Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

This recipe is so, so, so yummy.  It's light and fruity, and really good.  And I almost always have all the ingredients in my kitchen, so it's easy to make without planning ahead, which I'm notorious for!  The recipe comes from here.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

Crumb Crust:
9 large rectangular graham crackers (about 1 1/2 cups) crushed (My food processor makes crushing crackers so easy!)
2 TBSP sugar
6 TBSP melter butter

For the cheese custard:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
Freshly grated zest from 1 lemon

For the berries:
2 cups blueberries, rinsed (you could also use frozen ones, a staple in my freezer)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 TBSP corn starch, mixed with 2 TBSP cold water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter.  Pat the crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie pan and bake for 8 minutes, until very lightly browned and set.  Let the crust cool completely before filling.  Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, make the cheese custard:  in a medium bow,, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed and smooth.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Stir in the lemon zest.  Pour into the cooled shell and bake until just set, 25-30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

While the custard is cooking, combine the berries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and add the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.  Remove from the heat and cool until tepid.

Spoon the berries over the cooled custard.  Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

I got this recipe here, but I changed it a far amount, so I'm just going to post the way I made it.  It's a really, really good cake, but quite rich.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

1 lemon cake mix
1 box of instant lemon pudding
1/8-1/4 cup poppy seeds (I add more if I think it needs it)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Mix cake mix, pudding mix, and poppy seeds.  Add juice, oil and sour cream and mix well.
Add eggs one at a time, mix well.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  When the cake is done, start the glaze.  Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes.

Glaze

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup butter

Bring ingredients to a boil and keep bubbling until ready to brush on cake.  Once cake has cooled for 10 minutes, brush the bottom of the cake with some glaze.  Then invert cake to a plate.  Brush the remaining glaze all over the cake.  Allow cake to cool about 50 minutes, then serve.

Apple Brownies

My mom used to make these, and I think we used to call them "Disappearing Brownies" because we'd eat the whole pan in one sitting (it only makes a 9x9 pan, but still, they're seriously good!)  This recipe comes from "Maine's Jubilee Cookbook."  When we got married 10 years ago, I wanted this cookbook because my mom has it, and it has THE.BEST blueberry muffin recipe in it.  It's been out of print for years, so my Grandmother got on Ebay and got it for me.  That still cracks me up, to think of my Grammie getting on EBAY and buying me a cookbook.  But I'm grateful for it, and I love it.

Apple Brownies

1 cup sugar
1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 apples, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and butter.  Add the slightly beaten egg and vanilla.  Sift flour with salt, baking powder and soda.  Add to the creamed mixture with the chopped apple and the nuts.  Bake in an 8x8 pan at 350 degrees until done, about 25 minutes.

Lucky Green Velvet Cupcakes

These are green cupcakes, but I'm going to divide the batch in half, and make half of them green, and half light purple. I'll freeze the purple ones and we can decorate them for Easter. I found the recipe here.

Lucky Green Velvet Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix

1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

Green decorating paste (or whatever color you want)

Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a stand or electric mixer, add cake mix, eggs, water, oil, pudding, and yogurt (or sour cream). Beat on medium for 1 1/2 minutes. Slowly beat in 5-8 drops of decorating paster until you get desired color.

Scoop batter into greased cupcake tins. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool completely.

Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8oz) package cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup butter at room temperature

4 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy (I think it works best to use hand held beaters). Mix in vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Frost cupcakes.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I'm a little behind this year. I always plan to do fun activities for the holidays with the kids, but then never actually get around to it. This is a really cute idea. It's a smaller scale than the rainbow cake I made, and easier. I found the idea here.

Rainbow Cupcakes

White cake mix

Food coloring (I prefer the Wilton pastes, and you can just buy the colors you need instead of mixing the four basic colors that come in those funny little bottles)

Baking cups

Whipped cream (optional)

Prepare the white cake mix according to the box, then divide the mix evenly among six small bowls. Dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color; purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order stated. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of the spoon to cover the color underneath.

Bake the cupcakes according to the directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped cream cloud.

Rainbow cupcakes toppers would be super cute on these, as well as little gold sprinkles.

Awhile ago, I made Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake. I got it here. It was really, really good. Our girls don't like Pumpkin Pie, but they loved it and declared it "delicious." I don't have a picture, but it's definitely worth trying.


2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed



Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had a friend request that I post my recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie, so I decided to make it for myself for my birthday since I don't really like cake, and this is my favorite pie. When Rusty and I were dating, I learned that his favorite pie was Lemon Meringue Pie, so I decided to make him one. It didn't turn out so well, the lemon part didn't firm up. So I made another one. The lemon part of the second one was like rubber (I may have overdone the cornstarch just a little)! So I made another one, and the lemon part was soup again. The fourth time (I think), I followed the directions EXACTLY (I have a little problem with following the directions :)), and this time it came out well. The recipe I used last weekend was from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. It has a failproof recipe for meringue (yet another time, I was making pies for Thanksgiving, and I went through 2 dozen eggs and finally ended up buying a new bowl and measuring cups because I could get the meringue to firm up)! The inside is a little soup because the pie was a little warm still. By the next morning the lemon part was the perfect consistency, so I would suggest making this at least 6 hours before you need to serve it so it has plenty of time to chill. If you want to serve it warm, just know that the lemon part will be a little runny but still very, very good.

Pie Crust

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP shortening
2-3 TBSP cold water

Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening with shortening cutter or 2 knives, until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 TBSP at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened.

Gather pastry into ball and refrigerate about 30 minutes. On floured surface, flatten pie crust into circle 2 inches bigger than pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths, and place in pie plate. Unfold pastry, and press firmly against side and bottom of pie plate. Heat oven to 425 and bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven.

Pie filling

3 large egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
3 TBSP butter
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 drops yellow food color, if desired

Beat egg yolks with fork in small bowl, set aside. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute

Immediately stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute, remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon peel, lemon juice and food color (I never add the food color). Press plastic wrap on filling to prevent a tough layer from forming on top (I've never done this and never had a problem with a tough layer on top).

Finish making meringue.

Meringue

1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
4 large egg whites
1/8 tsp salt

Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil 1 minute, remove from heat. Cool completely while making pie filling.

Beat egg whites and salt in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks just start to form. Very gradually beat in sugar mixture until stiff peaks form.

Pour hot pie filling into pie crust. Spoon meringue on top of pie filling, and smooth to the edges of the pie crust. This will prevent the meringue from shrinking as it bakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until meringue is light brown. Cool away from draft for 2 hours, then cover and refrigerate until serving.



A couple notes:
*When making the meringue, make sure all beaters, spoons, spatulas, bowl, anything that touches the meringue are clean and have not touched oil. Any oil at all will cause the meringue to never become firm.
*As always, refrigerate all leftovers. Any dessert with fruit should be refrigerated after serving.
*The sugar/cornstarch mixture helps make the meringue foolproof, and keeps it from shrinking and weeping.

Rainbow Cake

I made this cake for Liz and Katie's birthday. I'm not usually a fan of boxed cakes, but this was actually pretty good, and it was impressive looking, and really very easy. I first saw it here.

Rainbow Cake

(for the cake)
2 boxes of white cake mix
food coloring (try Ateco)

(for the frosting)
4 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese
1 cup butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla

To make the cake:

Mix up one box of the cake mix, following the directions on the box. Separate the prepared mix into three bowls with roughly 1 cup of cake mix per bowl. Add food coloring (red in one bowl, orange in another, and yellow in the third).

Bake the three cakes in round pans according to the box instructions. Make sure to check the cakes about 10 minutes before they are supposed to be done. With less mix in the pans, they can cook faster.

Repeat with the second box of cake mix and the remaining three colors (green, blue, purple).


To make the frosting:

Mix together softened (room temperature) butter and softened (room temperature) cream cheese until well combined. Add vanilla. Combine. Slowly add in powdered sugar. After the 5th cup, taste the frosting. If you'd like it sweeter, add the 6th cup. If not, leave the 6th cup out.


To assemble cake:

Level the tops of each layer of cooled cake with a large bread knife. Slice into the cakes horizontally so that the centers of the cakes are no longer higher than the edges (something that usually happens to them when they are baked). This is important so that the colors will display evenly when the completed cake is cut. Your rainbow will appear warped and not even unless you level the tops of each cake first.

Begin assembly with the purple layer. Set the purple layer on your cake stand or plate. Add enough frosting to cover the layer with enough to spill over the edges (about 1/2 to 1 cup of frosting). Run the flat, smooth side of a large knife around the cake to smooth out the frosting.

Add the blue layer of cake on top of the frosted purple one. Put more frosting in the middle and spread again with the flat, smooth side of a large knife so that the frosting covers the layer and falls out over the edges. Run your knife around the outside edge of the cake as well, to smooth out the sides.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with green layer and then yellow layer.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with orange layer and finally with red layer.

Freezing between each two rounds of layers is recommended. The cake can get really heavy by the time you are adding the 4th, 5th and 6th layers. If it is somewhat frozen at this point, the cake will not get smooshed or crushed. Additionally, it is much easier to frost the cake when it is relatively solid, not wobbling all over the place.

It really is quite easy to make. I was intimidated by the instructions, and worried that the cake was going to collapse or crush itself, but I followed the directions exactly, and it was perfect. It came out beautiful, and it tasted good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

My sister made this for us while we were in Maine this last summer. It is seriously so good. She got the recipe from here (one of my favorite cooking blogs).

This dessert looks impressive, and tastes impressive, but is really very easy to make. I often have a hard time making cheesecakes, but this one hasn't failed me yet. Just follow the instructions exactly and you'll have a perfect, yummy dessert.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars


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

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 9″-square baking pan (I used a 9" round pan and cut the final dessert into pie-shaped pieces). Line pan with parchment paper (I used foil), leaving enough to extend over the sides. Lightly coat the parchment paper/foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.

Cookie Dough
5 tablespoons 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 (I found the cookie dough was a bit stiff with this much flour, next time I think I'll cut it down by 1/8th of a cup)
1 cup miniature 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 30-35 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. (Tip: put the chocolate chips into a zipper bag and heat on 50% power for a few minutes. Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze the bag to make drizzling less messy). Use a teaspoon to drizzle chocolate over top of bars. Cool bars in pan completely, about an hour. (Stick the bars in the freezer for 5 minutes to set quickly if you're in a hurry).

Using the edges of the parchment paper/foil, remove bars from pan. Cut into bars (clean the knife after each cut) and serve.