Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

I know that it's rather late in the season for pumpkin, but here's one more recipe. Maybe you can save it for next year. :)

The original recipe came from the Kraft web site. I adapted it slightly so that it would fit in a regular pie plate instead of a springform pan.

(P.S. Don't my friends have very elegant dinnerware? You can tell this classy photo wasn't taken at my house!)
 

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cup finely crushed ginger snap cookies
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 can pumpkin
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix ginger snap crumbs, chopped pecans, and melted butter. Press into bottom and up sides of pie plate.

In large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Mix in pumpkin, spice, and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix on low speed until blended. Pour into crust.

Bake 35-40 minutes. If cheesecake starts to crack, take it out right away. Cool. Refrigerate about 3-4 hours before serving.

Summertime No Bake Dessert: Pink Lemonade Cheesecake

In the heat of this summer, I searched for a dessert that wouldn't require turning on the oven. Here's what I created.

Pink Lemonade Cheesecake

Ingredients:

one prepared graham cracker crust

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons Crystal Light Pink Lemonade drink mix

1/4 cup cold milk

8 oz. Cool Whip

Start with a graham cracker crust. You can make your own of course, but in this heat, who wants to do that?

In a mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Then add the milk and the drink mix, beating again until smooth. Fold in half of the Cool Whip and spoon into the crust.

Refrigerate for one hour. Add remaining Cool Whip on top. Refrigerate for another three hours or until firm.

Summertime Dessert: Frozen Chocolate Cheesecake

This is adapted from another Kraft recipe. My niece and nephews said it tasted like "an awesome chocolate cheesecake." So there you have it - another awesome summertime dessert!

Frozen Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:
16 Oreos, finely crushed
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tubs (8 oz. each) cream cheese spread
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
4 squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip

Line 9-inch square pan with foil. Leave some extra hanging over the edge for easy removal later.

Mix crushed Oreos with melted butter. Press into bottom of pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese spread until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Melt chocolate and mix into cream cheese. Fold Cool Whip into mixture and spoon over cookie crust.

Freeze 6 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before you want to serve. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan.

Black-Bottom Raspberry Cheesecakes

I'm posting this recipe without having actually tasted the results yet! Yikes, maybe I'll have to re-post after I've served them this evening. :)

(Note: I've tasted them now. They were yummy!)

Black-Bottom Raspberry Cheesecakes

Ingredients:
1 cup of finely crushed Oreos or chocolate wafer cookies
3 tablespoons butter, melted
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
6 ounces Greek yogurt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup Solo brand raspberry cake and pastry filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line regular muffin tin with 12 foil baking cups. Spray the cups with cooking spray.

If you haven't already crushed your Oreos, do so now. You can use a food processor or just smash them in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin like I do.

Drop the cookie crumbs into a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir until butter is completely incorporated into the cookie crumbs. Spoon crumb mixture into muffin cups evenly. Use bottom of a glass to press them down.

Bake for 5 minutes at 350. You can leave the oven on after you pull them out.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth. Beat in the Greek yogurt. Then add the eggs and vanilla and beat again.

Pour or scoop the batter into the baking cups. They should be about 3/4 full.

Bake the cheescakes for 15 minutes at 350. They should be soft in the center still. Warm the raspberry filling in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then spoon no more than a teaspoon on the top of each cheesecake.

Transfer muffin tin to freezer and chill for at least 15 minutes. Remove tin from freezer and peel foil baking cups off cheesecakes. Place cheesecakes on a platter to serve. The cheesecakes can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Yields: 12 cheesecakes

Red and Green Cherry Cheesecake Brownies

The red and green maraschino cherries in this cheesecake brownie make it a fun Christmas treat! I found them a little tricky to cut, so I think if I make them again, I might stick them in the freezer for ten minutes before cutting.

Whether or not they turn out a little messy, they are definitely delicious if you like cheesecake and brownies!

Red and Green Cherry Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients for crust:
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour

Ingredients for cheesecake topping:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup green and red maraschino cherries, chopped
½ teaspoons almond extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Place unsweetened baking chocolate and two sticks of butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 50% power for 2-3 minutes, stirring after each minute, until mixture is smooth.

Beat in 2 cups sugar, 3 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until blended. Stir in 2 cups of flour. Spread batter in greased pan.

Beat cream cheese, ½ cup sugar, and 1 egg. Stir in red and green cherries and almond extract. Spread over top of chocolate batter in pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars and cover. Refrigerate leftover bars.

Yields: 36 bars

Mini No-Bake Cheesecakes

Due to "Cattapalooza" this past weekend, my entries for this week are a little late. On the bright side, I baked a lot, so I’ve got two recipes to share!

First up are these mini no-bake cheesecakes. I looked at a lot of recipes online before I decided on this one. It’s basically Martha Stewart’s recipe with the amounts adjusted to fill mini muffin tins versus a springform pan.

The good news about this cheesecake recipe is that it tastes great and contains no eggs. That bad news is that, like many other no-bake recipes, it didn’t get really firm, so it really needs to stay refrigerated until you’re ready to serve it.

No-Bake Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients for crust:
1 package (10 sheets) graham crackers
5 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar

Ingredients for filling:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the graham crackers in a resealable plastic bag. Crush them with a rolling pin until the crumbs are very fine. (When I got near the end, I used a sifter to help me find the larger crumbs that needed some more smashing.)

Pour the crumbs into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and melted butter. Press the crumbs into mini muffin cups. I used the end of a shot glass to help me press the crumbs down.

Chill the crust in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese at a medium-high speed until smooth. Slowly beat in the condensed milk, scraping the bowl as necessary. Then beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.

Scoop the filling into the muffin tins and refrigerate at least 2 ½ to 3 hours.

Yields: about 40 mini cheesecakes

A few extra hints:
*Instead of using spoons or a cookie scooper to get the filling into the mini muffin tins, I put the filling in a decorating bag and just squeezed it right in.
*In the picture, you’ll notice that some of the mini cheesecakes have a pink topping. I added a Cherry Cool Whip topping just before the party. It was simply the “Strawberry Mousse Filling” with the cherry cake and pastry filling instead of strawberry.