No bake Oreo cheesecake bites

I made these for a Relief Society function at church in July. We were supposed to be having a Garden Party and then 1/2 hour before the activity, west Lethbridge experienced a Micro burst. Can I just say how crazy that was? It's pretty fantastic when you have your mixer going and can't hear it due to the rain being so loud! Needless to say the Garden Party was moved inside.

I am all over desserts that look like you put a ton of effort into them, when in reality they were the easiest thing ever. Presentation is everything. So I present to you, No Bake Oreo Cheesecake Bites, brought to you in part from Cooking Classy.



Also loving all the picture editing apps on my phone... makes everything so much cuter!
 

 

Ingredients

• 33 Oreos, divided
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 (3.4 oz) pkg cheesecake flavored instant pudding mix (I used vanilla as living in Canada I don't have access to what I can only believe to be a magnificent creation.. cheesecake flavored pudding..Mmmmmmm. Guess I know what I'm buying next time I go to the States!) 
• 30 mini Oreos

In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then use a wire whisk, stir in cream, milk and instant pudding (I actually have a whisk on my hand mixer so I used that). Whisk mixture for about 2 - 3 minutes until it is quite thick.  Freeze mixture for 5 minutes (I found that I had to freeze it a little longer than 5 minutes). While your filling is in the freezer, crush 3 oreos so they are nice and fine. I used my food processor but a rolling pin and Ziploc bag will apparently work as well according to the Cooking Classy site. Stir crushed Oreos into cheesecake mixture. Pipe cheesecake mixture over 30 large Oreos (depending on the tip will give you a different look. I like how mine turned out looking like soft serve ice cream), then top each one with a mini Oreo. For best result serve immediately (store in refrigerator if not used immediately).

 

And try not to eat all of them yourself!

 

: )



Chocolate Peppermint Cake

I was looking through pictures of stuff I've done, and came across this beauty. I had made a chocolate peppermint cake last Christmas for a Christmas party that I was in charge of organizing. It was so good I made it again. And made it cuter the second time. Here it is. I want a piece of that right now. A very small piece. It was one of the richest cakes I have ever eaten. But oh so good!

 

Sadly, I don't remember the exact recipe. If I ever do track down what I used, I will be sure to post it!

 

Until then just take in that waterfall of chocolate ganache.

 

: )

Nutella PB cookies

I love Pinterest mainly because it leads me to little gems like these. Nutella PB cookies. Yum. The recipe comes from The Sisters Café.

 

I'm picky when it comes to cookies. I like them to be soft and chewy. I am not a hard cookie fan. So these are absolutely perfect!

 

Here is the recipe;

 

1 Cup butter (room temperature)

2/3 Cup peanut butter (can use smooth or crunchy, I used smooth because it is all I had on hand, but I'm curious to try them with crunchy!)

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla (I used Watkins double strength.. and still put in the 2 tsp. love vanilla!)

2 2/3 Cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

heaping 1/3 Cup Nutella (I just added Nutella till I felt I had enough in the batter)

 

Cream together the first 6 items on the list until they are smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Add the Nutella in big spoon fulls into the dough and use a knife to swirl the nutella throughout. Do not over mix. Chill the dough for 15 minutes to allow the Nutella to harden. Spoon onto cookie sheet (I used a 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop). Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to wire racks.

 

Then pour yourself a huge glass of milk and indulge!

 

: )

Pineapple Flowers... Take 1

I found this fantastic tutorial on Annie's Eats. I love this lady! She has so many fantastic recipes. I was asked to make 6 dozen cupcakes for a bridal shower. The wedding colors were red and yellow, so I was asked to incorporate those into the cupcakes. I went with 3 different flavors, cuz you know me, simple??? What is that word? So here is the first one.

I had been wanting to try Pineapple flowers for awhile, and this gave me the perfect opportunity!

This became.....

 

THIS!

 

So, it isn't as pretty as the one on the tutorial, but I figured it wasn't too shabby for a first attempt! One thing I did discover though is that cutting pineapple really thin, is really hard. I had to turn up the heat (hence the brown edges) and leave them in the oven far longer than what the tutorial recommended.

They still turned out cute though, so I'm happy with it! And they were a hit! The cupcakes themselves were vanilla with a pineapple buttercream. Yum!

Well, I am happy to be back and blogging. In non-related baking news, I bought a house, with more counter space. I guess that does make it baking related, as it will give me more room to bake! I am incredibly excited for it! I will try to update more frequently. I do have a backlog of things to blog about that I haven't done. Oops.

To those who actually still care about my little blog.... thank you.

: )

#9! I think....

It has only taken 4 months, but here it is. Again, sorry for the bad picture quality. I really need to remember to bring more than my phone.  Maybe I can attempt to steal some from the bride! I'll have to investigate and see what I can come up with!

This cake was a stressful affair. Are you excited for the story?? I know you are.

The only actual cake was the bottom tier of this cake, as there were going to be other desserts at the wedding for the guests, and the cake was basically there for the customary "cutting". It was a key lime cake with cream cheese frosting, covered in green fondant. The top 2 tiers are Styrofoam, also covered in fondant. The green progressively gets lighter as it goes up. It's hard to tell in the above photos due to lighting. It is a really subtle difference. Here is a picture of the cake prior to being displayed. It was level. I swear. I really need to work on my photography skills. Or maybe just take a picture with a level on top to prove it!

Making of the cake occurred the night before the wedding, as did the covering with fondant. I made marshmallow fondant as opposed to using store bought. I'm not sure if this was my downfall, or if it was just late, but covering the Styrofoam was a nightmare. By 2am I had basically decided I would send the bride a text message (on her wedding night btw, since her reception was the next day) and let her know there would be no cake. I decided that I would give it one more try and by 3 am, I had a covered cake. Then I promptly went to bed, covered in icing sugar.

The reception was in Calgary, so I had to transport. Some friends and I were invited to the family dinner so we had to be there early. We got up there and thankfully the cake remained intact. There were a couple of tiny issues, that I was able to fix, and of course hide with the beautiful lace.

The cake turned out! YAY! And the bride loved it! Double YAY!

And now, the stress. The mother of the bride passed away unexpectedly in February, and so we were using some flowers that had been on her wedding cake which she had saved for over 20 years. These things were fragile. And guarded under lock and key by the father of the bride. Understandable. I felt horrible taking the box from him. I carefully found a few flowers that were intact enough, and didn't include some lovely pink tulle, and arranged them on the cake.

During the family dinner, I was positioned in a way that I had direct eye line of the cake the whole time. The photographer came in, picked it up and walked out with it. My heart almost stopped. Not so much for the cake, but for those flowers! Oh my. What if something happened to those flowers.

The cake came back after having its photo session. And it came back intact. Sigh of relief. Roughly 10 minutes later however, I notice some guys looking at the cake and laughing a bit. Then they get up and start moving it. What is going on? More people come over, look at the back of the cake, and laugh. A woman goes and talks to the bride. She goes pale. Then seems ok. The bride goes and looks at the cake. Now keep in mind this all happening during speeches, etc. So I remain seating. Again, heart stopping. Finally the dinner is over. A friend goes on a mission to find out about the cake because I may die.

A small child had decided to put their hand through it. That's right. Ripped fondant and cake. I could have died! We hadn't even made it to the reception yet! The flowers however were not harmed, so a sigh of relief was had. But seriously, after my breakdown making the cake, this hit me hard. I had to go have a cry in my car. I get emotional over cake. Deal with it.

All in all, everything was good. The bride and groom were happy and they enjoyed it. That's all that matters right? None of the drama matters. If nothing else, it provides for a good story!

Congratulations Frances and Eric

Summer heat

This summer had been way too hot to bake. No air conditioning equals death in the kitchen.

Never fear, fall is here and I'm back!!!!

Stay tuned....

Bums & Panties

Aren't these so cute? I'm probably biased but I am so happy with how they turned out. This is also only small sampling of the different designs I came up with. Using a heart cookie cutter I was able to make the perfect little 'bums', and then using royal icing I went to work!

And in case you are wondering, I don't just sit around making panty cookies. Yay for bachelorette parties though, that allow me the opportunity!