Recipes | Pam's Cheesecake

I've never met Pam, but man, I think she's pretty darn great!  :)  If you're willing to devote a few years to perfecting a cheesecake recipe, you are someone I could definitely be friends with.  Here's her heavenly cheesecake recipe...you should go make some right now...

 

While the strawberries were a great addition, my only regret is that I opted for strawberries instead of whipped cream...rookie mistake.  What was I thinking?!?  Always choose BOTH!

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

First off, I should say that I'm hesitant to even write this up....I was loving these cupcakes and frosting so much, but then I went to Craft Weekend, and Kimberlee made another version of this that was absolutely TO-DIE-FOR...completely negating everything I was thinking about these cupcakes.  However, Mark said that these are still post worthy, so here they are:

Press a frozen Reece's Peanut Butter Cup into your favorite chocolate cupcake batter.

Watch them bake up into these cute things...  :)

Top with amazing Peanut Butter Frosting....and another Reece's, cut in half...you can never have too much chocolate and peanut butter, right?!

Repeat.  Because you're gonna need more than one of these babies!

Here's the frosting recipe (modified from Barefoot Contessa), in case you don't have Kimberlee's (which I don't yet...key word is yet):

Peanut Butter Icing:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup 2% milk

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Fruit Slush Cups

I signed up to bring fruit for my Bible study brunch last week....and while I do love a good fruit salad, it gets a little old, so I wanted to bring something a little different.  And then I remembered these fruit cups my friend Crystal made for my baby shower... probably more of a summer food than one you'd typically serve in February, but honestly, I think they're good anytime!  (And they got rave reviews...Mark said I had made his day by making them because he remembers his mom making them when he was a kid!)  Anyway...here's the yummy recipe, modified a bit from the one Crystal's mom passed on to her.

Fruit Slush Cups
6 oz pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
6 oz orange juice concentrate, thawed
4 bananas, sliced
20 oz can of crushed pineapple
16 oz frozen strawberries, sliced (just the strawberries,    
           not the kind in the syrup)
1 can (12 oz) strawberry soda

Mix all the ingredients together, and pour into 12 individual cups.  Freeze.  Pull out of freezer an hour and a half before serving.

Cinnamon Critters

Isaac started getting the High Five magazine (little kids counterpart to Highlights), and I might have been more excited that he was....I LOVED getting Highlights when I was a kid!  Could not wait for the mail to come, and then for all the fun games, activities, and stories inside....oh good times!  Well, Isaac yesterday settled down to read this months magazine, do some look and finds, and then he realized there were activities and recipes.  We couldn't make the mushroom bowling game (need to collect a few supplies), but we did have everything to make Cinnamon Critters....a HUGE hit!

In case you're dying to make your own, here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Critters
Ingredients:
Breadstick dough (like the Pillsbury kind in a can)
3 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the cinnamon & sugar together.  Sprinkle it out on a piece of wax paper.  Roll each breadstick in the cinnamon sugar mix, coating completely.  Place on a baking sheet.  Put mini chocolate chips on for eyes.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.