SNICKERS Dip

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Are you excited for the Big Game?!! It's never too early to start planning and boy do I have a treat for you today! My SNICKERS® Dip is sweet, creamy, delicious, and packed full of delicious SNICKERS® Bites! It is always a big hit for the Big Game!

Lime Cheesecake Parfait

Lime Cheesecake Parfait is amazingly easy to make and has a secret ingredient that makes it healthier and creamier too! You can't beat that!! The secret ingredient also gives this yum-mazing dessert that gorgeous green color! Healthy, creamy and green - have you guessed what the secret ingredient is? Hint: It's one of my favorite fruits!

Avocado Lime Cheesecake Recipe

Avocado Lime Cheesecake is da bomb! Trust me on this one! I was skeptical too! I mean I LOVE avocados, but in a cheesecake? Come on! That's just weird!!

Cookie Butter Cheesecake Bars with Chocolate Ganache

posted by Marion@Life Tastes Good on 2013-08-29

These bars are delightful! One bite of this heavenly combination of Cookie Butter, Cheesecake, and Chocolate Ganache will make you close your eyes and savor every last morsel of these rich and creamy bars! Nothing left to say! You know you want 'em!!

Ingredients

• 1 package honey graham crackers (about 9 crackers)
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted (unsalted butter always...for everything)
• 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cookie butter (Biscoff Spread - creamy)
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Don't spray the parchment paper. You just want to spray the pan so the parchment will stick to it somewhat. Be sure to leave excess parchment hanging over the sides for easy removal.
2. Using a blender or food processor, pulse the graham crackers until you have fine crumbs. Add in the melted butter and process until combined. Press graham cracker mixture evenly into your prepared baking pan, making sure to get all the way into corners. Compress down with the back of a spoon.
3. Clean out the blender or food processor and add the 2 packages of cream cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse until well combined and smooth.
4. Spread approximately 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture on top of the graham cracker crust evenly. Add 1/2 cup cookie butter to the remaining cream cheese mixture and pulse until well combined. Spread the cookie butter cream cheese mixture on top and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.
5. When cooled, heat 1/8 cup of heavy cream and pour over chocolate chips. Stir until melted and smooth. Pour evenly over bars in a thin layer and refrigerate overnight. I prefer to make these up a couple days ahead. As with any cheesecake, the flavor improves over time and is usually best when it has had about 2 days in the fridge. When ready to eat, remove the parchment from the pan, cut into squares, and enjoy! They won't last long!

Photo by ourlifetastesgood.blogspot.com

Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars recipe is inspired by a Mexican donut that is made from leavened wheat dough and butter. When fried it puffs up leaving a hollow center. This recipe is great because you get all the yummy goodness without all the work! Gotta love that!

We were watching TV the other night and someone said they have Mexican food for their Christmas dinner, and that started up Madison's cravings! So I decided to surprise her on Friday with an appetizer dinner of different Mexican foods

This dessert went perfectly with our themed meal, and the recipe sounded so simple I had to give it a try!  It is best to make this up a day ahead, but if you don't have that kind of time, it is still yummy as long as it has some time to cool in the fridge

Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars

By Life Tastes Good
Published 12/22/2012

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 1 (8 ounce) pacakges Philly Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9" baking dish with cooking spray. Open 1 crescent roll package and unroll into bottom of greased dish - press the seams together seal.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine 8 ounce cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup sugar until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the dough in the baking dish.
3. Open the 2nd can of crescent rolls and unroll onto a piece of parchment paper. Press seams together to seal.
4. Pick up parchment paper and lay, dough side down, onto cream cheese filling. Remove parchment. If you don't have parchment - no worries - just unroll onto top of cream cheese filling, being sure to cover it and try to pinch the seams together. Don't make yourself crazy trying to close the seams - it will bake up nicely either way.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. When you remove the cheesecake from the oven, evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the dough. Allow to cool and then refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Yield: 12-15 Servings
Prep Time: 15 mins.

Cook time: 30 mins.
Total time: 45 mins.

recipe inspired by allrecipes.com Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars

Brownie Cheesecake

I am so happy Madison is home from college for the winter break! Not only does she empty the dishwasher for me and bring in the groceries, she also bakes wonderful things! 

Emptying the dishwasher is one of my least favorite things to do in the kitchen. Why is that? I don't have a problem putting the dishes INTO the dishwasher! As a matter of fact I really enjoy getting the dirty dishes out of sight, but I have no idea why I have an aversion to taking the beautifully clean dishes out and putting them away. Madison has always done it for me until she had to get all ambitious and go to college (sheesh - kids).  I've been stuck doing it all the time now. Every once in a while I can sweet talk the hubs into taking care of it for me, but that ends up being more trouble than it's worth! He doesn't know where anything goes! How is that?? He has lived in this house as long as everyone else... (sheesh - men!)

Anyhoo, back to baking...Just the other day Madison made a batch of brownies and turned them into this delicious cheesecake! I am a big fan of cheesecake on any given day, but I can't believe how wonderful this cheesecake is! It is so creamy and flavorful! Not too rich either - it is just right! She is amazing!

Brownie Cheesecake

Brownie Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Brownie Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8" square pan. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder. Spread batter in prepared pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Brownie recipe from allrecipes.com

Crust Ingredients

3 cups ground Chocolate Teddy Grahams.
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Crust Directions

Stir together crust ingredients and press into bottom and 1 inch up side of a greased 9" or 10" spring-form pan. Use right away or chill until ready to use.

Cheesecake Ingredients

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 cups brownie cubes (from recipe above)

Cheesecake Directions

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add 4 large eggs one at a time. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup sugar and beat on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down between additions. Gently fold brownie cubes into mixture and pour into spring-form pan. Place the pan onto a shallow baking pan such as a cookie sheet to catch any drippings if necessary (I like to line the pan with foil for easier clean up). Bake in the center of a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cake set around edges but center is still slightly jiggly.

Recipe inspired by Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

Caramel Banana Cheesecake Shooters

I was experimenting in the kitchen today, and I created a yummy little treat I plan to make for Madison's college equestrian team.  They are competing in the first show of the season, and Madison was chosen as one of the riders for this show. We are so excited to go watch the team compete, and happy we are able to spoil them a little bit

Last year I purchased these little plastic push pop containers

to make transporting treats easier when attending the shows. These nifty push pops are perfect for layering cake and filling to create all sorts of delectable yummies! 

Because I've been on a caramel kick lately, I naturally came up with something to incorporate that flavor in the cake shooters.  I wanted to make a sort of caramel cheesecake, but I thought making a graham cracker crust would be a bit messy to eat out of the push pop, so I wondered if I could make a cake that tastes like a graham cracker.  allrecipes.com to the rescue once again. I went to the site and typed in graham cracker cake and up came this recipe... allrecipes.com Graham Cracker Cake  It had good reviews, so I decided to give it a go. I made the cake exactly as stated in the recipe, but I baked it in a 13x9" dish for about 35 minutes. The cake is really good and tastes just like a graham cracker- it is exactly what I wanted!

Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients

2 (8 oz) package cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1 banana

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/3 cup whipped cream (I used Cool Whip)

Place cream cheese, sugar, banana. and lemon juice in a blender or a mixing bowl and mix until smooth (I prefer using a blender for this - it gets it very smooth). Fold in whipped cream until incorporated.  Give it a taste and adjust flavors to your liking. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes. Then store in the fridge until ready to use.

Caramel Topping

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 1/4 cups heavy cream - warmed

salt to taste

In a heavy weight saucepan over medium heat, heat the sugar until it starts to melt and brown. This will take at least 5 minutes - maybe a little longer. Stir constantly so you don't burn the sugar (that would be bad). Once your sugar is starting to look a little brown and turning into crystallized chunks then you can add the butter. Keep stirring! Stir until you have a beautiful caramel colored smooth sauce. Be patient. It is worth the effort! Once you reach the smooth, caramel colored sauce remove the pan from the heat.  Be sure the cream is warmed all the way through. Add the cream about 1/4 cup at a time (be careful it will steam) and stir until well combined. Keep adding until all the cream is combined.  Salt to taste and enjoy the rich, smooth, creamy goodness. 

note: if the cream is not sufficiently warmed you may end up with chunks in your sauce. Not to fear - just put it back over mid-high heat and stir until all chunks are dissolved.

To make the cake shooters I used the push pop to cut cake rounds (if you don't have push pop containers you can make these in anything really and eat with a spoon). I whipped up some cheesecake filling and caramel topping.  Layer the ingredients as follows: 1 cake round, pipe in cheesecake filling, and drizzle caramel topping. Repeat until you fill the container. These are delicious right away, but pop these in the fridge overnight and enjoy them cold the next day - even better! Yummmm.

Next time I think I'll try using the graham cracker cake with a chocolate ganache and marshmallow meringue for a s'more shooter....

Banana Cheesecake Donut with Caramel Sauce

  On a recent trip to a local restaurant we enjoyed a Fried Banana Cheesecake for dessert. Right away Madison and I decided we must duplicate it at home - it was so amazing!! She had a great idea to bake our donut muffin recipe in her fancy donut pan.  Then we'd cut them in half - hollow them out and fill them with a delicious banana cheesecake concoction.  Drizzle that with a homemade caramel sauce and it should be very close to the restaurant's dessert. Sounded like a plan to me!!  We set out to do just that and we were able to make a very tasty substitution of that yummy dessert! Be warned - it is dangerously good!

Donut

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour 

Topping

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in the sour cream and milk, then mix in the baking soda and flour until just combined. Fill each section of the donut pan, evenly, with the batter.  I had enough batter to fill each section about 1/2 way with batter to yield 3 donuts.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray fancy donut pan with cooking spray. I imagine you can make this in a cupcake pan as well if you don't want to run out and buy a fancy donut pan

Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through - about 20 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.

While donuts are baking, place 1/4 cup of melted butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon. Remove donut and dip each in the melted butter, and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Let cool.

Caramel Topping (make while donuts are baking)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups heavy cream, heated

Directions

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is caramel brown in color. It is important to make sure the butter/sugar mixture is a dark brown caramel color. This will take some patience. Trust me it will start to brown just keep on stirring. The butter will separate from the sugar after it starts to brown and that is a good sign - you are almost there!  At that point lower the heat and continue stirring until it is a nice dark caramel color.  When you reach the beautiful caramel color then you can add the warmed heavy cream slowly - about 1/4 cup at a time - stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to boil (keep stirring) for about 3-5 minutes then remove from heat and let cool.

Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 banana

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/3 cup whipped cream (I used Cool Whip)

Directions

Place cream cheese, sugar, banana. and lemon juice in a blender or a mixing bowl and mix until smooth (I prefer using a blender for this - it gets it very smooth). Fold in whipped cream until incorporated.  Give it a taste and adjust flavors to your liking. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes. Then store in the fridge until ready to use.

Assemble

Take a cooled donut and slice it in half. I like to cut it on the diagonal - it looks nice

     

Now hollow out the center of each half being careful not to poke any holes in the donut. This next step is very important, so don't leave it out! This is when you gobble up all the donutty goodness you just scooped out of the center - yummmm (don't leave that part out!)

I like to pipe in the filling, but you can spoon it in - fill each half with the cheesecake filling

All that is left is to drizzle with some of the delicious caramel sauce. If the sauce has cooled too much be sure to warm it in the microwave just a little bit

Enjoy!

Strawberry Cheesecake

I know they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who wouldn't think this is beautiful?! Right?

Not only is this Strawberry Cheesecake impressively gorgeous, but it is most delicious as well! 

This cheesecake recipe is perfect, in my humble opinion. The texture is smooth and velvety, and the taste is rich (but not too rich), and there is no denying it is pleasing on the eyes!

Of course, this is perfect anytime of year, but this Strawberry Cheesecake typically makes an appearance on our Easter table. It is a truly spectacular ending to a wonderful holiday meal enjoyed with family and friends.

Holiday dinners can be a little stressful, so do yourself a favor and make this up a day or two ahead of time. It will taste even better after spending some time in the fridge and you'll have one less thing to worry about. You're welcome :o)