Tomorrow, Fudge Week begins! I’m teaming up with Gayle from Pumpkin n’ Spice to give you some fantastic fudge recipes. We’re so excited to share with you!
Before that starts, though, I wanted to make sure your holiday pie plans are all set. The week of Thanksgiving I shared four pie recipes with you, but there are so many more that I love. Here’s a review of my favorites!
I get a little crazy sometimes. Don’t we all?
Case in point: my grocery store sells packaged caramel apples from late September through Halloween. They’re delicious. They’re covered in peanuts and I buy two packages a week. It’s so major in my household that my kids get way too excited on my behalf when they see them.
But as soon as the end of October hits, my supply abruptly dries up. The first year that happened, I actually called the company. It was a pretty embarrassing conversation. They told me that they don’t make the caramel apples after Halloween, and I actually begged them to make an exception for me. I offered to pay them more. They very politely refused. And I hung up, realizing I just had one of those crazy lady moments.
Today I took my kids to a splash playground. It sounded like a good idea at the time. But several hours and one indecent exposure later, I’m not so sure.
My son went into the bathroom to change. On the way, he must’ve dropped his Spider-Man underwear. He burst out of the bathroom in the nude in front of everyone, screaming, “I can’t find my underpants!”
Ah, kids. Can’t live with them. But I sure can’t live without them.
My birthday is coming up later next week, y’all. Feel free to shower me with gifts! I’m not picky. I’ll take just about anything. Except thrift shop clothing. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t jump on that bandwagon.
I was at a meeting the other week and a woman I really like started talking trash about people who celebrate “birthday month” or “birthday week.” I wanted to yell at her. A lot. Because heck yeah, it’s my birthday month! Eat that, you meanie!
Except I like her. Just not when it comes to birthdays.
Being a baking blogger can come with certain challenges. Among them are:
1) Several epic fails while testing out recipes
2) Taking bad pictures of delicious food
3) Getting sticky residue on every available kitchen surface
4) Turning down a night out because you need to wait for dough to rise
5) Figuring out how to share all of your baked goods
6) Constantly thinking of new ideas for recipes
And, my challenge of the week:
7) Sharing a recipe when the subject (in this case, a cheesecake) was a gift to another person, thereby preventing me from taking pictures of a sliced version and making you drool.
I’m on summer break now. Translation: Camp Mommy has started! We survived day one. My son, forever sick these days, spent the day snoozing at my parents’ house while I had adventures with the girls.
We went to a Mommy and Me at a local outdoor shopping square, and I have to be honest. It was pretty uneventful. There was a stage where a bunch of mothers were singing along to a CD player blaring “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” The rest of the square was littered with local vendors trying to lure us into their stores. That was slightly more appealing, but I couldn’t justify walking into adorable boutiques with breakable items while I was dragging sticky people around.
By the time we got home, I was having a major sugar craving. Luckily, this cheesecake was at the ready in my freezer. I made it a couple of weeks ago, served half of it to guests, ate a couple of slices, and froze the rest. And boy, has it been coming in handy for those hot tired days when you come home ready to collapse!
There are certain facts of life that are indisputable, so here are a few:
1) A perfect nap is harder to find than a good life partner.
2) Summer dresses are the best part of being a girl.
3) Beaches are magical.
4) Even if it sucks, you have to sweat every day to feel good.
5) Cheesecake is the best and worst dessert of all time.
What was that last observation?
I love cheesecake. LOVE it. Most people do, you know. But when you see how much gets loaded into the batter, it’s kind of sad. Because all that deliciousness usually comes at quite a price, health-wise. Fat? Check. Calories? Check. Indigestion? Double check.
But fear not! You don’t have to drop cheesecake from your repertoire. These bars do the trick quite nicely and you will never know they’re skinny!
No, that’s not a typo. Remember my obsession with pake, the pie-cake hybrid? Well, the love continues with this cheesecake in a pie crust. Behold the cheesepake!
This one is special, folks. While I say I don’t like to play favorites with my desserts, this one is too good for me to lie about. It’s ridiculous. If you’re a peanut butter and chocolate addict, making this cheesepake is not even optional. Get into your kitchen. Now!
Okay, I admit it. I’m going heavy on the Oreos this week. After eating all the cookies and cream bark, my cravings just intensified. But I wanted to be somewhat healthy, so here we go!
Cheesecake is exciting. I used to go to the Cheesecake Factory and inhale giant slices of peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake. It was really awesome until they stopped making it. Oh yeah, and until they posted their nutrition information. All of a sudden, I was horrified.
Okay, I know cheesecake is not a health food. Duh. So now and then, of course I’ll indulge. But I have to have cheesecake more often than “now and then,” so that’s why I decided to make this cheesecake.
‘Tis the season. You know, that in-between time when spring isn’t here yet and we are so incredibly sick of winter and we need something to get us through?
Enter the Girl Scouts. I don’t know much about the organization, having never taken the pledge myself. But I do know this: any outfit that sells boxes of cookie magic while I’m busy scraping ice off the windshield is the best.
Most people are all about Thin Mints, and a slightly smaller contingent salivates for Samoas. But an even tinier group of us proclaim our undying devotion to the most underrated of all Girl Scout cookies: Tagalongs, a.k.a. Peanut Butter Patties.
Though I favor Tagalongs above all, I am an equal-opportunity dessert enthusiast. Why discriminate against the other flavors? So I decided to make these mini-cheesecakes based on the three most chocolaty Girl Scout cookie flavors.
