Snickers Cheesecake

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Everyone!

I hope you all have the most beautiful weekend!

So, are your holiday menus ready to go?

I'm lucky this year ... both moms are hosting!

Dessert only for me! Whoop Whoop!!

In case you're looking for a last minute,

fabulous dessert - I have just the one:

Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups Teddy Grahams, crushed
1 stick butter, room temp.
1/2 tsp. Salt

Filling:
32 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 Snickers Bars, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces

Topping:
Caramel Sauce {store bought or homemade}
1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts, chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix crust ingredients together with fingers and pat down in a 8 or 9 inch spring form pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crust has browned slightly. Let cool. Line outside of pan with two layers of tin foil. Set aside.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees.
Place Snickers pieces down on cooled crust.
In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add cream, then eggs - one at the time - until well combined. Mix in sugar and extract. Pour batter on top of the Snickers lined crust. Place pan inside a larger pan or baking sheet with high sides. Put in oven and pour warm water in larger pan until about half way up cheesecake pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the center only slightly jiggles.

Let cheesecake come to room temperature. Pour caramel sauce all over top and sprinkle the peanuts evenly. Refrigerate over night.

This dish will totally

impress your family!!

It's a little work, 

but SO worth the effort!

My family went bonkers

for the creamy cake ...

the rich caramel topping ...

and the chocolaty crust!

And, the kids had so much 

fun finding candy bars in their slice!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Enjoy your time with friends and family!

See you all in 2012!

Caramel-Apple Coffee Cake

Who LOVES 

Lady Behind The Curtain?!

I do, I DO!!

A few weeks ago,

she invited me to join

a new little Linky Party ...

The Improv Cooking Challenge 

It's a once a month party

where two ingredients {chosen by Lady}

have to be featured in the recipe.

October's Ingredients:

Apples and Caramel

I chose to use an

old, family recipe - Coffee Cake
only with a little twist!!

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 Large Apple, small diced

1 stick Unsalted Butter, room temp.

1 cup Sugar

2 Eggs, well beaten

1 cup Sour Cream

1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

Filling and Topping

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp. Apple Pie Spice

1/2 cup Caramel Baking Bites

1/2 cup Chopped Pecans {optional}

Method

Mix topping ingredients together and set aside.

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar. When light and fluffy, add eggs. Mix in sour cream and vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture until well combined. 

To Layer Cake:

Fill your pan with half the batter - sprinkle 2/3 of topping mixture onto batter - pour the rest of your batter and sprinkle with the remaining topping mixture. Bake for 45 minutes. *Note: This is enough batter for one 8 or 9 inch round pan. The recipe will need to be doubled if using a sheet pan.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup Caramel Baking Bites

1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Melt ingredients together over low heat and drizzle over cooled cake.

This is ahhh-mazing!

The cake is soft and buttery ...

the apples still have a slight bite ...

and the caramel is rich and flavorful!

And, talk about texture!

The topping is perfectly crunchy

and the toasted pecans warms the flavor.

A truly 

one of a kind

autumn tea treat!

A big THANK YOU

to Lady Behind The Curtain

for inviting me in on the party ...

This was LOADS

of fun and I am already

super excited about November!

{Which is Pumpkin and Cream Cheese}

If you'd like to join in on the fun,

head on over the LBTC now and sign up!

Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Rustic Apple Pear Tart with Ginger Caramel Sauce

My beautiful sister

{the one I threw a shower for back in July}

had her sweet baby boy last night!

Man, did she have a tough time -

after 3 1/2 hours of pushing,

Mr. Evans Colton finally made his appearance!

He is just perfect

in every way

and cute-as-a-button!

Since I have been out of town

for a few days visiting them,

I hadn't had a chance to get in the kitchen ...

So, this afternoon

my hands were itching

to create something!!

Ingredients
2 Apples, sliced
2 Pears, sliced
1/2 stick Butter
1 cup Sugar {I used half light brown, half dark brown}
2 tsp. finely chopped/grated Ginger
Juice of one Lemon
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp. Salt
Cornstarch Slurry
Pie Crust {Store bought or homemade will work great}

Method
If making homemade pie crust, prepare that first and place in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in pan and add sugar and ginger. Stir until sugar has melted. Add apples, pears and lemon juice - stir to coat. Season filling with vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt.
To make a slurry, add two tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water to a small bowl and mix until the cornstarch has dissolved. Pour slurry over filling and stir until combined. Bring to a boil to thicken. Set filling aside.
Roll out pie crust to a 1/4 inch thick and place on a cookie sheet. Pour filling into center of crust and fold over the edges to seal pie. Sprinkle dough with a little sugar if you would like.
Bake for approx. 20-25 minutes, or until crust is a golden brown and filling is bubbling.

To prepare Ginger-Caramel Sauce: Melt 1/2 cup caramel candies with 2 tbsp. Heavy Cream and a 1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger in the microwave according to the package's directions. When the pie has cooled slightly, drizzle caramel over the top and serve with a dollop of whip cream or scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Chocolate Caramel Dipped Peeps

Jade!! - my husband exclaimed from our den. 

These bunnies are good! 

{After 5 years of being together, whenever I come up with something extraordinarily yummy,
he always seems surprised! ;) }

The only way I can eat a Peep is when it's been dipped in DARK CHOCOLATE! 

Otherwise, they're just wacky sweet!

But, what would happen if I added a little chewy texture to the pot?

Well, I'll tell ya -

Mmmm... OmmNommNomm... happens!

Okay, what you need:

Caramel bits, cream, chocolate, peeps, parchment paper, sucker sticks

Melt caramel according to the instructions located on the back of the package {it says to use water, but I replaced that with heavy cream because ... well, why not?} Place a stick into the bottom of each Peep, dip them in the melted caramel and rest on parchment paper to dry. They will dry fairly quickly.

Then, dip in your favorite chocolate. { I heart 60% Cocoa } Feel free to decorate them as pretty as you want! I just drizzled with Pink White Chocolate.

I thought they were pretty adorable!

Incredible easy!

And, quite superb!
Enjoy!

Parties I Linked To:
Sweets For A Saturday - Sweet As Sugar Cookies
Shindig Saturday - Kim's Kandy Kreations
Saturday Mornings
Sweet Tooth Friday - Alli N Son
M.M.M. - C.R.A.F.T.