Thursday, August 27, 2009

Cheesecake Cookies

I saw these and knew I had to make them. I LOVE cheesecake. Now it's in cookie form!!
Sorry my picture sucks but they are soooo much yummier than they look :)

Cheesecake Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup crushed graham crackers

In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla; beat again. Mix in flour with a spoon or spatula. Refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.
Prepare graham crackers. I put about 4 graham crackers in a sandwich baggie and killed them with my rolling pin and had more than enough.
Spread half of the graham cracker crumbs on a piece of wax paper. Lay out half the chilled dough on top of it. Shape and roll cookie log, coating in crushed graham cracker crumbs. Repeat with second half of dough.
Transfer rolled, coated logs to fresh sheets of waxed paper and wrap. Chill for about two hours in the fridge, or about 30 minutes in the freezer then slice into lovely little cheesecake rounds. Place cookies on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375-degrees for 8-10 minutes. You only want to barely brown the bottoms. Don’t over-bake.

Honestly I could have eaten the whole bowl without baking these little beauties. DELICIOUS!!!
Check out Suzanne's blog for better pictures.

~ adapted from Suzanne's recipe

Monday, August 17, 2009

I'm back!

Wow, life really caught up with me these past 2 weeks. Anywho, here's what I've been up to...

Helped the BF's mom at a mega yard sale and scored the ginormous Ball Ideal Jar you see in the pic ($2 - for comparison: the green one next to is is a 3-quart jar),
this beautiful set of stainless steel measuring cups ($2), a 1-cup sifter ($1) and a set of 3 pyrex dishes ($5).

Also after a rough Monday at work, I came home to open my mail to find these beautiful bowl covers from Val!! They totally made my day. I absolutely love them and they match my kitchen with the little cherries on them ^_^ Thanks so much! Check her blog out ~ she's lovely :)

Also I'm starting to get into coupons ^_^ I managed to save over $20 at Walmart on stuff for my stockpile. Hopefully by the end of this month, my car accident issue will be resolved, I'll be hunting for a house, and I'll still have my wits about me enough for when school starts back up (hooray for getting my Masters!!). Anywho, wish me luck ^_^

Cheers!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Oven Roasted Potatoes

This is just a quickie post. I tried these roasted potatoes. Modified recipe from AllRecipes. DELICIOUS!!


2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed


Preheat oven to 450*F. Mix everything in a large bowl. Place on a baking sheet or roasting pan (I used a Pyrex dish). Roast for 20-30 mins, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.


I could eat these by themselves, they were that good. So good that they didn't last long enough for me to take a picture... :)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Slice & Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies

My BFs mom lent me a book called Make-A-Mix. It's got tons of recipes for homemade mixes that you can store for later use. In their chapter Freezer Refrigerator Mixes, I found these chocolate chip cookies that you just roll into logs and freeze for later use. Here's my slightly modified recipe. This makes about 5 batches of cookies.

2 cups butter or margarine
1-1/3 cups sugar
1-2/3 cups brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
5-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a bowl cream butter/margarine, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in vanilla and eggs until light a fluffy. In another bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. stir flour mixture into egg mixture until combined. Add chocolate chips.

The original recipe said that this made 4 batches but I baked a batch and had enough dough leftover to make 4 rolls of freezer-dough.

If you wet your hands first, it's easier to make the rolls. Divide dough into 5 equal pieces and place on plastic wrap or wax paper. Roll into 8 to 10 inch log rolls. Date and place into freezer in a freezer safe bag. Use within 6 months.

To bake after freezing:
Thaw slightly. Preheat oven to 350*F. Cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until browned around the edges.