Reese's Cheesecake Bars

Oooooooh boy.

Do I have a recipe for you!

I've been absent a lot lately and the food-related posts have seriously been lacking, but now I'm back with a BANG!

Feast your eyes on these babies:

Hello, beautiful. Get in my mouth.

Reese's Cheesecake Bars.

Yes. You read that right. Reeses + cheesecake. Two of my favorite things, and hopefully two of your favorite things too.

If not, you're weird. (sorry)


My only complaint is WHY THE #$%^ DIDN'T I MAKE THESE SOONER?!?

In case you can't tell already, these are amazingly delicious. Probably going to make a batch of these as often as I possibly can (which if I want to still fit in my jeans is not that often).

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!


Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
source: The Sweets Life

Ingredients:
Crust-
-7 whole graham crackers, broken into small pieces
-6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted & cooled
-3 tbsp brown sugar
-2 tbsp all-purpose flour
-1/8 tsp salt

Filling-
-2 packages cream cheese, softened (I used reduced-fat cream cheese)
-2/3 cup granulated sugar
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup sour cream (I subbed 0% greek yogurt)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 bag mini Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped

-1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line an 8-in pan with aluminum foil, leaving a 3-4 inch overhang on each side. Grease foil.
2. Make graham cracker crust by adding crackers to food processor and pulsing until fine. Add butter, brown sugar, flour, and salt. Pulse until mixture is combined. Press into the bottom of the baking dish.
3. Bake crust for 12-15 minutes until browning. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in sour cream (or greek yogurt) and vanilla extract until fully combined.
5. After chopping Reese's peanut butter cups, set aside approximately 1/2 cup for later. Stir the remaining chopped candies into the cream cheese batter.
6. Pour batter into baking pan, spreading evenly over crust. Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes (rotate halfway through), until the edges are set and middle still jiggles slightly.
7. Cool cheesecake for 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate 3-24 hours.
8. Remove from fridge and using the foil overhang, remove bars from pan. Melt chocolate in the microwave (stirring every 15 seconds). Drizzle chocolate over bars and top with remaining chopped Reese's cups. Cut into squares and enjoy!

**Ashley's Notes: I had to speed this process along because I made these just a few hours before I wanted to eat them, so there was no time for 24 hours of chilling. Instead, I pulled the cheesecake out of the oven and let it cool at room temp for about 1 hour. Then I put the cheesecake into the freezer for about 2 hours (just enough to thoroughly chill but not freeze them). They still turned out great so if you're in a pinch, you can do it the faster way!

Another note, don't freak out if your cheesecake cracks as it cools. This happens. And you're just going to cover it with chocolate and Reese's anyway so it doesn't matter!

Nutella Macaroons a.k.a. Coconut Heaven

Lately I've been loving on coconut. Coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut butter, and (most of all) coconut DESSERTS!

I think its partially because it's a delicious way to add some richness and creaminess to foods, but mostly because my husband is a Coconut Hater. You know what that means? That means anything I make with coconut in it is ALL MINE!! Muahahaha!


And boy oh boy, do I ever have a doozie of a coconut recipe for you! I spotted the recipe for these macaroons on Oh She Glows and was shocked at how it didn't call for any flour or butter.

The "butter" is actually made from grinding up coconut flakes until they release their oils and becomes coconut butter! How cool is that?!

Note: This is not how the coconut butter should look....you have to keep processing it until it turns into a smooth oil-like consistency. I just forgot to take a pic of the finished coconut butter. Oopsie!

And, although the original recipe is brilliant on it's own, I just couldn't leave well-enough alone.

So I added Nutella. Because EVERYTHING is better with Nutella.


So if you're a coconut lover, MAKE THESE! Immediately. Because they are really amazing.

Nutella Macaroons

Adapted slightly from Oh She Glows
Yield: ~22 macaroons.

Ingredients:
• 2 2/3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut (to make coconut butter)
• 2 (additional) cups shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 vanilla bean (just omit this if you don't have it - no biggie!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 heaping Tbsp Nutella
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with a non-stick mat or parchment. In a food processor, process 2 and 2/3 cups of shredded coconut for about 5-8 minutes until coconut butter forms. You will have to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl. For a coconut butter how-to, see this post. Alternatively, you can use 1 cup of store bought coconut butter.

2. Once you have made the coconut butter, add the other ingredients to the food processor and pulse a few times until it's incorporated. (If you don't have a large enough food processor, just mix all the ingredients in a bowl...that's perfectly fine too, I just didn't want to dirty another bowl!)

3. Scoop about 1-2 tbsp of dough onto a baking sheet (with a cookie scoop, if you have it). You don’t have to leave much room in between as they do not spread out. Bake for 25-28 minutes at 300F. Watch them closely after 22-23 minutes.

4. Allow the macaroons to sit for 25 minutes so they can firm up. If you do not do this, the macaroons will crumble, so this step is crucial! Store in a sealed container at room temp (or in the fridge if you prefer).
I may or may not have gone out and bought an "economy size" bag of coconut after making this recipe so I can ALWAYS have enough coconut on hand for these macaroons! Mmmmm.


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Did you notice the fancy new Foodbuzz advertisements on the blog?!? Well, I'm officially a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher now! Woohoo! Basically all that means is that I get to connect with other food bloggers and maybe even earn a small (teeny tiny) amount of money off of the blog now. :)

I am submitting this post as part of the Top 9 Takeover on Foodbuzz. In a Top 9 Takeover, Foodbuzz asks all Featured Publishers to construct a post around a theme and then, for one day only, all Top 9 posts reflect that theme. Foodbuzz will donate $50 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for this post and every other post submitted by Featured Publishers. Pretty cool, right?!

The theme for this takeover is "The Perfect Tea Party Recipe" and I happen to think that these semi-healthy, buttery and delicious macaroons would make a GREAT tea party dish!

But guess what?! YOU can participate too and help raise money for a great cause! Go to the Kelly Confidential website and pick out a perfect tea party outfit and Electrolux will donate $1 to the fund!

Cancer is something that affects EVERYONE in one way or another so whenever I can find an opportunity to help find a cure for ANY kind of cancer, you better believe I'm going to take it! I hope you feel the same way too and we can all pitch in to raise lots of money for this worthy cause! (Plus, you get to pick out a cute virtual outfit while you're at it!) :)

Double Chocolate Caramel Cookies

I've been bad.

Very bad.

I had a bag of these begging to be used:

And a dinner party to go to tonight so I decided to bake something to bring to the party.

Double Chocolate Caramel Cookies. Ohhhh baby. Yum.

These remind me of a treat that my mom used to make all the time affectionately known as "hiphugger brownies". They were chocolatey, melty, caramely brownies and called "hiphuggers" for obvious reasons. These are the cookie version of those indulgent brownies.

Double Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Source: Rookie Cookie

makes 64 small cookies

2 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup caramel bits or chopped up caramel squares
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Set oven to 350°F.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar. Add eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in caramel bits and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until set. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

I actually did the calorie count on these, just because I was curious, and was surprised to find out that 2 cookies was only 184 calories. I guess I expected them to be much worse than that. (Granted, I did make the cookies pretty small, but still!)

184 calories per two cookies means....I'll have six. :)

Someone was hoping for me to drop some cookies on the floor so she could partake:

But I'm saving them for myself. Oh and I might share some with the people at the dinner party tonight.

Maybe.

Back in Action!

Good news! The first thing I unpacked was all our kitchen supplies so I could get back into the cooking/baking mode. Screw setting up the bed or worrying about unpacking silly things like clothing. I have my priorities, people! :)

So the first thing I baked was a recipe that I actually attempted before the move and failed miserably. The recipe is the extremely popular (in the blog world at least) MamaPea's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. They're supposed to be like a chocolate chip cookie on the outside, but doughy and gooey on the inside.

Side Note: If you haven't already, please check out MamaPea's blog! She is a hilarious mom of 2 little girls who also happens to be a vegan. I'm not much for vegan cooking, but I totally love her blog and she even makes me want to be a vegan for a split second. But then I get a craving for a big juicy cheeseburger and that thought fades away pretty quickly.

The first time I made them they turned out wayyyyyyyyy too dry and crumbly...not "doughy" at all. This time I added some extra liquid to make them less dry and they turned out much better....however I still wish they were a tad bit more "dough-like" on the inside. There's always room for improvement!

Also, you're supposed to chill the dough before baking for 30 minutes in order to keep the dough balls from flattening while baking....however I am an impatient person so I decided to skip this step. To compensate for the lack of chilling, I baked them in a mini muffin tin to help them keep their shape. It actually worked pretty well and they look like cute little mini muffin cookies. :)

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

adapted from Peas and Thank You

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or you can use cake flour)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1-2 Tbsp of milk (if needed to reduce dryness)

1 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flours. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl and mix until a dough forms. The dough should be slightly crumbly but not dry....if it's dry at this point, add the milk. You should be able to form them into balls without them falling apart on you. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough with a mini ice cream scoop, roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. They’ll still be soft and look much like they did going in, but don’t overbake. The bottoms will be very lightly browned. Let the dough balls rest on the pan for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Blogworthy

I haven't had much that I deemed blogworthy going on in my life since I got back from Seattle. Just your typical work, sleep, repeat cycle with not a lot of blogworthy cooking or eating going on.

Well, that is, except for the fried oreos that we devoured while at the fair last weekend.

Those were most definitely blogworthy, but unfortunately also undocumented. :(

And then there are the Iced Pumpkin Cookies that I made for a party earlier today.

Cakey, soft, sweet but not-too-sweet, positively delightful.

And lucky for you, those cookies WERE documented:

And they were quite a hit at the party, so I guess I'm not the only one who thinks these are blogworthy.

I need to remember to make these more often.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.