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Butter Pecan Cheese Cake with Spun Sugar

This is one of my most requested Cheesecakes. It is really spectacular but much easier than it looks. It is a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort. You will definitely "Wow" your friends and family with this one.

Butter Pecan Cheesecake

yield: One 8 or 9 inch cake

Graham Crust: 1 1/3 Cups of Graham Wafer Crumbs

1/3 Cup of Melted Butter or Margarine

2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Mix together in a bowl and press on the bottom and up the sides (about 1 inch) of a 8 or 9 inch, round springform pan and set aside.

Filling: 3 (250 g) Packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature

3/4 Cups of Sugar

3 Large Eggs

2 Heaping Tablespoons of Sour Cream

1 Tablespoon of Vanilla

1 Cup of Pecan Pieces

2 Tablespoons of Butterscotch Sundae Sauce

Blend first five ingredients together until smooth. Spread half of batter over graham crust. Sprinkle pecans over this and drizzle with butterscotch sauce. Top with remaining half of cream cheese batter. Bake in preheated 325 F oven on center rack for approx. 1 hour or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Ganache Topping: Yields enough to top two cheesecakes

1/4 Cup of Heavy Cream

1 1/2 Cups of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Bring cream to boil over high heat in a small saucepan. Remove from heat as soon as it reaches the boiling point. Add chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Spread over warm or cooled cheesecake.

Spun Sugar: 1 Cup of Sugar

1/2 Cup of Water

Put ingredients in heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, without stirring or moving the pan around. Let it boil for approx. five minutes, or until you notice the syrup beginning to turn a light golden color. Remove from heat and set aside. It will continue to darken slightly because of the heat in the pan. Once it cools for about 3 - 5 minutes and begins to thicken and thread from the spoon. drop from teaspoon onto parchment lined baking sheets to form your decorations. Once the decorations are cooled completely, remove them & add to your finished cheesecake.

PLEASE WATCH INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

Nanimo Bars

This is a favorite treat around our house. I usually only make them on special occasions such as Christmas or Easter because they are quite a rich treat and not something one should eat everyday. Not that we wouldn't enjoy one of these everyday......LOL

Nanimo Bars

Yield: one 8 or 9 inch square pan

First Layer: In a large saucepan, combine the following ingredients: 1/2 Cup of Butter or Margarine, 1 Large Egg, i/4 Cup of Sugar, 1 teaspoon of Vanilla and 5 Tablespoons of Cocoa

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the following ingredients: 1 1/2 Cups of Graham Wafer Crumbs, 1 Cup of Coconut, 1 Cup of finely Chopped Nuts.

Firmly press this mixture into the bottom of a buttered 8 or 9 inch square pan. set pan in the refrigerator until chilled thoroughly.

Middle Layer: Cream the following ingredients together until smooth and of relatively stiff: 2 Cups of Icing Sugar, 1/4 Cup of Butter softened to room temperature, 1 Tablespoon of Milk and 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla

Spread this butter cream mixture evenly over the first layer and refrigerate until chilled thoroughly.

Top Layer: Melt 1 Cup of chocolate chips along with 1 Tablespoon of Butter or Margarine in a small saucepan over very low heat or in the microwave. Drizzle over middle layer and refrigerate until set.

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread

I totally love banana bread......as long as there are nuts in it. It's a great way to put those left over bananas to good use. The older the bananas, the better the flavor of your banana bread. When my bananas are getting old, I usually put them in the fridge and leave them there until the skins turn good and black, before I use them. Putting them in the fridge is beneficial in other ways as well......bananas left spoiling on the counter top will attract fruit flies......YIKES!

Banana Nut Bread

Yield: One 8 or 9 inch loaf

1 Large Egg

3/4 Cups of Milk

1/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil

2 medium sized Ripe Banana's Mashed (Approx. 1 1/2 Cups)

1/2 Cup of Chopped Nuts (Walnuts or Pecans)

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup of Sugar

3 teaspoons of Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of Salt

Mash bananas in medium sized mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix by hand. Add milk, vegetable oil, and egg. Mix by hand. Combine remaining ingredients and add to banana mixture. Stir by hand just until combined. Pour batter in greased loaf pan. Bake on center rack in a preheated 350F oven for 60 - 70 minutes or until golden brown and tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan. Cool on wire rack. Slice and Enjoy!!

Double Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookie

These cookies are a real treat for all of you chocolate lovers. They kind of remind me of a crispy version of brownies. An extra special way to serve these cookies is to spread butter cream between two cookies.........mmm mmm good!.......move over Oreo....

Double Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 2 to 4 dozen depending on the size you make

1 1/4 Cups of Margarine or Butter softened to room temperature

1 1/2 Cups of Sugar

2 Large Eggs

2/3 Cups of Cocoa (you're favorite brand)

2 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons of Baking Soda

1 to 1 1/2 Cups of Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cups of Chopped Nuts (optional)

Cream margarine and sugar in medium sized mixing bowl on medium speed of hand mixer. Add eggs and blend. Add cocoa and blend. Add flour and baking soda. Blend. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop onto parchment lined baking sheet using a teaspoon for smaller cookies. Bake in preheated 375F oven for 12 - 15 minutes. (This will yield approx 4 dozen cookies)

Drop by Tablespoon for a larger cookie and bake for 15 - 20 minutes in preheated 375F oven. This will yield 2 dozen cookies.

Surpise Carrot Cake

This is my most requested cake and once you make it and taste it, you will know why. It is spectacular!




People always ask "What's the surprise" and I always answer "It doesn't have any carrots" and then I crack up laughing. That really isn't the surprise at all. Traditionally, people make carrot cake frosted with a cream cheese icing, but not me. I make a cream cheese filling, which I bake inside of my carrot cake. It's a nice surprise. Most of the time I frost my finished cake with regular butter cream and sprinkle it with toasted coconut flakes, but sometimes, I just dust each slice with icing sugar. It's also tasty eaten plain. The choice is yours.

Surprise Carrot Cake

Yield 10-12 servings

Cake Batter:

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

1 3/4 Cups of Sugar

2 teaspoons of Baking Soda

1 teaspoon of Salt

2 teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon

1 Cup of Vegetable Oil

3 Eggs Beaten

1/2 Cup of Raisins (optional)

1/2 Cup of Chopped Pecans or Walnuts (optional)

Filling:

250 gram Pkg. of Cream Cheese softened to room temperature

1/4 Cup of Sugar

1 Egg beaten

Please watch video for procedures and baking instructions. Leave cake in pan for about ten minutes after you take it from the oven, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Frost as desired. Enjoy!

Homemade Raisin Bread

Homemade raisin bread is an all time favorite in this family. It's great any way you want to eat it......plain, or toasted, with peanut butter or jam or my favorite...Cheese whiz. How about a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar on a warm piece of buttered raisin bread toast.......hmmmmmm.

Making raisin bread is time consuming, as is all homemade bread, but by the same token, it is well worth the effort!

I have a "fool proof" formula for making bread, as you may have noticed by now, if you follow my blog. I use my basic white bread recipe, with one or two modifications in order to create different types of bread.

With the raisin bread, all you have to do, is follow my white bread recipe and video, making the following two changes. 1.) Substitute the 1/4 Cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of Molasses. 2.) Add 1 Cup of raisins and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to your flour at the very beginning.

If you'd like to make an Oatmeal Raisin Bread, just add a cup of rolled oats with your flour in the beginning. If you'd like to make some nice Oatmeal Brown Bread to go with your baked beans on a Saturday night, leave out the raisins and cinnamon. Pretty simple stuff.



Roll up your sleeves and have some fun!