Turtle Cheesecake

This was another dessert Bo's aunt made for the blessing, and this one was too good. Ya know, like the kind of good that you eat 4 pieces and regret it the next day, but you can't feel too bad because it tasted too good! Yeah, that's this dessert - Heavenly yet sinful all in the same dessert.

TURTLE CHEESECAKE

2 Cups Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
1/2 Cup Butter/Margarine, melted
1 Pkg, (14 oz.) Caramels
2/3 Cup Evaporated Milk
2 Cups Chopped Pecans, Toasted, Divided
4 Pkgs. (8 ox. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 Cup Sugar
2 tsps. Vanilla Extract
4 eggs
1 Cup (6 oz.) Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips. melted and slightly cooled
Whipped cream, optional

Combine crumbs and butter; blend well. Press into bottom and 2 inches up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. Bake at 350F 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the unwrapped caramels in evaporated milk. Stir until smooth. Cool 5 minutes. Pour over crust. Top with 1-1.2 cups pecans. In mixing bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Blend in cooled chocolate. Carefully spread over pecans. Bake at 350F for 55-65 minutes until filling is almost set. Cool to room temperature. Chill overnight. Garnish with whipped cream and remaining nuts.

Burnt Sugar Candy Bar Cake

One of Bo's aunts made this for the baby blessing this past weekend. It was amazing! I wish I would've taken a picture of it before it got eaten. But trust me, it looks amazing and tastes even better!

BURNT SUGAR CANDY BAR CAKE

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup Hot Water

3 Cups All-purpose Flour
1-1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

2/3 Cup butter, softened
1-1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
2 tsp. Vanilla

2 Egg Whites

1 Recipe Browned Butter Frosting

1-1/2 Cups Finely Chopped Assorted Candy Bars (Hershey's, Mars, Nestle', etc.)


Grease and lightly flour three 8x1-1/2 inch round baking pans (if you only have two just save the batter for the third layer until after the first two are done and then bake it and it turns out fine.) or two 9x2 inch pans. In a large skillet cook the 3/4 cup sugar over medium-high heat until the sugar just begins to melt. Do NOT stir. Reduce heat; cook until sugar is a golden brown syrup, about 3-5 minutes more, stirring constantly. Carefully stir in hot water. (It will steam and turn brittle.) Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat. Continue stirring until mixture is dissolved and free of lumps. Remove from heat. Pour syrup into a large glass measuring cup. Add additional water to equal 1-3/4 cups liquid. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl or sifter mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl beat together the 2/3 cup butter, 1-1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Alternately add flour mixture and sugar syrup to egg yolk mixture just until combined. In a medium bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, Fold into batter. Divide batter into baking pans; spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted near the center. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans onto wire racks. Cool completely. Prepare Browned Butter Frosting (below).

To Assemble: spread 1/2 cup Browned Butter Frosting over bottoms of two of the cake layers. Sprinkle each frosted layer with half of the finely chopped candy bars. Stack these layers on cake plate, frosted sides up. Place the third layer (unfrosted) on top, rounded side up. Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake. Garnish with the coarsely chopped candy bar pieces. Makes 12-16 servings.


BROWNED BUTTER FROSTING
In a small saucepan heat and stir 1/2 cup butter (Use butter only. Margarine or other spreads will not yield same results and could keep the frosting from setting properly.) over low heat until melted. Continue heating (it foams) until butter is a nut brown color. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. In a large bowl beat together two 3-oz. packages of softened cream cheese with 3 tablespoons butter until combined. Beat in about 2 cups sifted powdered sugar. Beat in the browned butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually beat in 4-1/2 cups more powdered sugar and 2 to 3 teaspoons milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Crazy Cocoa Cake

At our Enrichment Activity the other night a lady in our ward make this amazing cake. I got the recipe from her, so I thought I'd share. The cake reminded me of the cake on the movie Matilda, ya know, the big one that the boy has to eat. That cake looked so good, so I'm glad to have the recipe now to make my own cake! ☺

Crazy Cocoa Cake
3 cups flour,
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 cups Sugar
1/3 Cup Cocoa
1 Tbsp Vanilla
¾ cup Oil
2 Tbsp Vinegar
2 cups water

Sift together flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Sugar and Cocoa. Make 3 wells in the dry mixture, in the first put Vanilla, the next put Oil, and the last put Vinegar. Pour water over all of it and stir until well blended. Pour into a sprayed 9x13 pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Topping:
3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp Cocoa
1 cup Sugar
¼ tsp Salt
1 cup Water
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Tbsp Butter

In a heavy saucepan mix cornstarch, Cocoa, Sugar, and Salt. Slowly add Water and stir while cooking over medium heat. Mixture will thicken. Take off heat and add Vanilla and Butter. Pour onto cooled cake while topping is hot. Cool cake and serve.

Blackberry Brownies

Such a yummy use for blackberries, and its like those annoying seeds just melted away! Fabulous dessert!

3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup butter, melted and divided in half (I just melted 1/3 cup twice)
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1-1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
approx. 2 pints blackberries (raspberries would probably be just as tasty)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9X13-inch baking pan.

Stir together cocoa and baking soda in mixing bowl; add 1/3 cup butter, mixing well. Add all the boiling water and stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup butter. Add flour, vanilla, and salt. Blend completely. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Gently place blackberries on top of batter. Cover berries with the remaining batter.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out without goop about 2 in. from edge of pan. Good warm, even better cooled.

Reese's Brownies

This is just a simple twist on a classic dessert.

Follow instructions on package of brownie mix accordingly

Then put brownie batter into cupcake tins

Place (unwrapped) mini Reeses cups into center of each pod

Bake according to mix directions

And Tada!

Chocolate-raspberry turnovers

This is my writing debut for the Recipes of our Lives! I Hope you like this Recipe!!

Chocolate-raspberry Turnovers

1 Package (6 oz) fresh raspberries (about 1 cup)
3/4 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam (make sure its seedless or you will have to pick seeds out of your teeth for weeks! :)
2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent dough.
1 egg


1. Heat oven to 375. line two baking sheets with nonstick foil or regular foil coated with nonstick spray. set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine raspberries, chocolate chips and the jam. stir to combine, breaking up raspberries slightly and coating the chips with jam.
3. On a lightly floured surface, unroll one tube crescent dough and separate into 4 rectangles. pinch together any perforations or holes in dough. ** This is very important, i didn't close the holes good enough and i have filling coming out everywhere! :) . Spoon two spoon fulls of the filling onto half of rectangle. ** i have found that it turns out better when you don't over do it with the filling.
4. whisk egg with 1 Tablespoon of water. brush dough edges with the egg wash. fold dough to enclose filling. seal edges; crimp with a fork. Place on the prepared baking sheet. pierce turnover once or twice to vent; brush top with egg wash. repeat with remaining dough and filling.
5. bake at 375 for 11 min until golden brown, cool and then serve!


** side note** Chocolate and raspberries have a natural affinity, but strawberries can also taste great. just change the jam to strawberry as well

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
3 ½ cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix ingredients in order. Bake at 350 until golden brown. Do not over bake.

I got this recipe from nice lady in my old ward. She told me she got the recipe from her Great-Aunt who never married, so she loved to bake. When I make them I have a few specifics that I use, and a thing or two I change. First, I think they turn out better when you use real butter. I also use Mexican Vanilla, it gives them such a nice flavor. Depending on your elevation, the amount of flour you add might differ more or less. After you make them a couple times you will find the right consistency. I also use a whole bag of chocolate chips just because I like lots in my cookies. When I put them on the cookie sheet, I semi flatten them, it makes a flatter cookie which I prefer. Depending on the size of the cookies, bake about 10-12 minutes. After cookies cool, keep them in a zip lock bag, it keeps them softer, longer. Enjoy!

Five-Chip Cookies

Finally, just what this blog needs! An ooey-gooey bad-for-you recipe. Though not deep-fried, it does include chocolate...

These are our family's favorite cookies. Unfortunately, cookies don't settle in my pregnant stomach, so I haven't made them for a long time. JuJu asked me the other day if we could make cookies, and I told her yes, after the baby's born and I can enjoy them, too.

They are still super-tasty with just semi-sweet chocolate chips, but the five chips make them [drool] oh-so-yummy. Enjoy!

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs (add one at a time)
1 tsp. vanilla - BEAT

2 cups flour
1 cup oats
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
CHIPS: Milk Chocolate, Semisweet, Peanut Butter, Vanilla, and Butterscotch. (about 1/4 cup of each kind)

Bake: 350 Degrees for 10-12 minutes
Yield: 4 ½ dozen