dessert

My mom made this for us a few Sundays ago and it is heavenly! If you are having people over and need a yummy dessert-you gotta try this.

9X13 pan
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
1 small can pumpkin
1 C. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each-nutmeg, ginger and ground cloves
30 vanilla wafers and 30 ginger snaps crushed
1/2 C. chopped pecans
1/4 C. melted butter

Set out vanilla ice cream to soften.

Mix butter, cookies and nuts. Press half of the mix into a 9X13 pan and reserve the rest for the topping.

Mix spices, sugar and pumpkin together and add to the softened ice cream. Spoon into 9X13 pan and sprinkle the remaining topping on top and freeze for several hours.

Holiday Party Foods

Tonight we had some of our med school friends over for a night of appetizers, desserts, games and fun. It just isn't the holidays for me without throwing a party. I really enjoy planning parties and this was just what I needed to get my party planning in for the season. Being 38 weeks pregnant, I found that I didn't really have the energy to plan a whole dinner, so we had the party later in the evening and I asked everyone to bring a favorite holiday appetizer or dessert. I made wassail, stuffed mushrooms and pecan tarts. I forgot to snap pictures, but these are three of my favorite holiday foods, so I thought I'd share the recipes for the tarts and mushrooms here. The wassail recipe I used is the classic wassail recipe from the Lion House cookbook.

Pecan Tarts
Cream together:
1 Square Butter
4 oz. Cream Cheese
1 Cup Flour

The mixture will be crumbly until you mash it together with your hands. It is a press pastry dough. Press about 1 tsp. into each mini muffin cup being careful not to get it too thin on the bottom.

Mix together and pour over about ¼ tsp. chopped pecans in each shell:
1 egg beaten
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. Butter-melted

Bake 325 for 25 minutes. This recipe makes about 24 miniature tarts.

I 'm not usually a huge fan of spray whipped cream, but it goes great with these tarts and I actually prefer the spray whipped cream for these.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

This is my favorite stuffed mushroom recipe. They are SO easy and SO yummy. They are always a big hit at any party and happen to be a family favorite.

2 Large Containers of Whole Mushrooms
1/2 Lb. (8 oz.) Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage (The hot sausage doesn't taste spicy, but adds a lot of flavor, so buy the hot even if it isn't what you usually buy. The cream cheese really tones it down)
1/2 pkg. (4 oz) Cream Cheese

Wash and de-stem mushrooms. Discard stems. Place mushrooms on a cookie sheet so they are ready to stuff. Put sausage and cream cheese in a bowl and mash together with your hands until well combined. While your hands are sticky, stuff each mushroom cap. This made about 36 mushrooms.

Bake at 375 appx. 20-30 minutes or until the sausage is golden on top.

Happy Holiday Cooking!!!

Party Night - Holiday Treats

Oh my word - I'm such a slacker! I think Fridays have just been skipping right by me and disappearing. Forgive me for being late. Here are a couple of easy recipes for some festive holiday treats we like to have made up for when we have people over during the holidays.

HOLIDAY PRETZEL TREATS:
bite-size waffle shaped pretzels or ring (round) pretzels
Hershey's hugs
M & M's - preferably the mint ones you can find this time of year

Heat your oven to 170 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and place pretzels in a single layer on baking sheet. Top each prezel with an unwrapped Hershey's hug (or you could use kisses). Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (white chocolate melts more quickly), until the chocolates start to get shiny. Remove from oven and quickly press an M & M into the center of each hug or kiss. Allow treats to cool for a few minutes, then place in refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes.
Another variation of this recipe is to use caramel kisses on the pretzel and press with a nut on the top (turtle). Yummy!

SWEET CHEX MIX:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1 big box Rice Chex
1 big box Golden Grahams
2 cups slivered almonds
2 cups shredded coconut

In a medium pan, melt butter and then add sugar and karo syrup. Bring mixture to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Pour immediately over dry ingredients. Make sure everything is coated. Spread our on a cookie sheet to dry - can be a little sticky when done.

Magic Bars

There is nothing special or secret about this recipe. It just happens to be my favorite holiday treat.

2- 2 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick of butter melted
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
10oz. pkg of Semi Sweet Chocolate chip
1/2 pkg. of bakers coconut
*1/4 Cup chopped pecans

*optional

Mix Graham crackers and melted butter in bottom of 9"x13" pan. Press and make a crust. Cover with Chocolate chips (save a handful for the topping) and about half of the nuts. Coat with the entire can of sweetened condensed milk. Cover with coconut and sprinkle rest of nuts and chocolate chips on top. Press down lightly on the top to make it all stick together. Cook at 350 degrees F until coconut is slightly golden. Cool and cut in squares. I can eat the entire pan myself.

Party Night - Lava Cakes

I'm late posting this because we were out of town last Friday, but I wanted to share a very tasty and very easy dessert that you can make for a party crowd.

LAVA CAKES:
1 (18.25-oz.) box dark chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 bottle Hershey's hot fudge topping
vanilla ice cream (or flavor of choice)
Magic Shell chocolate topping
caramel for garnish (optional)

You make the cake mix according to the directions on the box and then pour 1/2 cup batter into the greased cups of large (Texas Size) muffin pans. If you only have one of these pans you can cook it in two batches (the batter will make anywhere from 8-12 cakes). Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn out cakes to cool. The cakes will be served upside down, so you might have to cut off part of the domed top so they will lay flat when turned over. After you have flipped over the cooled cakes, use a knife and cut out a 1 1/2" diameter chunk in the center of the bottom (now the top) of each cake to make a hole. Scoop out the cake so that you have about a 1 1/2" hole - this is where you will secretly pour the hot fudge for the lava. Spoon about 2 Tbsp of fudge into each hole in the cakes (you can put the "top" of the cake back over the opening to hide it more if you want).

At this point, you can store the cakes in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to serve. When you want to serve them, heat each cake in the microwave for 20-40 seconds, or until you see the fudge begin to bubble. Let is rest for 30 seconds or so and then place a big scoop of ice cream (we really like vanilla and cookies & cream) on top (hiding the hole). Pour a coating of Magic Shell chocolate topping over the ice cream and serve on a plate that has been garnished with caramel sauce. Yummy!!!