Blueberry Cheescake Bars

On Friday, a guy from work brought me in a tub of blueberries from his garden to make something with. So on Saturday, I made these cheesecake bars from a recipe I found online at http://www.bettycrocker.com/Recipes/Recipe.aspx?recipeId=42454 . It was one of the few cheesecake recipes that I could find that actually called for the berries, and not just jam, although this recipe called for both. I have to say the fresh blueberries were amazing after being cooked and the crust was perfect. I was a little worried that the oatmeal cookie crust would be strange since most people use a graham cracker crust, but it really tasted great.

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Prep Time:40 min
Start to Finish:4 hr 10 min
Makes:28 bars

1 pouch Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1 jar (10 oz) blueberry spreadable fruit
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) whole blueberries

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat cookie mix, butter and egg with electric mixer on low speed until soft dough forms. Press in bottom of pan.
2. Bake 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in another large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add whipping cream and eggs; beat on low speed until well blended.
3. Spread spreadable fruit over partially cooled crust. Sprinkle with blueberries. Pour cream cheese mixture evenly over blueberries, spreading gently to cover.
4. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. For bars, cut into 7 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): In step 4, bake 45 to 50 minutes.






















*I know I really need to start taking pictures of a single piece of things.

Peanutbutter Iced Brownies

Last week I made a simple box brownie mix (Betty Crocker) and made a peanut butter frosting for it from scratch, from a recipe I found in the newspaper (Relish Magazine) awhile ago, that I had clipped and put in my recipe book http://www.relishmag.com/recipes/view/27738/chocolate-cake-peanut-butter.html . It was not as creamy as I would have liked, but I think I could have added more milk as the recipe suggests. Overall, the peanut butter/chocolate brownie combination was really good.

Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe

5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons, confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 to 5 tablespoons 2 percent low-fat milk

Instructions

To make the frosting, mix butter, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla with a mixer; beat well. Add peanut butter. Add 2 tablespoons milk slowly, beating until very creamy. Add up to 3 additional tablespoons milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency. When cake has cooled, frost top.

Orange Cookies

I found this recipe online from the 2002 winner of the Good Morning America's Christmas Cookie Contest. I took an orange from work and used half the zest IN the cookies and half the zest in the glaze. The glaze is just what I've been making for all of my lemon or lime desserts: eyeball some veg oil, some milk or water, zest, and powdered sugar. The veg. oil is the key I think. Be careful not to burn these cookies!!! They are very good soft.

Orange Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon grated orange rind
1 egg, unbeaten
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla, orange rind and egg. Mix well.
3. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix until well blended.
4. Drop from teaspoon on un-greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes or until light brown. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar immediately after removing from oven.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

*I only got 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

No Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from Anna at cookiemadness.net, and everyone that tried them, including me who doesn't even LIKE chocolate chip cookies, said that they were amazing. I'm actually going to make another batch tomorrow. This is definitely going to be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Made With Oil

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (more chocolate to compensate for the missing butter!)
(I used milk chocolate instead of the usual semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together flour, soda and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together both types of sugar, oil, egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture to oil mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop up dough and shape into tight rounds of about ¾ to 1 inch. Space them about 2 inches apart on two ungreased cookie sheets. The mounds should be bursting with chips. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Makes about 2 dozen

*Using a tablespoon as a scooper was a great idea, and if the dough starts sticking, just spray it with some PAM